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Friends United Meeting |
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June 1999
News from Friends United Meeting
Grants Large and Small Enhance FUM's Work
Grants Large and Small Enhance FUM's Work
Hallways in the Richmond, Indiana, offices of Friends United Meeting rang with cheers in the first week of May. The American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA) program of USAID has notified FUM that it wishes to begin negotiations for awarding a grant of up to $800,000 to FUM for the Ramallah Friends School. Funds are to be expended for the construction of a new multipurpose building. It will include a cafeteria, library, classrooms and volunteer housing.
In addition, Friends United Meeting and FUM supported overseas projects have been the recipient of several small grants in recent months. A recent grant from the Obadiah Brown Benevolent Fund helped FUM to purchase a digital video camera. The grant has already made an impact on the production of Quaker Life: digitized photos from camera footage taken by FUM staff visiting Kenya appear on pages 13 and 19.
The trustees raised the issue of the Friends testimony of simplicity in light of developing technology. It is an issue with which FUM staff grapples, as well.
Several months earlier, the Obadiah Brown Fund also awarded a grant to Friends Theological College, Kenya, for library improvements and for the local purchase of new books and resources. Funds from the grant have been used to construct new shelving units and to expand available resources for students. FTC was also the recipient of a small grant from the Lindley Murray Fund of New York Yearly Meeting, which will help to replace the leaking roof on one of the two men's dormitories.
Field Staff Visitation
Following this summer's Triennial sessions (July 14-18), several FUM field staff representatives will be available to speak in local meetings. If your meeting is interested in a particular institution or area supported by FUM's World Ministries Department, please feel free to contact Kristi Nicholson or John Myers in the World Ministries office.
Chain of Prayer
The Chain of Prayer extends through the Triennial sessions, July 14-18,1999. Mary Glenn Hadley, who coordinates the Chain of Prayer, said, "This is particularly powerful way for Friends who are not able to come to the Triennial sessions to be part of it." There are still several days in June and July for Meetings that are interested in taking 12- or 24-hour blocks of time to pray for Friends work world-wide. More than 180 Meetings across North America are already participating in the Chain of Prayer.
Copyright (c) 1999 Friends United Meeting