A Small Meeting with a Big Heart
As one of the smaller meetings in Bucks Quarter, Quakertown Meeting has been very busy these past few months – since the end of September, one member and two attenders have been participating in a weekly social justice vigil in Milford, New Jersey. A small group of caring Milford residents started this in June, and they reached out to the QMM in the fall in hopes that some of us would join them, and we did.
With the increased food insecurity due to the downturned economy as well as the pandemic, QMM has made a concerted effort to support the Flemington Area Food Pantry with regular donations, along with monetary support. The Meeting has always supported various food drives throughout the years, but have really stepped up this year with an abundance of food and personal care products for the Pantry.
Every winter, QMM members and attenders provide holiday gifts for fifty children at Mercer Street Friends Preschool in Trenton. One attender was curious as to when the gift partnership with MSF began, so she perused the old meeting minutes (now digitized!) and discovered that in the 1980s and early 1990s the Meeting provided gifts and clothing for children through local Hunterdon County social service agencies, like the Women’s Crisis Center, or ‘adopted’ a family in need. In 1995, QMM began the long standing tradition with Mercer Street Friends. Every year, members and attenders look forward to purchasing gifts for the little ones. Some people say this is a holiday tradition in which their whole family participates. Two years ago QMM asked preschool director, Lisa Banks, if she could provide some of the children’s’ toy/book wishes along with their names and ages, and this has enabled people to really personalize the presents. And, this is the second year that hand knitted hats and scarves accompanied the gifts.