What Is YOUR Vision for the Future of Quaker Service?

I wrote this piece nearly twenty years ago and was overly optimistic about the future of Quaker service. Our ambitious hopes never materialized, but the spirit of Quaker service still persists. I hope that it will never die!

In the winter of 1993, over twenty  teenagers rose up during Southern California Quarterly Meeting and insisted that we start a youth service program. Their enthusiasm was so irresistible that Southern California Quarter decided to work with the American Friends Service Committee to fund this project and hire a part-time coordinator. In the fall of 1993 the first youth service project took place at a migrant camp in Northern San Diego county. Seeing Mexican workers housed in makeshift shacks without electricity and running water next to one of California’s most affluent communities was a mind-blowing experience that opened our eyes to the need for social transformation.

Re-building a “culture of service” among Friends and the American Friends Service Committee has been a slow, challenging process over the last nine years. Many of us lacked experience and training in how to organize youth service projects, and we had to improvise as we went along.  Fortunately, throughout this process, we were guided by a Vision and a Spirit that helped us through the difficult times. We have also been blessed with extremely dedicated adult helpers and teens.

The results of our efforts have been very gratifying, and at times amazing. There have been 5 week-long Mexico projects, each involving an average of 25 adults and youth. There have also been over 36 weekend project involving hundreds of youth and adults. We have forged deep ties with a community in Mexico called Maclovio Rojas, and we have worked with a variety of environmental and social service groups that have expanded our awareness. For many  youth, as well as adults, these projects have been life-transforming experiences.

Our small, but mighty program has also been involved in a nation-wide effort to revitalize Quaker service called the Quaker Volunteer Service and Witness Network, currently centered at Earlham College.

A new phrase of our work has opened up now that Pacific Yearly Meeting has decided to meet for the next two years in San Diego.  If we schedule our Mexico project for the week before Yearly Meeting, as Mike Gray (my counterpart in Intermountain YM) does, we can expect participation in our project to grow from around 20 to over 40 teens. In order to insure safety and provide adequate supervision,  we will need to hire at least two adult coordinators and several young adult helpers. It is also likely that broad participation in the Mexico project will whet the appetite of youth and adults for more service projects and lead to a significant expansion of our program.

For the past few years, the So-Cal Youth Service Program has hoped to be able to do projects that include Northern as well as Southern California youth. A Way has definitely opened to insure that this will happen. 

During PYM, Northern and Southern California Friends involved in youth work met for the first time to discuss the current state as well as the future of Quaker youth activities. Among the participants in this discussion were Alan Edgar (clerk of Junior Yearly Meeting), Tom Farley, Barbara Babin, Barbara Flyn, Amy Cooke (principal of John Woolman School), Pat Smith, and myself.  It became clear that we needed to schedule a weekend retreat in the fall, probably at Visalia, to explore ways that we can enhance and expand our youth work. Youth will be included in these discussions.

What is YOUR vision for the future of Quaker Service? The AFSC/SCQM Youth Service Program is currently involved in a four-year planning process and welcomes your ideas and visions. Here are some of my personal hopes and dreams for the future of Quaker/AFSC youth work in California:

1)      Our week-long service project in Mexico will draw 50-60 participants, possibly over a two-week period, and become a “rite of passage” for Quaker youth, helping to deepen their understanding of Quaker testimonies, spirituality, and social concerns.

2)      Opportunities will be made available for college-age young people to serve as helpers and receive compensation for their work.

3)      Part-time coordinator(s) will be hired to help coordinate projects in Mexico as well as in Northern California, in places such as Visalia.

4)      The concept of “service” will be expanded to include field trips to FCL, HIP (Help Increase the Peace) training, leadership development, and multicultural activities. Quaker youth will have opportunities to become learn about and become involved with a wide range of AFSC programs.

5)      Our projects will attract significant numbers of non-Quaker youth, including youth of color.