Intergenerational Book Project, 2011-2012
Sponsored by the PYM Youth Program Coordinator & Supervisory Committee
Featured Book:
Build It! A Toolkit for Nurturing Intergenerational Spiritual Community
by the Youth Ministries Program of Friends General Conference
Pacific Yearly Meeting’s Youth Program Coordinator (YPC) & Committee are providing one printed copy of the Build It! Toolkit to each Meeting and Worship Group in California and Nevada, and electronic copies are available. “Custodians of the Book” in each Meeting / Worship Group (i.e., volunteer first-readers and liaisons) are charged with reading the book, passing it throughout their MM/WG with an explanation of the project, and reporting back to the YPC about how their Meeting is using it. Together they make up the “Order of the Custodians of the Book,” a playful way of saying that this will be an ongoing group effort. Please see the list below for the current members of this Friendly Order.
This book will serve as a touchstone at upcoming events the Coordinator and Committee are organizing or supporting: Quarterly Meetings, FAP / Adult Ally Trainings (Spring 2012), Intergenerational Workshop at Quaker Center(August 2012), Annual Gathering (August 2012), and beyond.
What will your Monthly Meeting or Worship Group do with the insights this book offers?
We invite Friends to participate in our book project in many ways: read the book, talk about it within your Meetings and among Friends, try out some of the activities, consider its advices and queries, come to our committee-sponsored events, check out what other Meetings are doing, and give us feedback about what you discover.
This Toolkit provides Friends with a shared vocabulary and framework, queries, and activities for improving the state of equality and community in our Society of Friends with regards to age. It also points to important parallels with other forms of diversity and unity among us. Many of the activities can be adapted to address how we might do a better job welcoming and including newcomers and other marginalized groups. In the book, “FGC has gathered a compilation of best practices for building youth-included community…. The book contains an introduction and six chapters of discussion, explanation and resources, 38 activities and games, plus… 12 ‘How Tos’ and the script for the skit A Short History of Quakerism in 10 Easy Points.” Additional copies can be purchased at QuakerBooks (https://fgcquaker.org/toolkit) for $11 printed, $5 electronic.
We have permission from FGC to distribute the electronic (.pdf) version within PYM – ask Alyssa Nelson or your Custodian for a copy. However, if you can afford the $5 cost of the .pdf, please download it from the FGC website to make a financial contribution to their good work.
Excerpt:
“We hope this Toolkit helps your meeting engage in deep listening—to God, to each other, and to those who feel their voices have been ignored. We try to create spaces in which older and younger Friends feel empowered to communicate freely and openly with one another; to worship together; and to build spiritual community together. We hope that this Toolkit will help your meeting listen deeply to one another and to your experiences of the Divine. We hope it will help you talk, play, serve, worship, and form relationships that last a lifetime.” (xi)
THE “ORDER OF THE CUSTODIANS OF THE BOOK”
(List as of 12 December 2011)
Monthly Meetings (33): *
- Appleseed – ?
- Berkeley- ?
- CentralCoast- ?
- Chico– Eric Anderson
- Claremont – Karen Vance
- Davis– Nan Rowan
- Delta – ?
- Fresno- ?
- GrassValley– Amy Cooke
- Humboldt – ?
- Inland Valley – Sue Scott
- La Jolla – Jim Summers
- Live Oak – Jeff Richman
- Marin – ?
- Marloma Long Beach – ?
- Mendocino – ?
- MontereyPeninsula- ?
- NapaSonoma- ?
- Orange County – John Sisson
- Orange Grove – Sarah Rose House-Lightner
- Palo Alto- ?
- Redding – Doug Milhous
- RedwoodForest- ?
- Reno- ?
- Sacramento- ?
- San Diego – Chuck Orr
- San Francisco– Alice Sowaal
- San Jose– Jeff Kroeber
- Santa Barbara – Nancy Lynch
- Santa Cruz– Bill Visher
- Santa Monica – Kate Watkins
- Strawberry Creek – Josh Gallup
- Visalia– Kristin Beasley
Worship Groups (10):
- Conejo Valley – Don Bean
- Friends House – ?
- LakeCounty- ?
- Las Vegas – Jennifer Carr
- Modesto- ?
- Oakland- ?
- Ojai – ?
- Southern Humboldt – ?
- Ukiah – ?
- Whitleaf – ?
Committees of PYM:
- JYM – Steve Leeds (San Francisco)
- Ministry & Oversight – Lanny Jay (RedwoodForest)
- Peace & Social Order – Mary Garman (San Jose)
- Racial Justice-M&O Subcommittee – Jim Summers (La Jolla)
- Religious Ed for Children – Bill Visher (Santa Cruz)
- Unity with Nature – ?
- Young Friends – ?
Quarters and Organizations:
- CPQM M&O – Elizabeth Boardman (Davis)
- CPQM Teen Committee – Jim Anderson (Chico)
- Quaker Center– Kathy Runyan
- SCQM M&C – ?
- SCQM Teen “Quaker Adventures” – ?
- Woolman / Sierra Friends Center/ CPFEA – Dorothy Henderson
Other Members: the Youth Program Coordinator & Supervisory Committee: Cara Arcuni (Palo Alto), Elizabeth Boardman (Davis), Lanny Jay (Redwood Forest), Mary Klein (Palo Alto), Steve Leeds (San Francisco), Alyssa Nelson (Davis), Jim Summers (La Jolla), Kate Watkins (Santa Monica)
Note: Italics = SCQM; Non-italics = CPQM; Hawaii, Mexico, and Guatemala are initially excluded during the Youth Program Pilot Period, but are welcome to join in the fun.
If your Meeting, Worship Group, Committee, or group doesn’t yet have a designated “Custodian of the Book” and you are inspired to volunteer (or if you need to designate a substitute), please contact Alyssa: pym.youthcoordinator@gmail.com / (530) 563-6369.
Requirements: interest in intergenerational community, willingness to share, plays well with others. Co-Custodians welcome (teen-adult pairs encouraged).