Weekly Announcements for January 9, 2026

Friends gathered last night via zoom to share questions, concerns and comments regarding our recommendation that BYM form an LLC to manage the BYM Camping Program. The meeting started with a presentation about the proposed changes to camp governance and the discernment so far. The recording is now available to watch at the link below. On January 31st at 1:00pm, BYM will gather for a Called Meeting for Worship for the Conduct of Business to further consider both this proposal and the 2026 budget. 

The Women's Retreat is just a few weeks away - being held Jan 23-25 at the Pearlstone Retreat Center. While registration is now closed, we have a few spots opening up on the wait list. To join the wait list, complete a registration at the link below but choose "Pay Later" and do not pay until your spot is confirmed. For Friends already registered, you'll receive an email with final details soon. We cannot wait to see you there! 

The Sue Thomas Turner Quaker Education Fund was established in Baltimore Yearly Meeting in 1996 in recognition of Sue Thomas Turner's long support of Quaker education and Quaker values in public education. Its purpose is to: support the understanding and use of Quaker faith and practice in school communities and support the development of lives lived in the Spirit of Friends by members of school communities. Applications are open through March 1st.  

Friends Adult Mentors provide support, encouragement, and supervision to BYM's middle- and high school-aged youth conferences ("Cons"). Our FAMs lend their judgment to young people (without being judgmental) as they practice Quaker process and self-governance. In addition to providing 24/7 chaperone presence, FAM offer workshops - especially for JYFs - on topics of interest including art, outdoor skills, Quaker process, and more! We rely on FAM to support youth programming, and FAM report a high-level of joy in their service to younger people. 

We have two upcoming virtual FAM trainings followed by an in-person "FAM Con" to learn the ropes. 

• Virtual FAM Training Option 1 - Fri, Feb 22 @ 2pm - 5pm
• Virtual FAM Training Option 2 - Wed, Feb 25, @7pm - 9pm
• In-Person FAM Con, March 7-8 @ Stony Run

Interested? Email GenevieveLegowski@bym-rsf.org or complete a FAM application at the link below! Friends who are unable to attend the in-person FAM Con in March are still encouraged to apply and attend a virtual trainings! 

Join us for a national midwinter gathering for young adult Friends, Feb. 13-16, 2026 at Camp Onas, PA! This retreat is organized by the adult young Friends community of Friends General Conference, and it welcomes Quakers and the Quaker-curious between the ages of 18-35. The theme of the gathering is Quilting Community. There will be lots of time spent nurturing f/Friendship: breaking bread together, joining for worship, board games, workshops, exploring nature, evening chats, and celebration! Our programming will focus on how the community we quilt together—how we treat, welcome, and organize ourselves in a shared space—seeds a vision for the future of Quakerism. Whether this is your first time in a Quaker space or your one-hundredth, this gathering is for you!

The BYM Working Group on Racism is interested in what your Meeting is currently discussing as it relates to race. Meetings across the Yearly Meeting are using various means for gathering, learning, and discerning together to build our collective capabilities to become an anti-racism faith community. We would be grateful to learn which of these your meeting is using, has used or is considering:

• Awareness of racial wounding, and intentional monitoring to address it in the moment
• Book study or discussion group(s)
• Digging into Quakers’ radical past
• Digging into your Meeting’s historical relationship to enslavement
• Discovering local historical information in your community
• Having regular conversations about race
• Watching a film with a discussion following

We would be especially glad to learn what in these activities was helpful -- or not. Email the Clerk of the WGR, Beth Haw, at menkhaw@gmail.com. 

The Friends Committee on National Legislation is seeking their next Lead Lobbyist for Sustainable Energy and Environment. FCNL is especially interested in candidates who have experience and interest in working among Friends on climate concerns. 

BYM Friends Steve will speak to Friends about nurturing a sustainable peace by ending our complicity with the US-backed system of apartheid in Palestine and explore how Quakers can work nonviolently for peace, justice, and equality for all Palestinians and Jewish Israelis.

• January 17 @ Homewood, 1pm
• February 1 @ Richmond, 1pm (stay tuned for the link)

• BYM Grants & Scholarships Now Open
  • Educational Scholarship
  • Miles White Beneficial Society
• 2026 Spiritual State of the Meeting Report Request
• Save the Date: Peace & Social Concerns Networking Day, March 14

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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