Weekly Announcements for August 7, 2026

BYM is pleased to welcome Ted Heck (Richmond) as our new Presiding Clerk. Ted (all pronouns used with respect welcome) has been active throughout BYM since he was a Young Friend in the 1980s.  In addition to serving in various BYM capacities over the years, Ted is active with FGC and Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns. In his professional life, Ted works in HIV prevention and public health for state government. He lives near downtown and the James River in the City of Richmond with his partner, Levi Goren. The Heck-Goren household is (sadly) currently between pets, but that situation is temporary. Ted takes over as Presiding Clerk of BYM from Steph Ben (Adelphi), whose service as BYM Presiding Clerk began in 2020 and ended at Annual Session 2026. A Minute of Appreciation for Steph will come to the November Interim Meeting.

Ted will be responding to emails at YMclerk@bym-rsf.org starting next Friday, August 14th. In the interim, staff are busy "turning over" our digital infrastructure from Steph to Ted, both of whom volunteer their time to our Yearly Meeting amidst their full-time day jobs. For the next week, emails sent to YMclerk@bym-rsf.org will not be read nor receive a reply. If you need immediate attention before Aug 14, please email the General Secretary at GenSec@bym-rsf.org. 

Each summer we kick off a new BYM program year at Annual Session, when we confirm nominations to BYM committees and representative organizations. Later this month, staff will update the committee listservs and circulate a calendar of key dates and an updated handbook for committee work. The Committee Roster for 2026-2027 is now available, listing membership, committee clerks, and committee contact information. If your committee information is incorrect or does not include notation of the clerk, please email admin@bym-rsf.org. Thank you to our Nominating and Search Committees for their work to populate our Yearly Meeting's 37 committees and representative organizations! 

All BYM committee members are invited to a Committee Orientation on Tue, Sept 1 at 7:00pm. This orientation will cover key information for working together, including the calendar for the upcoming year, systems for requesting and spending money as a Committee, resources available to Committees, and processes and deadlines for bringing business items before the Yearly Meeting. The Committee Orientation is strongly encouraged for Committee Clerks and is especially helpful to Friends new to Yearly Meeting committee service. The orientation will take place via Zoom and a recording will be circulated. 

Annual Session may be over... but it's still camp! The last of our backpacking trips have returned to camp, and Session 3 campers head home this weekend. Next week, our camp staff will be hard at work debriefing the season together and packing up summer camp! Please continue to hold our staff and volunteers in the Light as they push through the home stretch after a big, beautiful, busy summer. After a staff sabbath week at the end of August, stay tuned to November Interim Meeting for the full report-out on the 2026 BYM Quaker Camps camping season! 

The Interchange, BYM's 100-year-old quarterly newsletter, seeks submissions from Monthly Meetings, worship groups, and BYM Committees. Community updates, photographs, and short articles are all welcome. Email submissions to admin@bym-rsf.org. Thank you! 

Steve Mohlke and O will again offer their fall workshop at Pendle Hill on liberatory clerking skills and principles, Nov 20-22 at Pendle Hill.This is an opportunity for both new and experienced clerks of Friends’ meetings and committees to meet and think together about the role of presiding clerk. The workshop will address racism in the context of Friends’ decision-making and clerking- lifting up decision-making processes that seek to liberate the Spirit among all participants.

Registration for the Fall Spiritual Formation Retreat is now open! The retreat, Sept 11-13 at the Claggett Center in Adamstown, MD, 

will gather under the theme Faithfulness: Nurturing our connection to Spirit and with each other in challenging times. As we gather in trusted community, we will explore the power of our spiritual lives to create the ballast we need to "steady the ship” as we navigate through rough waters. 

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