Announcements, Events, Reports, etc.

Jean Sandstrom memorial January 4, 2019

 

Dear Friends –
I want to let you know that our beloved Friend  and DMVF Co-clerk Jean Sandstrom has passed into the light. How we will miss her.
Andy and Family will update us with memorial arrangements as they become clear, though it is likely that the services for her will be planned for Saturday, January 4.
Please continue to hold her family in the light. You can send cards to Andy Shaffer, Neal and Noemie, to 3927 Waveland Drive, Des Moines, IA 50311.
Thank you, All, for the beautiful love and care that you shared with Jean and her family during her illness.

Ann Robinson

Des Moines Valley Friends, Co-Clerk
A Quaker memorial service will be held Saturday, Jan. 4, at 11 a.m. in Waveland Hall at Plymouth Church, 4126 Ingersoll Ave., Des Moines. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service.

School Committee Announcement 10/28/2019

Scattergood logo

October 28, 2019

Dear Friends,

With the season of Autumnal transformation in the air we are passing along the news of our own change: this will be the last school year for Thomas and Amy Weber at Scattergood Friends School. We feel deep gratitude for the years they have lived and worked at the school and for the numerous contributions they have brought to the campus and the far reaching Scattergood community. Experience, dedication, vision, calm optimism, joy, and attention to the countless needs of the school at all hours of the day or night are but a few of the qualities we will miss. What a mixed blessing to have found people we love and are a perfect fit for the school—we can greatly enjoy the time we have with them but then feel the pang of loss with departure. Such is the dance of life.

Although we will see a change in the Head, the heart and soul of the school remain strong, vibrant and resilient, for it is also the faculty and staff that have been unwavering in their commitment, excitement and efforts that allow Scattergood to continue to be an innovative and exciting place for young people to learn and grow. It is through their energy and dedication that we receive our confidence and optimism for the programs that have already been initiated and for the ones that are being developed, which serve to center our support of the school and our commitment to find a suitable new Head for Scattergood School.

To that end, the School Committee has initiated the beginnings of a ‘Search Committee’ and we will send out the job posting for the Head of School in late November, following our planning retreat earlier in the month. Although we will miss our friends and the caring stewardship which Thomas and Amy brought to the school, we look forward to the opportunities and growth that can come from change.

We offer our gratitude for the gifts that have been bestowed upon not only Scattergood, but the greater community as well, by Thomas and Amy and we will hold them in light and with love as they venture into the next phase of their journey at the end of this school year.

On behalf of the Scattergood Friends School Committee, Ruth Hampton, clerk

Scattergood Leadership Announcement October 30, 2019

Dear Friends and Members of the School Committee,

Thomas Weber, Head of Scattergood Friends SchoolAfter long and deep consideration in the weeks following July, Amy and I have decided that this will be our last year at Scattergood Friends School. We’re at a point on our journey together where we have clarity that it is time to make a change.

We did not come quickly to this sense. These past six years have sustained and changed us personally in ways that have matched our work for others and for the school’s well-being. For us, as it is for Scattergoodians young and old, this school has mysterious and magical qualities which call us to explore our understanding of others in ways that bring us to rise above our inherently selfish natures. We joined this school to nourish and steward that of the sacred in each human being regardless of their circumstances. Our presence here in these past six years has truly been a blessed part of our lives, and for this we cannot be thankful enough.

I look forward in the coming months to sustain our prevailing optimism in Scattergood’s future. I am steadily focused on my goals to support staff and allow them to fully pursue their passion for the care and education of students, to support furthered student recruitment and fundraising, and to nurture new opportunities for the school to grow and diversify its community of support. Launching a Middle School day program beginning in the Fall of 2020, increasing participation and income from summer programs, exploring the viability of a postgraduate program, and keeping a sharp eye on finances are in primary focus this year for me.

This year we have a renewed mix of staff, students, and School Committee members who are all dedicated to the mission and to Quaker values. Our current collection has enormous capacity to engage with the inevitable challenges this year and bring the school into a period of new growth.

Working with the School Committee has been especially enriching. We’ve walked together on this journey and saved the school from closing in the most challenging of financial circumstances. I believe that this School Committee is a model of how governing boards should operate to achieve agreement and support a head in service of a school’s mission. I have been given room to work with dedication to the school’s operations and care for others. And I have been rewarded with the Committee’s insights, guidance, and constant support.

I will remain undiminished in my work this year. In Ruth Hampton’s words, “we’ll love Scattergood into another year of existence” as it has been loved in each and every year since 1890. When Amy and I leave, we look forward to renewal that new settings and responsibilities will create for us.

In Love and Light,

Thomas Weber
Head of School

Regarding the Death Penalty 2019

Minute: Regarding the Death Penalty

Friends have historically opposed capital punishment because it violates the sacredness of life. That violation goes beyond criminals who are sentenced to die. The death penalty also brutalizes and degrades the society which imposes it. Revenge taken against a few individuals will not cure the epidemic of violence in our world; we need to solve the problem instead of adding to it. Rather than answer violence with more violence, we need to find practical ways to counteract the anger, fear, despair, and brokenness that are the root cause of crime.

Event for Chuck Day, STAR-PAC (Stop the Arms Race) Founder

Minute: Chuck DayChuck Day

Des Moines Valley Friend, Chuck Day, will be honored for his 40 years of service to the peace community by founding and leading STAR-PAC (Stop the Arms Race), Saturday, August 3, 2019, 5:30 -8:00 pm. featuring Senator Tom Harkin.

“STAR✦PAC was founded in 1980 in Des Moines. STAR ✦ PAC is a dedicated political action committee advocating on behalf of peace issues. Established at the peak of the Cold War, amid a perilous and costly nuclear weapons race; STAR✦PAC continues advocacy against the arms race and exorbitant military spending and tackles many other foreign and military policy issues.”

Chuck was also instrumental in the development of two housing projects in Des Moines, built for easier access for people with physical disabilities.

We appreciate Chuck’s years of peace leadership and service.
For more information visit: starpac.org