...to Baltimore Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. This site includes information about Quakerism and the latest news of our faith community, which includes Central Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. We would like to invite you to come worship with us. All are welcome! Please visit these links to find out more about our faith, witness and fellowship:

• Learn about giving to BYM
• Find a place to worship with us.
• Find out about our Annual Meeting
• Find out more about Quakerism.
• Find out about Quaker Peace activities.
• Find out about BYM Quaker Summer Camps.
• Find out where the Quaker Schools are.
• Find out about Quaker History in our area.
• Sign up to receive the Interchange via email

Baltimore Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends is seeking applicants to fill the position of Director of Teen Adventure Bike. Teen Adventure Bike, new for the summer of 2011, is an outdoor adventure program for young adults age 15-18 to include space for 30-36 teens on three bike touring trips. This is a part-time year round position, with full time responsibilities during the summer camping season. (more...)

The Baltimore Yearly Meeting web site has been redesigned to offer meetings an opportunity to strengthen the connections between meetings and each of us. With the redesign of the web site comes the opportunity for each Meeting and for each Yearly Meeting committee to have a web presence under their own control. Really! Each Meeting! and Each Committee:

• Abingdon
• Adelphi
• Alexandria
• Annapolis
• Augusta Worship Group
• Bethesda
• Blacksburg

BYM received a really strong response from all Yearly Meeting committees to the ongoing visioning process. Read each of their responses here.

Baltimore Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends is seeking applicants to fill the position of Caretaker at Catoctin Quaker Camp in the Maryland hills. The Caretaker is the onsite arm of the Camp Property Management Committee (CPMC). He or she provides a year-round presence at the camp, cares for the facility, and makes it ready for summer camp and for the groups who rent the facilities in spring and fall. (more...)

Publication of the Baltimore Yearly Meeting of Friends [pdf]
 

Spring 2010

This issue of the Interchange details the arrangements for Annual Session to be held at Frostburg State University from Monday, August 2nd through Sunday, August 8th. Our theme this year is "Leadings for Today: Lessons from History" (more...)

The hills and valleys around the BYM camp properties are bursting with life and calling to us to come and enjoy some time with them. Work weekends offer us an opportunity to do just that! You are invited to join us. (more...)

Nursing Home Quality of Care concerns are often hot button issues in the press and with consumers. Both our Federal and State governments regulate nursing homes and report findings via the internet and through publications. Given that millions of dollars are spent monitoring quality of care, you would think that this would not be an issue. But it is. And it will likely continue as long as we put the care of our elders in the hands of someone else; into the hands of a nursing home. (more...)

In addition to its customary funding ministry, the Committee has joined with 3 other Quaker Committees, Quaker Aboriginal Affairs Committee of Canadian Friends Service Committee, New York Yearly Meeting Indian Affairs Committee, and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Indian Committee in support of the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. (more...)

Exciting intervisitation plans within Friends United Meeting are in motion for the next six months, beginning in April, 2010. Twelve BYM traveling ministers and their companions will visit six other yearly meetings within FUM-North America and the United Society of Friends Women International Triennial in Mombasa, Kenya. Maria and Tim Bradley (Sandy Spring) and Jean James (Richmond) have already returned from Southeastern YM, which met over the Easter weekend. (more...)

The Committee will have a workshop on Saturday during Annual Session. The title of the workshop is Global Climate Change, Peak Oil and the Future: How Can Quakers Lead. Anyone interested in attending this workshop is encouraged to read at least one of the following books: (more)

Have you ever wondered how the Religious Society of Friends continues to thrive and change? The secret is Spirit-led Friends willing to dedicate time, energy, and hard work. Serving on a BYM committee can be a very special experience. It is an opportunity to engage in meaningful work, deepen Quaker roots, and widen horizons by working with Friends from over 50 Monthly Meetings. The growing knowledge and inter-visitation experience you gain strengthens your Monthly Meeting as well. (more...)

The Committee has sent an invitation to all BYM Meetings to let it know what Meetings are doing in response to President Obama's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. At this point five have held Meetings for Worship with a Concern for Peace: Langley Hill, Friends Meeting of Washington, Pipe Creek, Charlottesville, and York. (more...)

THINKING ABOUT RACE: from the article, Teaching Young Children To Resist Bias: What Parents Can Do, by Louise Derman-Sparks, María Gutiérrez, Carol Brunson Phillips - National Association for the Education of Young Children. Recognize that, because we live in a racist and biased society, we must actively foster children's anti-bias development. Remember that in such an environment, we are all constantly and repeatedly exposed to messages that subtly reinforce biases. (more...)

The Religious Education Committee will be continuing the Friendly Religious Education Consultant (FREC) program that supports visitors to Annual Session who share their knowledge and experience as Friends Religious Educators. This year we will welcome John A. Stephens! John has been a member of Alexandria Friends Meeting at Woodlawn where he has taught FDS to middle and high school aged teens. (more...)

We have heard from the following meetings:

Alexandria Annapolis Baltimore, Stony Run Charlottesville Dunnings Creek Frederick Gunpowder Herndon Hopewell Centre Maury River Menallen Midlothian Nottingham Patuxent Valley Washington West Branch

Join us at Friends Meeting of Washington as we fete two companion histories. Seeking the Sense of the Meeting: A History of Friends Meeting of Washington 1972-1992 prepared by the Records and Handbook Committee. Photographs by Jennifer Moss Morris and illustrations by Meagan Healey. Copies are available from CreateSpace, Amazon, or directly from FMW.

And our companion volume, Anniversary Essays: Celebrating 75 Years at Friends Meeting of Washington with essays by Deborah Haines, Thomas Hamm, Barbara Nnoka and Joe Volk.

Copies are available from CreateSpace, Amazon, or directly from FMW.
 

April 1 - October 31, 2010 When This You See Remember Me: Schoolgirl Samplers of Winchester and Frederick, Virginia - This exhibit at the Hollingsworth Mill of the Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society features nineteenth-century samplers made in Winchester and Frederick County, Virginia, including several by members of Hopewell Monthly Meeting. For directions and general hours of operation please call (540) 662-6550, e-mail cshull@winchesterhistory.org, or visit the web site of the historical society: http://www.winchesterhistory.org/society_events.htm