Issue 62, July 2020
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S NOTE:
Some Notes on Moving from Yellow to Green
Philadelphia’s move to the “green” phase of the governor’s reopening process has been delayed at least a month. During the yellow phase, organizations that can telework are supposed to continue doing so. One of the main differences for the green phase is that teleworking will be “encouraged,” but not required.
Meanwhile, Friends Center has adapted its facilities and its cleaning and operational practices to address the Covid-19 pandemic. (See guidelines, linked to the right.) Signage is up throughout the facility to assist you with keeping the appropriate distances. Fortunately, our heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems generally follow best practices, such as having air flow from ceiling to floor. We are introducing more fresh air than usual into the main office building through the air handler unit on the roof. And anyone in an office or suite with operable windows can just open the window!
Food for Thought on Statues…
In other news, author Diana Butler Bass recently wrote a thread on Twitter about the statue of Mary Dyer in Boston. Friends Center has a casting of that statue, too, of course.
The thread is very thoughtful, especially in light of the efforts to remove offensive statues here and in cities across the country. Notably, Butler Bass reflects, “The state put up a statue to one of its most innocent victims. Not the theocratic overlords who murdered Mary Dyer.”
– Chris Mohr, Executive Director
AROUND FRIENDS CENTER
Friends Center will be closed on 7/3/2020 in recognition of Independence day. We will reopen on Monday 7/6/2020.
New: CHANGING TABLE!
In doing our best to consider the guests and tenants of our facility, we’ve decided to install a changing table in our handi-capable gender-neutral bathroom on the first floor of the 1501 Cherry Street building. Thank you to Friends Center’s own Jennifer Williams and CPMM’s Dan Zemaitis for the suggestion!
Saying a Fond Farewell
This month we say farewell to three longtime tenants of Friends Center, who are making other arrangements for work in the current times:
- Center for the Study of Economics
- Food and Water Watch Pennsylvania Office
- Friends Association for Higher Education
We wish them all the best in their new working arrangements, and appreciate having had them as part of our Friends Center community.
EQUITY PARTNER NEWS
AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE (AFSC)
The Poor People’s Campaign: Worthy of Quaker support then and now;
Just days before his assassination in 1968, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sent a letter soliciting funds for the Poor People’s Campaign that read, in part, “[The Southern Christian Leadership Conference] SCLC cannot wait; it cannot watch as the only systematic response to riots are feverish military preparations for repression. It cannot sit in appalled silence and then deplore the holocaust when tragedy strikes. We cannot condone either violence or the equivalent evil of passivity.”
More than five decades later, it is chilling how applicable those words still are.
- Read the full article by Joyce Ajlouny, AFSC’s General Secretary.
PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING (PYM)
Annual Sessions Coming Soon
Plus: Runway to Annual Sessions
As we approach our 340th Annual Sessions, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting will be hosting virtual workshops, Mindfulness Meditation classes, and Plenary Sessions as a part of our Runway to Annual Sessions series.
Featured Online Workshop:
Accompaniment as Anti-Racist Practice for Social Change
Lucy Duncan, AFSC
TUESDAY, JULY 6, 6-8 PM
Free of charge
Accompaniment as spiritual practice offers a way for deep relational shifting and for showing up for the long haul while learning deeply how to be present for both the momentary and longer term needs of the community you are hoping to support.
For a full list of scheduled offerings (June 15 – July 25), and registration follow the link.
CENTRAL PHILADELPHIA MONTHLY MEETING (CPMM)
CPMM Virtual Meeting for Worship Sunday’s at 11 am
We will be using the Zoom computer application (app) to host this meeting, which you can download here: https://zoom.us/support/download. Once you have the app loaded on your digital device, you simply will need to click on the given link at meeting time, and you automatically will be in the virtual meeting space. The login information for joining this meeting is below. We have recently moved to a password-protected meeting. If you have not received the password in the email from the meeting secretary, please contact the meeting office at office@cpmm.org.
NEWS
- Friends Journal Article; Who’s the Proper Quaker Now?
