In recent weeks, Friends United Meeting has shared openly about the financial pressures we are currently experiencing. These are challenging days, and yet, in the midst of this strain, we continue to witness profound expressions of love, faith, and solidarity from across our community.
We are especially blessed by Friends who have reached out with notes of care, by those who have stopped by our office simply to tell us they are praying for us, and by the many who remind us that we are not walking this season alone. Their kindness strengthens our spirits and renews our hope.
We have also been deeply moved by Friends who are taking extraordinary steps to raise awareness of FUM’s needs, and to provide practical support. One such example comes from Wilmington Yearly Meeting, whose members recently organized a creative fundraiser as a way of standing with Friends United Meeting. Their generosity and creative joy testifies to the deep bonds of fellowship that shape our life together.
They also approved two Minutes of Appreciation at their recent Fall sessions. One expresses gratitude for the ministry being carried forward by Friends United Meeting:
We express our gratitude and thanksgiving for the cross-cultural global partnership of FUM that works to unite us, especially during dangerous and divisive times. We affirm the four pillars that serve as FUM priorities: leadership and resource development in support of our Yearly Meetings so that we may become stronger individually and as members of the larger Quaker world; evangelism to identify, educate, and support the next generation of Quakers across the world; communication that unifies us in common understanding and mission; and identifying, building, and sustaining critically-needed global partnerships.
The other minute offers appreciation for the service of Dan Kasztelan, FUM’s Communications Director and a member of Wilmington Yearly Meeting:
Wilmington Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends sets forth this Minute of Appreciation in recognition of Dan Kasztelan for his personal, professional, and spiritual service in sharing and telling our stories as part of Friends United Meeting’s global commitment to communication among Friends so that those who are separated by mountains and oceans, by language and customs, may be mutually united by mission, faith, work, and shared Quaker testimonies.
Messages like these lift the spirit and remind us that our work is seen and supported across our wider fellowship. You can read these two minutes in complete form here.
—Kelly Kellum
General SecretaryFriends United Meeting
