Paul Ricketts is an avid reader and educator. He has worked for thirty five years in education and with adults with disabilities. Friend Paul is a member of Fort Wayne Friends Meeting of Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting and currently serves on AFSC's Community, Equality, and Justice Board Committee and AFSC's Midwest Executive committee. He also serves on Friends General Conference's Committee for Nurturing Ministries.

Philip Lord is the incoming clerk of the Board of AFSC. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania who has concentrated his practice by representing community development corporations with local ownership in complex real estate transactions for many years. A long time member of the Society of Friends, Phil is currently a member of Chestnut Hill Meeting in Philadelphia.

Douglas Bennett is a member of AFSC's Corporation, as well as the Standing Nominating.  He also serves as the clerk for the AFSC Friends Relations Committees. Doug is Emeritus President and Professor of Politics at Earlham College.

Wess Daniels is from Canton Ohio and is currently serving as a ‘released Quaker minister’ (i.e. pastor) at Camas Friends Church in Camas WA. He has a PhD from Fuller Theological Seminary in the School of Intercultural Studies. His dissertation is on participatory culture and renewing faith traditions. He is an adjunct professor at George Fox Seminary and is on the board of Quaker Voluntary Service. He met Emily Miller in college and they were married in 2001. Wess and Emily are parents of three wonderful little ones.

Clark Reddy is a life-long Friend who calls New England home. He considers Beacon Hill Friends Meeting (NEYM) to be his home community. He is passionate about social justice issues, and feels that he cannot authentically work toward justice for himself if he is not also working toward justice for all oppressed people, and vice versa."

A few weeks ago I sat down with Linda Lewis, AFSC’s country representative for China and North Korea, during her visit to the Philadelphia office.  She spent much of her time on the East Coast speaking with AFSC donors and Quakers in the area about her work with farmers in North Korea. Linda’s passion for this work comes through in her presentations and her stories.  She may not discuss religion or spirituality with AFSC’s Korean partners in the region, but it was clear to me that the work was firmly rooted in the belief in a common humanity and dignity. -Madeline

I talked recently with Ng Shui Meng, the wife of Sombath Somphone, a Laotian man and close associate of AFSC who ran civil society programs in Laos until he disappeared in December, 2012. Despite having close circuit television footage documenting his abduction, the Laotian government has denied any knowledge of Sombath Somphone’s whereabouts. Shui Meng came to the United States recently to request the assistance of AFSC, Amnesty International, Quakers and others to take action to support the return of Sombath Somphone.  

I started taking yoga again a few months ago in a well lit, open studio in west Philadelphia. The teacher started the class by saying that yoga isn’t a religion; it is a spiritual practice open to all. When she introduced each standing pose, she talked about how important alignment is: that taking time to pay attention and settle into the pose with attention makes all the difference in how you practice yoga and in the benefits you receive from it. 

Note: Below are two comments made by Clark Reddy, a white ally, on a long string of comments focused on FGC’s New Meetings Project website in the context of a Facebook group about Revitalization of the Friends Message.