FWCC Americas will hold our hybrid 2025 Section Meeting March 20 - 23 at the Franciscan Retreat Center in Scottsdale, Arizona and online.
Register today! All Friends are welcome!
You will be inspired! The theme of the event is "Building the Future as Way Opens."
The workshops will also center on this theme of experimentation.
You will have great opportunities for worship, relaxation, connection, nature, and widening your perspective. We will be posting an at-a-glance and full schedule very soon. Check back for updates!
Debbie Humphries grew up Mormon and came to Quakerism in the early 1990s. Since then she has been a member of Ithaca MM, Charleston MM, Hartford MM and she is now worshiping with Albuquerque Friends in New Mexico. Debbie teaches at the Yale School of Public Health and conducts research on public health nutrition and community health. She and her husband live on a small ranch/farm in rural New Mexico.
Evan Welkin is a member of Olympia MM (NPYM) and serves as the Executive Secretary of FWCC Americas since July 2024. He lived for many years in Italy where he served FWCC in the Europe and Middle East Section and the World Office while building local and global networks among Friends. He is a graduate of the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program at Guilford College and the Young Adult Leadership Programme of the Woodbrooke Study Centre.
Ana Gabriela is a member of Reunion General de los Amigos en Mexico, has been involved with FWCC for more than 20 years, and has contributed as the coordinator of the group of interpreters for the Section. Since June 2024, she serves as the Quaker Digital Glossary Project Coordinator. She currently lives in Winnipeg where she is studying for a master's degree in Natural Resources Management carrying out the project "Development of an indigenous-led Ecotourism Strategy for the Anishinaabe Nation".
She attends the Winnipeg Quaker Monthly Meeting in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
Join us to discuss the challenge of creating a Prophetic Hope in the face of today's interconnected global crises. Keith Runyan, new General Secretary of Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW), will discuss his calling to merge the practical with the prophetic, introducing Friends to the work of Quaker Earthcare Witness and bringing his own ministry on the response needed from Friends today. We will wrap up with a demo of QEW's new QuakerEarth Action Map as the first phase of its strategic plan to inspire and empower Friends to take climate action and learn from one another's efforts around the world.
Join Kevin Mortimer, professor of Quaker Studies at Barclay College, for a Bible Study worth experimenting with. We'll explore the scriptures used for the Section meeting theme.
Founded by Quakers and global in scale, AVP is a practical toolbox of applied peacemaking skills that can be used in many different contexts. Learn from Bolivian Friend Magaly Quispe, who has applied this technology to bring transformative power to a variety of social issues: Bolivian prisons, protecting teens from relationship violence, and safe spaces for education and growing healthy food. Magaly believes it is not enough to say God is love, we have to show that God is love. See how PAV Bolivia does this and learn tools that can be applied in the context your own church/meeting is in.
More info coming soon!
What would right relationship among Native and non-Native peoples of the Americas look like? How can we begin to take steps in that direction in our meetings and communities? The Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples (TRR) program promotes education, reflection, dialogue, and action in response to these queries. Our goal is to build relationships based on truth, respect, justice, and our shared humanity. In this workshop, TTR co-director Paula Palmer will demonstrate a workshop format that can help meetings begin to build right relationships.
plus, the possibility of an interest group: Interest Group: The Quaker Indian Boarding Schools
During the 19th century, U.S. Quakers collaborated with the federal government's policy of forced assimilation of Native children by operating Indian boarding schools. I am researching the roles Quakers played, the harms that were inflicted on Native children and their families, and the ongoing consequences in Native communities today. I'll share some research findings and ask Friends to share thoughts about what this means to us as Friends today. How are we led to act?
Thank you for registering for the FWCC Americas 2025 Section Meeting! Please register below if you live in the USA or Canada. There will be a separate registration form for Friends living in South and Central America and it will be in Spanish. If you are registering multiple people, please fill out the information below for one person in your group, then select "add Friend" at the bottom of the page. We are asking all Friends to stay in double rooms to get to know more people and to accommodate more Friends.
The FWCC Americas Section Meeting is the main event where Friends from the Arctic to the Andes will be meeting in fellowship, worship, Bible study, workshops, home groups and more. (Thursday - Sunday)
Are you an adult under the age of 35? We have been blessed to have a group coordinating activities for Young Adult Friends (YAF) to hold a bilingual pre-event.
Only invited guests can join this pre gathering. Quaker Connect participants are welcome to join the main FWCC section meeting.
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The Friends World Committee is a volunteer-led organization. We ask everyone who is able to consider volunteering for a role to help out at the Section Meeting. Feedback from our past event participants show that volunteering at this event is rewarding because it provides you with more opportunities to connect with others.
This role requires some technical skills, and it will be fun for someone who will enjoy greeting people as they arrive.
This involves assistance with the virtual portion of sessions
This could involve moving chairs and walking.
This will involve things like making phone calls and moving papers while seated.
This role will involve coordination of healthcare-related needs on site, particularly triage of concerns. Ideally to be filled by someone with professional medical experience, but with no requirement for treatment or formal certification
This role requires 3 hours advance reading and preparation.
Are you willing to be an accessibility volunteer? This may include accompanying and assisting others at meals, bringing meals to a “Quiet Room,” driving to pick up equipment or supplies that are needed for accessibility purposes, etc.
Please provide more information about your interest group below
We are making efforts at this Section Meeting to be especially mindful of our friends with mobility and other accessibility issues. We will have an accessibility coordinator on-site to coordinate accommodation issues that arise and volunteers to assist individuals. If you anticipate that you will need accessibility assistance during the meeting, it will be helpful in our planning for you to tell us as much in advance as possible. This information will remain confidential and you can change your mind about accessibility accommodations during the meeting.
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People often ask for a list of contact information for other people at the Section Meeting. Please check here if you don't want your name and email address to be listed.
