Dear {{FirstName or 'Friend'}},
Welcome to the spring issue of the AFSC Alumni Newsletter! Nearly 100 people joined us for the recent alumni dinner in Philadelphia – reuniting with friends, making news ones, and sharing memories. It was wonderful to see you all!
Are you looking for more ways to connect with AFSC alumni? Then take our quick survey to help us plan how best to connect you. And remember to share your own updates with us and join our growing Facebook group!
With deep appreciation,
Tonya Histand
Alumni Director
Alumni news & notes
Desmond Meade, a member of AFSC's South Region Executive Committee, was named one of Time's 100 most influential people! As head of a Florida coalition, Desmond led the charge to restore voting rights to more than a million people with felony convictions.
Jean Fairfax worked for AFSC for 19 years – in post-World War II Austria and in the school desegregation movement in the South. She died on Feb. 12.
Bernard Lafayette, a longtime civil rights activist and organizer of the Selma Voting Rights Movement of the 1960s, was honored with a Coretta Scott King Center Justice Award. AFSC recruited Bernard in the summer of 1963 to bring his work north to Chicago.
AFSC board member and volunteer Bill Jenkins died on Feb. 17. Bill was a government epidemiologist who tried to expose the unethical Tuskegee syphilis study in the 1960s and devoted the rest of his career to fighting racism in health care.
Greg Williams, former staff of the New England Regional Office and longtime committee member, passed away on Feb. 14. His memorial service will take place on Sunday, June 16 at Friends Meeting, Cambridge.
Norval Reece was featured in a recent Quaker Speak video, discussing how Quakers need to do a better job telling their story. Norval was the assistant director of the Quaker Centre in Delhi, India in 1960.
Do you have news to share? Email us today!
Archive dive
Have you taken our alumni quiz? See if you can name the prominent figure who worked or volunteered with AFSC.
Read about AFSC’s history of working for LGBTQ rights in this Friends Journal article by Stephen McNeil.
AFSC today
Meet Isaac Snediker-Morscheck, who interned at AFSC’s Philadelphia office, working in our archives and assisting with data projects. Isaac grew up hearing about AFSC from his grandmother, Peggy Morscheck, who worked at the Quaker Information Center for many years.
Did you hear that AFSC’s Board of Directors recently decided to divest from the fossil fuel industry? Our “commitment to environmental responsibility is in part about the social impact of climate change on the communities we work with,” says Phil Lord, clerk of the AFSC Board of Directors.
Sonia Tuma has worked at AFSC since 1993, when she joined as an intern in Los Angeles. In this interview, she shares some of her experiences from the past 25 years.
More ways to connect with AFSC
- Subscribe to AFSC Weekend Reading for weekly updates on our work.
- Sign the petition to close the Homestead Child Detention Center.
- Join our upcoming webinar on June 5 at 3 p.m. ET.
Thank you for reading our AFSC Alumni Newsletter! To learn more about our Alumni Network and connect with former friends and colleagues, visit our webpage and Facebook group. You can also email me questions and suggestions.