Weekly Announcements for June 12, 2026 

The BYM Quaker Camps camping season is officially open! Staff have begun arriving for tonight's BIPOC Staff Gathering before Skills Week (aka Skill-It) begins on Saturday, where staff will build their skills in lifeguarding, canoeing, and wilderness first aid. Please join us this weekend in holding our camp staff in the Light. We pray that they will feel the wide circle of Love and care surrounding them as they do important work to prepare for a summer of fun, safety, and that camp magic. Work Granters, especially kitchen crew, are still needed - see what volunteer spots are open here! 

In January of 2025, BYM joined our Friends in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and New England Yearly Meeting - along with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and a Sikh group - in a lawsuit to keep ICE agents out of houses of worship. Our case, Friends et al v. US Department of Homeland Security, is now headed for summary judgment. Summary judgment puts our case in front of a judge who will rule/resolve the case entirely or narrow specific issues before going to trial.  DHS will respond and file its motion on July 10, we'll respond to that Aug 7, and DHS will file its final brief Sep 3. After that, we wait for the judge's ruling! 

The Annual Session used bookstore will be back by popular demand in 2026 and seeks the following: 

• Gently use books of all kinds
• Gently used Quaker t-shirts and tote bags
• Vendors to consign their arts and craft
• BYM authors for a special book signing events at the bookstore!

Used books and items can be dropped off or mailed to the BYM office. To sign-up as a vendor or BYM author, please email bookstore@bym-rsf.org. 

BYM's Strengthening Transformative Relationships in Diverse Environments (STRIDE) program hosted two orientation's recently. Campers and their families had an opportunity to try on their hiking backpacks, take a practice hike together, and learn more about packing and preparing for camp. Thank you to our STRIDE Coordinator, Rai Carter, for their dedicated work! 

BYM Young Friends gathered online this week to approve a Minute on Palestine. The Minute will be forwarded to BYM Annual Sessions, during which Friends will consider adoption of a Yearly Meeting-wide Minute on the ongoing violence in Palestine. Stay tuned to the Annual Session homepage for the full-text of the Young Friends Minute! 

The Ministry and Pastoral Care Committee is offering an online Grief Support Group. The group meets at 7:00 on the third Wednesday of each month. The next meeting is June 17. Email the office at admin@bym-rsf.org for the Zoom link or for additional information. 

The group is open to anyone bereaved, of a parent, spouse/partner, child, friend, colleague, pet, etc. The experience consists of grief education based on the four tasks of grieving theory of William Worden, supportive group processing, and mutual encouragement to strong self-care during the challenging grieving process. Sessions are designed to be therapeutic but are not psychotherapy. Friends are welcome to come for one or two sessions or to stay for longer periods of time as may work best for them. A long-term commitment is not required. The group is led by Ann Riggs, Sandy Spring Meeting, a chaplain at Johns Hopkins Howard County Medical Center in Columbia, Maryland.

In April, 27 Friends gathered for the Quakers Healing Circle at Powell House Retreat Center (NYYM) and wish to share their Epistle from that gathering with Friends everywhere. These Friends, "practice healing, with divine assistance, as a spiritual expression of love through many modalities. We are led to create a circle of healers; open to all, supporting one another, ever enlarging the reach and strength of our healing community.." 

Quakers for Peace in Palestine/Israel invite Friends to a special Zoom workshop on How to Use Technology Safely in Our Activism & Boycott Complicit Corporations. Protect your digital privacy. Avoid surveillance. Identify the tech giants enabling occupation. Led by Tribe-X, a community-led digital justice collective helping activists decolonize their tech, protect their privacy, and migrate away from complicit corporations.

AFSC warmly invites Baltimore Yearly Meeting to join us on July 4th, 2026 as part of a coordinated national day of action: a Declaration of Resistance to the rise of authoritarianism. Together, we will explore ways to protect our communities and imagine the shared future we want to build. We will gather at Arch Street Meeting House (320 Arch Street) at 8:30 AM to take part in a People’s March from Washington Square Park to Independence Mall. In coalition with local and national groups marching in the People’s March, we will declare our commitments to:

• Protect people and communities
• Resist authoritarian government
• Build a free, equal and just future 

After the march, we will come together at Friends Center (1501 Cherry Street) at noon for lunch, fellowship, and light programming focused on the work ahead. We hope you will join us for this meaningful time of connection and collective purpose.

Leading into July 4, we encourage you to also take part in or host upcoming Love as Action vigils on June 13–14 as a way to demonstrate solidarity, build momentum, and invite others in. 

• Jesus' Friends Worship Sharing, June 21
• Drag as Spiritual Practice, June 20 @ Homewood
• Chesapeake Quarter Meeting, June 28

To submit your items for the BYM Weekly Announcements,
please email Admin@bym-rsf.org. 

Baltimore Yearly Meeting
17100 Quaker Lane | Sandy Spring, MD | 20860 USA
www.bym-rsf.org

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17100 Quaker Lane | Sandy Spring, MD 20860 US