More information here.

Helen Cornelia Clarkson (Pratt), at the age of 96, passed away peacefully in her beloved home on Flying Point overlooking Casco Bay on Saturday, July 16, 2022.

She was born on August 21, 1925 in Somerville, MA, the oldest child of Albert Pratt and Marion Cornelia Pratt (Dwelley). The family became part of the Durham Friends community in 1930 when they moved to Brunswick, ME, where Helen and her sister grew up on a farm on the Lunt Road.

On August 2, at noon, her family is having a celebration of her life at the Durham Friends Meeting. All are invited to attend in person or on zoom. There will be a reception after at the Muddy Rudder in Yarmouth. Please RSVP to her daughter (Joyce) if you plan to join the family at the reception
(joclarkson@icloud.com). 

Helen had a full and wonderful life, spanning wondrous events in history, and to the very end of this chapter on Earth, was an avid reader, maintained an unforgettable sense of humor, and an unwavering love for her family and friends, past and present.

She requested that in lieu of flowers, a donation to Bates College for the Vernon A. and Hellen Pratt Clarkson (’46) Scholarship, mailed to Bates College, Office of College Advancement, 2 Andrews Road, Lewiston ME 04240.

Friends are invited to gather for an experimental hybrid worship this summer. Portland Friends Meeting convenes a recurring Meeting for Healing using Zoom on select Thursdays, 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The Durham Friends Meeting House will be open by 7:15 p.m. on July 21 and August 18, for synchronizing via the Owl system.  For questions, contact Mey Hasbrook.

Meeting for Worship for Healing is an old Quaker tradition. Our goal with this meeting is to focus on the physical and spiritual illnesses of the current world. It’s not intended to be the same as a full meeting for worship but instead is meant to be focused on communal prayer. We are often blessed with a time of deep silence.  ~from Portland Friends Meeting

There will be a Sing-Along Concert with Quaker folk singers Annie Patterson and Peter Blood on Saturday, July 9* from 5:30pm to 7:30pm at Growing to Give in Brunswick**.

Address: Growing to Give Farm, 30 Coxon Road, Brunswick, ME

It’s a fundraiser to help grow food for people in need. Advance tickets are required.

Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Individuals, 18 and below in age, are FREE.

Visit https://growingtogive.farm/ for details more information about the farm and to see the poster for this event.  Hope to see you there! – Craig Freshley

*Rain date is July 10.

Yea- the school year is almost over and summer is upon us!!
Please come join Durham Friends in Georgetown at Betsy Muench’s ocean paradise! We are invited anytime on Saturday, June 18 AND Sunday June 19. 

Saturday is a day for play.

On Sunday, Falmouth Quarter Friends have been invited to join us! We will hold a family friendly Meeting for worship on the beach at 10:30 and the rest of the day is at your pleasure! 
Let me know your plans if you can, but come anyway and surprise us if you decide to come last minute!!(wendy.schlotterbeck@gmail.com)

Directions are at the end of this message- I will fasten a balloon by the driveway! Everyone is warmly invited. Betsy loves to share this beautiful place with us and it is a lovely gift. Wendy Schlotterbeck’s cell# is 513-9187. The house phone is # 371-2237

Note: Durham Monthly Meeting for Business this month will be June 26, not June 19.

What to bring?

1. Bathing suit, towel and sunscreen.

2. Change of clothes, jacket  and bug spray.

3. Food- bring a picnic lunch, drinks and snacks- there is water at the house.

4. Mask- please bring a mask to wear if you use the bathroom inside Betsy’s house, and wear one outside if you wish.

5. Betsy has several kayaks, life jackets… to share but feel free to bring your own.

6. Friends! We welcome your friends.

7. As always, please come only if you are Covid symptom free to keep our community safe.

8. If it’s bad weather we will likely cancel- call Wendy if in doubt.

Directions to the Holt-Muench property at 710 Bay Point Road in Georgetown:

Take Rt. 127 south from where it crosses Rt. 1 in Woolwich (just across the river from Bath, Maine) and follow it 8.8 miles to Georgetown center. On the right, after you pass the Georgetown Pottery, post office, Country Store and firehouse, Bay Point Road will turn off just before you start down the hill. After about 3 miles Bay Point Road will cross a marsh and make a fairly sharp bend to the left, then start watching for a white feldspar driveway on the left. Our mail box may or may not be out on the right. After you turn in to the driveway a white sign on a tree to the left of the gate says Holt. Follow the driveway down to the end and park on the feldspar circle by the house. Total distance is about 12 miles from Rt. 1. 

Durham Friends and Portland Friends will enjoy an intergenerational, outdoor gathering on Saturday, May 7, from 9:30 to 2:00 at the Durham Friends Meetinghouse. Bring your own lunch!

Trustees are planning an outdoor work day. 

When: Saturday April 23, 10-12 and 12-2.  Come for the morning or afternoon; bring a picnic lunch.

What:  Cleaning up the outdoor area around the meethinghouse.

Tasks will include: raking, cleaning up sticks and branches, cleaning up behind the horse shed, bucking up fallen trees as needed, washing outside windows.

Please bring a rake, clippers and/or hand saw, tarps for moving leaves.  Also gloves. Dan will bring a small chain saw.

Peace & Social Concerns invites you to a 

Worship Sharing on the Peace Testimony

 April 2 at 4:00 p.m. EDT, via ZOOM (prior registration required).

Friends are invited to join to share their thoughts and discernment about the Peace Testimony of Friends and how the events in Ukraine have affected them.
Hosted by Quaker House, in Fayetteville, N.C. (near Fort Bragg).

Please note: an RSVP is required to receive Zoom connection details.

Quaker House is hosting a second Worship Sharing session on Saturday, April 2 at 4:00pm EDT. Friends are invited to join to share their thoughts and discernment about the Peace Testimony of Friends and how the events in Ukraine have affected them. The Worship Sharing will be unprogrammed and we will wait for messages to rise from the silence. As a time of
worship, we will not record the session.

If you wish to participate, send an email to wayne.finegar@quakerhouse.org or call 910-323-3912 and the connection information will be sent to you. This will allow us to have a sense of how many will be joining in worship. After the time of worship, we will discuss next steps in this discernment. Some options already suggested include:

1. Additional worship sharing opportunities.
2. More formal presentations from Friends who have written or spoken on these topics (suggestions of names with contact information are very welcome).
3. Discussion groups (probably with smaller numbers) focused on topics of interest. These might well
   include materials for review prior to the sessions.
4. Activism sharing with a focus on how to achieve real change in an era of social media.
   Friends are encouraged to bring other suggestions for consideration

A Parenting for Peace event sponsored by Friends School of Portland:

Dax-Devlon Ross, an alum of Sidwell Friends, will be addressing how we sustain our racial justice work and deepen our efforts to create long-term, meaningful change within our community and society at large.
This event is free and open to all who would like to attend.

Friends can use this link to register.

Youth ministers Maggie Fiori and Gretchen Baker-Smith invite Friends of all ages from across the Yearly Meeting to gather with their local meetings – in person or virtually – to bake, laugh, and consider what yeast and bread have to tell us about Spirit and community. You can read more about it here.

Saturday, March 5: Durham Bread Day- please come via zoom or in person!!

Two options:

1. For those who feel comfortable gathering in person-with masks:
   1. Gather at 9:30 at our Meeting house kitchen. 
   2. Join the NEYM zoom link at 10, for a short check-in and meditation with others from around New England! https://zoom.us/j/96433956342?pwd=OXhtVGZJMlJHRVhzcTlYV09YSVg0Zz09
   3. Make bread together using our own choices and ingredients.
   4. Join the zoom during sharing times while the bread is rising and baking. (Singing, games, stories…) NEYM zoom ends at 2pm.
   5. Take photos and upload them to the shared site!
   6. Some of us will deliver bread samples to some older Durham Friends who live alone.

2. Stay in your own kitchen and bake bread!
   1. Join the NEYM zoom link at 10 for a short check-in and meditation with others from around New England! https://zoom.us/j/96433956342?pwd=OXhtVGZJMlJHRVhzcTlYV09YSVg0Zz09
   2. Make bread of your choice, stay on the zoom link or come and go as you please.
   3. While your bread is rising and/or baking, join the zom link for singing, games, stories. NEYM zoom ends at 2pm
   4. Take photos and upload them to the shared site.
   5. If you’d like- share some bread with a neighbor or friend or just enjoy a yummy slice of homemade bread knowing many other Friends are also enjoying their delicious creation.

ZOOM Plan for Gretchen’s Kitchen

March 5, 2022, 10AM-2PM

Meeting ID: 964 3395 6342

Passcode: 326033

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 The 2022 FWCC (Friends World Committee for Consultation) Section of the Americas Meeting is coming online March 12th; registration is open now. The theme is: “Hope and Resilience: Drawing strength from our Quaker faith.”

The bilingual gathering is a great opportunity to witness the true diversity of Quakers in the Americas.

Learn more at: https://fwccamericas.org/_wp/event/2022-section-meeting/

Friends Committee on National Legislation wants to hear from the members and attenders of Friends Meetings all around the country as they set their priorities for the coming year.  They are asking what we believe should be emphasized in their work this year. Our answer to that question will then be combined with the views expressed by the members of other meetings.

What do you believe should be given priority by FCNL this year? Peace and Social Concerns Committee will gather the views of our membership and will transmit them to FCNL in Washington. The Committee has called a special meeting for this purpose, to take place online on Wednesday, February 23, starting at 7:00 p.m.

Please join us as we discuss these matters. If you are unable to participate then but wish your views to be considered, please share them with Cush Anthony or another member of that Committee.

FCNL’s areas of activity normally include such things as:

• Promote peacebuilding and the prevention of war
• Promote nuclear disarmament
• Seek a reduce arms sales abroad
• Work for a fair and equitable justice system
• Advocate for fair treatment of American Indians
• Support equal access to elections for all
• End gun violence
• Establish fair national economic policies
• Meet the basic human needs of all people
• Address the climate crisis
• Strengthen environmental protection laws

If you plan participate by coming to the meeting on February 23, or if you are unable to come but desire to have your ideas considered at that meeting, please contact Cush at cush@maine.rr.com and he will send you the details.

On February 13, the Durham, Portland, Velasco sister meeting committee is hosting an experimental, bilingual, inter-generational zoom worship! 
The zoom link will be https://zoom.us/j/94840029377 (no password)

This will be the Sunday worship for both Durham and Portland, with families from the whole quarter invited. Click Here for Additional Materials for the Joint Worship.

We will gather at 10:45 for a worship centering on an original faith and play story in English and Spanish. There will be songs, creativity, and open worship – trying new ways of being together on zoom. (Beyond the break-out room).  The group planning this worship is getting excited.  We hope that families will forget their zoom fatigue and winter doldrums and join us in creating a worship experience to share with our Cuban Friends.

This worship is for us, and it is a gift to the Velasco meeting in Cuba. A recording of the service will be carried to Cuba by a delegation from New England to the Cuba Yearly Meeting in February. 
Please save the date, plan to come and expect more information in the next week or two. 

Full log-in information:

Portland Friends Meeting is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting Sunday, Feb 13 at 10:45am
Topic: Meeting for Worship at Portland Friends
Time: This is a recurring meeting Meet anytime

Join Zoom Meeting for worship 
https://zoom.us/j/94840029377

Meeting ID: 948 4002 9377
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Wabanki REACH will be holding a program, Healing Begins with Truth: Understanding Colonization, December 13, 2021, 6-8pm. The program will be presented online, via ZOOM. Durham Meeting’s Peace and Social Concerns Committee encourages participation in this program.

In this two-hour educational experience, participants explore the differences between the worldview and culture of Indigenous peoples and settlers (and their descendants). Using historical and present day examples, participants will examine the deliberate strategies of colonization and resulting impacts on Indigenous people, land, and culture, including the domination culture that maintains systemic racism and oppression.  This program is intended to serve as a safe space for participants to join with peers and identify strategies to support healing in relation to each other and to the land. 

REGISTER via this link:

https://forms.gle/rwTeAMYS3BXb1iJb9

Durham Friends Meeting Halloween Party/Fall Festival

Come enjoy conversation, food and fun- costumes welcome!

Dress for the weather: we will meet outside (in the horse shed.if it rains) Friday, Oct 29 at 4pm