— Ruth Yarrow

If you’ve attended Meeting for Worship in person at our Third Street Meetinghouse, or just been past there recently you probably noticed several raised garden beds installed on the tree lawn and along the fence. What you’re seeing is the beginning of Project Abundance. Thanks in part to a mini-grant from Sustainable Tompkins, Ithaca Monthly Meeting’s Earthcare Committee has launched Project Abundance to “make real the sense of abundance nature offers us – and incorporate the sacredness of nature and the miracle of growth more within neighborhood communities and within our own congregations” (from the grant application). Food and flowers growing in the raised beds will be available for anyone in the neighborhood to pick and use for free.

Our theme this year is shown in the image below that illustrates the ways that racial justice, climate justice, and economic justice intersect.

Our plenary speaker is Beverly Ward, an earthcare advocate from Southeastern Yearly Meeting who works in some of the spaces these struggles converge. A panel discussion follows.

Please join us.

Questions? Write to FSRMSpringGathering@gmail.com, or call our registrar, Bronwyn Mohlke, at 607-220-3219.

— Donna Beckwith (Perry City) Chuck and Sally Zelasko (Orchard Park),

Mary Klaus (Orchard Park), Jeff Barr (Fredonia)

Save the date. The Memorial Meeting for Worship for Chuck Moehler will likely be held on May 29, 2021 at our Hector Meetinghouse. Please watch the listserv for more details. Anyone with questions on this memorial meeting can contact Melissa Travis Dunham or Emily Williams, who are organizing it for IMM.

This workshop is for white people who want to work against racism and for people of color who want to support white people in doing so. Topics in this second-level course cover why accountability is important and what can be done to achieve it.

The workshop is May 5th, 12th, and 19th, but if you missed the first session, it's not too late; sessions will be recorded. Scholarships available if needed; use scholarship code FCRJ.

For more information, contact Robin Alpern, registrar, at robin.alpern@gmail.com.

Once again, I’ll be traveling to the Silver Bay YMCA in the Adirondacks for our virtual New York Year Meeting Summer Sessions, July 25-31, 2021. Silver Bay YMCA is kindly honoring the NYYM discount prices for folks who reserve a room for that week. To learn more, visit https://www.nyym.org/session/summer-sessions-2021

 

This year, NYYM will offer interest groups during the three weeks prior to Summer Sessions, starting on July 5. Facilitators can choose for their "Summer Interest Group" to meet once or multiple times during that period. 

 

Interest groups are a great way to introduce a topic to Friends or to dive deeper, to learn or to share, to relax or worship or create, and can consist of a presentation, slide show, film, discussion group, game, or other activity. 

Do you have a passion, skill, activity, or energy to share with the NYYM community? The topic and format are limited only by your imagination and the constraints of meeting online. Please fill out the proposal form by the end of May: https://www.nyym.org/ig-proposals

Friends can join online Meeting for Worship using a computer, with or without a video camera, or by phone. Join online with this link or from your Zoom app with Meeting ID: 372 632 479 and password: friends. You can also join by phone by calling (929) 205-6099 and entering Meeting ID: 372 632 479 when prompted.

These instructions and more are available in the ithacamonthlymeeting.org site with a big “Connect to Meeting for Worship” button.

The minutes from Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business can be found on the right-side column of our website. The minutes from April are here.

IMM Guys’ Lunch

First Thursdays of the month, and a time together for Quaker men and people who don’t mind talking to them. Bring your lunch and enjoy fellowship.

Join Friends to watch a brief QuakerSpeak video and discuss what you watched. This week, we will be watching "My Journey as a Transgender Quaker."

This is an “open” committee, meaning that all are welcome; participation does not go through the Nominating Committee process. Please feel free to come and bring your own concerns or interests. At this time we are meeting via Zoom; use the gray button below or: 

Women’s Fellowship is Zooming

Bring your knitting, wear your best sweatpants... or not... and join us for an informal hangout. Hope to see you there!

Women’s Chair Yoga now by Zoom

This long-running group, which met for years at the meetinghouse, now runs on Zoom, making it more accessible than ever. To join in, email <jaihari10@gmail.com> The group is about half Friends and half neighbors, nurturing the Inner Light. No yoga experience required. There is a sliding-scale fee. For more info or questions, Nancy Gabriel, 607-339-7123; ntg2@cornell.edu.