The QEW Story

"We gathered and acted after hearing an address by Marshall Massey, author of “In Defense of the Peaceable Kingdom,” at Oberlin College in July, 1987. We are still in process of defining our mission and activities and name." BeFriending Creation, August 15, 1987

FOR SIX DAYS at the Friends General Conference Gathering at Oberlin College our workshop group has considered questions of how to live in harmony with the natural environment. Together with all the Gathering we have listened to Marshall Massey speak about the necessity for a Quaker testimony on unity with nature.

We have concluded from our worship and our study that there is, indeed, a need for Friends to give forceful witness to the holiness of creation and to demonstrate in their lives the meaning of this testimony.

We believe right relationship with our natural environment is basic to the achievement of peace and a just social order, and the equitable distribution of the world’s resources, both today and through generations to come

Arising from the Gathering is a continuing organization of Friends concerned for unity with nature. We call upon Friends everywhere to join us in support of this group, and in continuing consideration of, and witness to, a corporate testimony on living in unity with nature.

Epistle formulated collectively by the participants of the 1987 FGC workshop, led by Bill and Alice Howenstine.

The beginning line-up of officers and representatives:

Clerk Bill Howenstine
Treasurer Steven Elkinton
Recording Clerk Lella Russell Smith
Program Coordinator Carol Dunbar Kimbrough
Newsletter editor Jack Phillips
Regional representatives coordinator Fannie Fonseca-Becker
Regional Representatives:
Midwest Karen Greenleaf
Southeast Drew Foster
Pacific Yearly Meeting Bob Schutz
Pacific NW, Canada eric maya joy
Mid-Atlantic Fannie Fonseca-Becker

They began fast and furious and as you can see BeFriending Creation took right off! (There had been a Unity with Nature newsletter published by Pacific Yearly Meeting Unity with Nature committee and edited by Bob Schutz since 1985!) The logo of hands holding the Earth followed soon after in November, 1987, designed by Lucy Sikes of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Membership in QEW reached a plateau of 300 by 1990 and stayed about the same until 1994, at which point it started to grow again and now we are 1,400. The expenditures budget has grown as follows:
	1987—$ 0 1989—$8,928 1991—$10,261 1993—$10,036 1995—$33,656** 1997—$39,670 1999—$46,520 2001—$88,130 2003—$73,040 2005—$67,617 (10 months)	1988—$767* 1990—$7,500 1992—$10,125 1994—$13,886 1996—$34,020 1998—$44,085 2000—$78,325 2002—$76,225 2004—$79,936; 2006—$87,310

*This does not include BeFriending Creation expenses (can’t determine them from the minutes)
**This big jump is due to hiring a general secretary. Until this time all the work was done by volunteers except editing the newsletter These amounts do not include our two projects, AK/SL and QEW-NL, who raise their own funds.

Past clerks have been:
Bill Howenstine, clerk July, 1987 to July, 1988
Isabel Bliss and Robert Pollard, co-clerks July, 1988 – October, 1988
eric maya joy, clerk October 1988 – October 1990
Isabel Bliss, clerk October 1990 – October 1992
Bill Howenstine, clerk October 1992 – October, 1993
Ted Bernard, clerk October 1993 – October 1995
Tom Small, clerk October 1995 – October 1998
Lisa Gould, clerk October 1998 – July 1999
Stan Becker, clerk July 1999 – October 2002
Kim Carlyle, clerk October 2002 – October 2004
Barbara Williamson, clerk October 2004 – to present

Amy Weber wrote:

The early morning outside worship at the FGC Gathering was started at Boone in 1988. After we got there I asked Lyle Jenks, FGC staff, for permission to schedule something outside. The gays and lesbians had a 5:00 pm worship everyday so we had to take early morning. Paul & I scouted the campus but all we could find was the back of an artificial pond. I posted a had-made sign on the dining room door and the next morning 5 of us showed up at 7:00 am and sat on the ground under some trees watching the ducks. By the end of the week we had maybe 10 people who joined in.

After that I pestered Lyle Jenks every year to put a notice of the early morning worship in the advanced announcement. He would pick out a spot for us when he made his scouting visit in March to size up rooms for workshops, etc.

I hope it will always go on. Those mornings in the fresh air before the rest of the world began to stir were my favorite times at the Gathering.

And it has continued and is an integral part of the Gathering as is the QEW center with so many fine afternoon activities offered all week.

In this section there is a copy of the notes from the retreat at Zion National Park in the spring of 1998. Although these are not formally approved minutes, they have been and are extremely important in the life of QEW. That retreat was planned to help us envision the future of QEW.

In May, 2003 we changed our mission statement and in October 2003 we changed our name from Friends Committee on Unity with Nature to Quaker Earthcare Witness. In 2004 we changed our fiscal year from the calendar year to November 1 through October 31.

A complete set of BeFriending Creations is available from the QEW office which can be loaned, or purchased for $60. There is also a complete set of minutes available for loan from the office. These newsletters and minutes give a wonderful picture of the good work done over the last seventeen years.