|
Environmental Outreach at a Local School
The grant York Friends received for the Native Plant project stipulates
that the grant recipient must provide some form of educational outreach to the
community. Our very own York Friends "Science Ladies"
chose to reach out to a local inner city school. The four
"Science Ladies" make regular guest appearances in the
4th grade classrooms, teaching the students about different
ecosystems, soil types, etc...plus doing hands on projects with the
kids like building terrariums, field trips to Nixon park, and planting
flowers in areas of the city. We enjoy hearing about their experiences...though
we've come to suspect that they enjoy this as much, if not more than, the kids!
Native Americans
First Contact:
Quakers and Indians of North America First contact between Europeans and
Indigenous Peoples of the Western Hemisphere was a
momentous event of human history. It is usually linked to October
12, 1492 with the meeting of Spaniards under the
command of Christopher Columbus with Taino people of the Caribbean.
Quaker/Lenni Lenape first contact was in the 1600’s, WIlliam Penn arriving in
what is now the state of Pennsylvania
in 1682. For both Native peoples and Quakers, changes beyond expectation were
to occur; an enduring shared journey had commenced. For North American Friends
and Native Peoples this was to be a journey of hope, confusion, frustration,
joy, caring, friendship, treachery, betrayal, peace, violence, and also, to a
great degree, of an “aspired integrity” between the two peoples. This integrity
was sometimes mutual, often parallel, and too frequently overlooked in the
midst of baffling and overwhelming circumstances. Nonetheless, throughout the
ensuing years there has been a faithful attention on the part of many
individuals of both cultures to the sacred leadings of the Spirit and to shared
hopes for peace. These shared spiritual leadings, along with continuing
relationships between individual Indians and individual Quakers and between
representative groups of both peoples, have been sustained, continuing an
enrichment, challenge, and inspiration for future collaborative work.
Continuing
Contact: Quakers and Indians of North America The Quakers and the
Indigenous Peoples of North America have worked together through many trials,
hardship, successes, failures, joys and sorrows since First Contact.
Friendships and collaborations continue today in a variety of ways in both Canada
and the United States.
Some Yearly Meetings have Indian Committees; others address Native American
concerns through such committees as Peace and Social Concerns Committees.
Interested persons may wish to contact Yearly Meeting Offices.
For further information about
contemporary shared Quaker/Indian endeavors contact:
Friends Committee on
National Legislation/Native American Advocacy Program
American Friends Service Committee
Native American / Native Peoples Program
Canada
Friends Service Committee/Quaker Aboriginal Affairs Committee
Philadelphia
Yearly Meeting Indian Committee
Baltimore Yearly Meeting Indian Committee
Also check out information about the Longest Walk II. Walkers are expected to arrive in the York
area 7/8/2008-7/10/2008.
Check the York Friends calendar periodically for up-to-date
information.
Our Meeting House
The Meeting House is often used to host
events, many of which are open to or even intended for the local community. Examples:
sacred harp/shapenote singing, AA meetings, movies such as For the Bible Tells
Me So.
- For more information about using the Meeting
House to host your event, contact Wim
Neij.
|
