THE FRIDAY BEE                                                               March 6, 2026

   ⏰ REMEMBER – Change your clocks forward 1 hour on Saturday night! ⏰

 SCHEDULE FOR SUNDAY, MARCH 8 

9:00am

Meeting for Business

Hybrid –

In Committee Room, and use same Zoom link as for worship.

10:20am

Greeter

Dorothy Cary

10:30am

Child Care

Starts in kindergarten building across the driveway

10:30am

Meeting for Worship

Hybrid: in-person & on Zoom

10:50am

First Day School

Older children attend Meeting for Worship with their families until 10:50 am, when their teachers will lead them to the Committee Room.

Questions? Please contact  Carla Childs.

Note: Children of any age are always welcome to remain with their families in Meeting for Worship.

11:30am

Introductions & Announcements

Anthony Stover

11:35am

Zoom Social Time

Zoom attendees, please stay online to join in a Zoom social time after Meeting for Worship!

11:40am

Refreshments

Beth Rafter and Vincent McCarthy

PROTOCOL FOR MEETING FOR WORSHIP (Zoom, hybrid, in-person)

Please maintain silence as you enter the Zoom meeting or the meetinghouse so Friends can center and settle into worship. Masks are optional in the meetinghouse. Feel free to wear one if you wish. We have a supply if you’ve forgotten yours. If you have a fever or are feeling unwell, please stay home and join our worship on Zoom.

 MONTHLY MEETING FOR BUSINESS

Germantown Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends

Sunday, March 8, 9:00 - 10:15am

Hybrid: On Zoom & in-person. Please use the Meeting for Worship zoom link.

AGENDA

  • Query 4 – Faye Steacy
  • Opening worship
  • Review of agenda – Karen Lightner
  • Approval of the Minutes from the February 2026 Business Meetings
  • Care and Visiting – Peter Samuel
  • Fundraising Committee - Jonathan Rhoads
  • Worship and Ministry - Rob Smith
  • Spiritual State of the Meeting Report - Karen Lightner
  • Racial and Social Justice - Ed Nakawatase
  • Trustees - Bill Stassen
  • Announcements
  • Closing Worship

(Attenders are welcome at business meeting. Please notify the clerk (Karen Lightner) in advance if you wish to attend.)

MEETING NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

ANTI-RACISM DISCUSSION GROUP MEETING

When? This Monday, March 9, 7:00pm on Zoom

We will discuss things connected to Black History Month; anti-Ice activities, recent and upcoming elections, and more. Interested in attending? Contact John Colgan-Davis

SEEKING VOLUNTEERS TO HOST SMALL, FUN GMM GATHERINGS

Volunteers needed to host small get-togethers in their homes (8-10 folks?) from our Meeting (GMM). These popular events are fun, casual gatherings, and a fantastic way for us to get to know each other better.

What might these look like?

The options are limitless! A dinner (some of you might remember the old “Friendly 8’s dinners”); an afternoon tea; a wine & cheese gathering; a weekend brunch; a picnic; anything, really!

These are typically potluck, last for a couple of hours, and can be as casual (or fancy!), as thematic, as family-oriented (or even pet-friendly!), as each host prefers.

Interested in volunteering to host? 

CHILI LUNCH JOY & GRATITUDE

We enjoyed a robust and joyful Chili Lunch last Sunday – intergenerational, newcomers, oldtimers, QVS Fellows – all chatting and laughing over many bowls of chili with cornbread!

Abundant gratitude to the Fellowship Committee & other loyal volunteers for making this a success – including but not limited to: Jonathan Busser, Dorothy Cary, Moira Duggan, Katy Hineline, Sarah Kaufman, Janet Kroll, Karen Lightner, Beth & John Rafter, Brieaunna Sprague, and Bill Stassen… as well as all of the helping hands that cleared & wiped down tables, and broke down the set up. Many hands make light work.

  • Next all-meeting event: Annual Porch Potluck Picnic on Sunday, June 7! Mark your calendars now!
SAVE THE DATE – GMM RETREAT 🌲🛶

Happening May 1-3, 2026 at Camp Dark Waters in nearby Medford, NJ.

Join us for a time of spiritual nourishment and community bonding. We will enjoy shared meals, worship, and fun activities for all ages, including canoeing, a ropes course, nature walks, and fireside singing. We’re committed to making the retreat accessible for all.

  • Registration and additional information coming very soon!
2026 MOTTO CALENDARS ARE HERE!

These handy, inspirational calendars are available while supplies last.

They will be in a box on the back counter of the Committee Room during Refreshments on Sundays. While supplies last. Enjoy!

If you feel so moved, $1 donation is welcomed in the small wooden box on the wall near the Social Room. 

VOLUNTEERS STILL NEEDED TO PROVIDE REFRESHMENTS THIS SPRING! ☕ 🍪

We all appreciate a cup of coffee/tea and snacks after worship.

These yummy refreshments rely on volunteers to make that possible every week.

Please volunteer to provide refreshments this winter & spring!

We need volunteers on these dates:

  • March 29  ◆  April 19  ◆  May 3, 10, 24, 31

Please contact Mike Pechter or click here to sign up 

  • You can also use this same volunteer form to sign up to Greet at the door, or Close worship from the facing bench, or provide Refreshments! Many options to participate. THANK YOU!

Note: Refreshments expenses are reimbursable or can be credited as in-kind donations to GMM.

SEND GMM YOUR UPDATED CONTACT INFORMATION!

Do you have a new cell phone number? Finally cancelled that landline?

No longer use an old email address? Or have a preferred one? Have you moved, and not told us?

Please send in any changes to your contact information, so we can update the Meeting’s records:

QUAKER NEWS & EVENTS

COME HAVE PRETZELS & ICE CREAM AT THE PHILADELPHIA QVS SOCIAL! 🥨

When? Tomorrow, Saturday, March 7, 1:00 - 3:00pm

Where? Green Street Friends Meeting (45 School House Lane)

Please come mingle with past, present and future Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS) community members, learn about QVS, and get some tasty treats! This is a special opportunity to meet the new QVS Executive Director, Greg Stefanski, and the current QVS Fellows! So many people help to make the QVS program possible, so we hope to bring everyone together for a fun-filled event. QVS Alumni, Local Support Committee Members, Donors, Site Placement Supervisors, Spiritual Nurturers, and anyone interested in learning more. We encourage you to bring a friend!

NAVIGATING THE UNEXPECTED: STREET SKILLS FOR CROWDS

When? Tomorrow, Saturday, March 7, 1:30 - 5:30pm

Where? Friends Center (1501 Cherry Street)

In this experiential training, we’ll sink our teeth into a variety of scenario examples and explore how to navigate complex situations including one on one de-escalation, managing large groups in emergent street scenarios, and shifting risk assessments. This training will be led by trainers from Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT), and is hosted by Central Philadelphia Friends Meeting. Participants will leave with skills for a variety of marches and actions. All are welcome!

UPDATE INFO SESSION ON PYM LAWSUIT VS. HOMELAND SECURITY

When? Tuesday, March 10, 5:30pm

Where? On Zoom

PYM will have an information session on the current status of their lawsuit against the US Department of Homeland Security, in which they challenged a presidential executive order on immigration enforcement that we believe interferes with our freedom of religious expression. Attorneys from Democracy Forward, who represent PYM and the other plaintiffs on our litigation, will provide an update and answer questions.

GET INVOLVED WITH FRIENDS ENDING GUN VIOLENCE COLLABORATIVE

Friends Ending Gun Violence Collaborative (FEGVC) is looking for Friends to join our collaborative and to attend events that they support in the wider community including – Heeding God’s Call to End Gun Violence, With One Voice Interfaith Coalition (part of CeaseFire PA), and the Souls Shot Portrait Project. 

  • They meet on Zoom, the last Wednesday of each month at 8:00am.
  • Visit their webpage for more information - click here.
REGISTER NOW FOR PYM SPRING CONTINUING SESSIONS

When? Friday, March 13 - Sunday March 15

Where? All events will take place on zoom in an online-only format.

PYM Friends are invited to join Spring Continuing Sessions! Our theme “Members One of Another” reminds us that each individual is a necessary part of the whole Body, with important gifts to share.

PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING (PYM)

GERMANTOWN FRIENDS SCHOOL (GFS) NEWS & EVENTS

ATTEND GFS MEETING FOR WORSHIP DURING THE WEEK

GFS welcomes GMM to attend Meeting for Worship during the school year.

  • Middle School Worship: Monday, 3/9, 10:20 - 11:00am
  • Upper School Worship: Thursday, 3/12 10:10 - 11:00am        
ESSENTIALLY GFS: SPRING NIGHT CLASSES – Sign up by April 8!

When? Wednesdays, April 15 - May 6, 6:30-8:30 pm

Where? GFS All School Commons

GMM is invited to sign up for a course at GFS to explore cross-disciplinary ideas – from history to literature to art –  and learn and connect across generations. Classes are pay-what-you-can.

REMEMBERING LONGTIME GFS FACULTY MEMBER LARRY SIMMONS

Larry Simmons passed away after a long illness on February 4, 2026. He began teaching at GFS in 1969, leaving briefly at the end of 1972 but returning in 1976 after receiving a diploma in contemporary French literature from the Sorbonne. He retired in 2004. Throughout his time at GFS, he taught French; in the 1970s and 80s, he also taught Latin and Spanish; he was head of the Modern Language Department from 1987-92.

An educator of his stature is a gift, and he made a deep impact on those who had the good fortune of being in his classes. Upon his retirement, one of his former students remarked, ”What Larry taught was greater than French, greater than language. What Larry taught was how to learn.” This speaks to Larry’s remarkable legacy and gifts as an educator.

There will be no service, but Larry’s husband, Jim Akerberg, would welcome remembrances of Larry –

Jim Akerberg, 600 E Cathedral Rd., Apt. D216, Phila., PA 19128-1928

TAKE ACTION!

NO KINGS / PROTESTS SONGS

Joining in with a growing chorus of locally written "No Kings" songs around the country – here's the contribution of a small place in Oregon. Use these easy short protest songs and chants, and feel free to pass them on to other places. These songs, chants and call & response lyrics are free for non-profit use and protest purposes, including by choirs, people on the streets, by use in podcasts and broadcasts and others taking a stand for making things better in the world for all. These materials may be freely shared.

GUIDE TO ICE WATCH HOTLINES AND IMMIGRATION RESOURCES

Provided by GMM member John Colgan Davis; also available at the resource table at GMM on Sundays. 

A list of resources and organizations with guidance on immigration support.

Many of these on-the-ground organizations have been working with immigrant communities for years.

TRYING TO FIND SOCIAL JUSTICE EVENTS?

Mobilize is a central posting site that has opportunities concerning local actions for protest and in support of social justice.

➤ LIST OF ONGOING/WEEKLY SOCIAL JUSTICE EVENTS

CLICK HERE for a list of ongoing, weekly/regularly scheduled vigils & protests supporting immigrants, Palestine, peace, Constitutional rights, etc.

  • Includes standing events such as — Fridays @ Fettermans, Mondays @ McCormicks, We the People Wednesdays, etc.

(These used to be listed every week in the Friday Bee, but we are consolidating them into their own linked document.)

Have more ongoing protests and vigils to include? Send them to the GMM Office (gmm@germantownfriends.org)

GERMANTOWN & NEARBY

AUTHOR TALK:  1688 PROTEST AGAINST SLAVERY

When?  Friday, March 13, 7:00pm

Where? Historic Germantown Mennonite Meetinghouse (6119 Germantown Ave)  

As a follow up to the February 28th event celebrating the first protest against slavery in America, Germantown Mennonite Historic Trust will be hosting a book reading and discussion with Tom Weiner, co-author of, In Defiance, featuring the 1688 protest against slavery. An opportunity to go in-depth about this important historic event, learn more about abolitionism throughout American history, and its relevance to current events.

SIGN UP FOR WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH LECTURE AT WYCK

Science and the Single Woman: The Intellectual Foundations Behind the Spinster Stereotype in the Early United States

When? Wednesday, March 18, 6:00 - 7:30pm

Where? Wyck Historic House, Garden, & Farm (6026 Germantown Avenue)

Stereotypes about never-married single women span the centuries and surface in societies and cultures the world over. In the early United States, ideas about “spinsters” and “old maids” found backing in both political economic thought and medical science.

“Science and the Single Women” explains the persistence of the Anglo-American spinster stereotype by tracing the medical beliefs that made marriage to a man appear vital to a woman’s health and the preservation of her beauty. The talk also explores the rise of seemingly positive depictions of female singleness in the early 1800s.

QUAKER RESOURCES

OTHER (VIRTUAL) WORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
  • Pendle Hill – Daily Zoom meeting for worship online from 8:30-9:10 am
  • Friends Council on National Legislation (FCNL) Witness Wednesdays: Weekly worship at 5:15pm (ET)
  • Friends General Conference’s (FGC) has many options for worship & discussion, including Newcomers & Seekers, Friends of Color Monthly worship, BIPOC Womxn’s space, White Friends Confronting Racism, Gen X Friends (new), Neurodivergent Friends (new). The offerings keep growing! Click here for the calendar
  • Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS) Worship with Attention to Gaza/Palestine: Tuesdays, 12:00noon (ET) 

FOR QUAKER NEWCOMERS: Friends General Conference New Quaker Hub

QUAKER ORGANIZATIONS

Stay connected with news, work and resources of various Friends groups. Bookmark them for easy reference

Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting (PQM)

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM)

Friends General Conference (FGC)

Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)

Friends Council on Education (FCE)

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)