Upcoming Local Worshiping Communities Events

Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT) is gathering on December 6 at PNC banks in five states as part of their Bank like Appalachia Matters (BLAM) campaign. The goal is to pressure PNC Bank to stop financing mountaintop removal coal mining.PNC Bank has a historical connection to the Religious Society of Friends and claims to be a green bank, yet is one of the largest financiers of mountain-top removal. We’ll carry out a challenge to their policy and their public image by sitting down and holding meeting for worship inside a local PNC bank. Local Friends have taken a training to lead this event and it will be held in the manner of Friends. The day will start with a mini-training at 9:00 am at Sandy Spring Friends School or another nearby location to be announced and then carpool to a PNC branch for the action. We expect to finish everything, including a debriefing, by 12:30 pm. For more information, contact Travis Gallagher (301-908-3020), Janet Riley (240-389-1458) or Toni Hudson (301-948-0684).

Join Annapolis Friends from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm for our annual Holiday Market. We will have delicious food for you to eat (homemade soups, salad, quiche, and other baked goods) and plenty of items for sale that would make perfect Christmas presents (including jars of 13 Bean Soup Mix prepared and decorated by our Young Friends, original artwork, paperwhite narcissus bulbs, handcrafted items and Cooking with Friends, our new community cookbook full of delicious recipes, quotations, poetry, and artwork, hot off the press). Add to that a treasure trove of flea market finds and live music provided by our Young Friends, and this is one holiday event you will not want to miss! Proceeds will benefit Doctors Without Borders (http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org), Services from the Heart (a local non-profit that fights childhood hunger in Anne Arundel County by providing children in need with food backpacks for weekends and holidays), and Climate Stewards of Greater Annapolis (CSGA). The sale of handmade Afghan jewelry, rugs, and embroidery will benefit the Afghan Women's Fund (http://www.afghanwomensfund.org). Hope to see you there! For more information contact Cairn Krafft. (cairnkrafft@comcast.net or 410 257 2379)

Goose Creek Friends Archive Committee has been working with Visit Loudoun, Civil War Trails, and Virginia Sesquicentennial Committee to establish an historic sign commemorating the Barn Burnings on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 of 1864. We have come to have a sign that represents the challenges of being Quaker community during that time. Our sign will be dedicated with a short program by our First Day School and Peace Committee, a ribbon cutting and reading of Carrie Taylor's letter describing the devastation, and an open house. We welcome all BYM Quakers to attend December 6, Saturday, at 2 pm.

On Sunday Dec. 7, 2014, Hopewell Centre Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) will welcome American Friend and founder of the Center for Amazon Community Ecology (CACE), Campbell Plowden, for a slide presentation, followed by a holiday sale of unique crafts hand made by native Peruvian artisans. The public is invited to attend the presentation from 11:15 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Centre Meeting House, 203 North Washington St (corner of Piccadilly) in Winchester. Mr. Plowden will share how CACE is finding positive alternatives to deforestation in the Amazon rainforest — and how his relationship with the native communities has affected his spiritual journey as a Friend. The Craft Sale, from 12 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., will include hand-woven and hand-carved baskets, belts, guitar straps, tree ornaments, jewelry, maracas, head bands, dog leashes, essential oils, and more — made from palm fiber, roots, fruits, barks, leaves and other native materials. All proceeds go directly to the individual artisans and to improve health, education and conservation in their communities. It’s a great opportunity to buy gifts that give back!

Campbell Plowden has worked for tropical forests for 26 years with groups including Greenpeace, the Humane Society, Amazon Watch and the Environmental Investigation Agency. He earned a PhD in Ecology based on his studies with the Tembé Indians in Brazil and founded the Center for Amazon Community Ecology in 2006 to create positive alternatives to deforestation.

Centre Meetinghouse is open for visitors to attend the presentation and/or the sale. All are also welcome to share Silent Worship with us at 10 a.m. at the same location. For more information, call 540-667-9114 or go to www.AmazonEcology.org.

The Candlelight Meeting for Worship is an annual event for the Bethesda Meeting community during the holiday period. Worship will begin at 8:00 pm, at the Meeting House on the campus of the Sidwell Friends Lower School. Meeting for worship begins at 8:00 pm, with the mostly darkened Meeting room illuminated only by lit candles placed in windows around the room. and sits for an hour. Of course, spoken messages have been offered, and occasionally there is a song. Additional information, including a map, may be found at BFM's website: (www.bethesdafriends.org/directions.html)