Southern Appalachian Young Friends
Awesomesayfers@gmail.com
Around the world, Quaker youth come together under the name of Young Friends. For over a hundred years these groups have offered youth in the Religious Society of Friends an opportunity for worship, fellowship and service to others.
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January 2026 – Atlanta Friends Meeting Retreat
1 minuteKeeping the dream alive The theme of the January Atlanta retreat was acknowledging the ongoing pursuit of racial justice in the United States. On Sunday, 19 SAYFers and 8 FANs traveled to the Legacy Museum in Montgomery Alabama to recognize the suffering at the core of the African American experience in the U.S. from forced…
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November 2025, Columbia, SC Friends Meeting Retreat
1 minuteYoung Friends nurtured the local community by going to the Rosewood Community Orchard and helping with various tasks including weeding, planting, and transporting mulch. Friends went on a nature walk and learned about wild plants that make up the community of our native ecosystem. Then Young Friends nurtured their own community by playing games. Friends…
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October 2025, Berea Friends Meeting Retreat
1 minuteWe gathered on Friday night with the last car arriving at 12am. We had a circle for sleeping guidelines and lights out at 1am. Saturday we had breakfast followed by an opening circle with the query what is a form of loss you have experienced big or small and how has it affected you and/or…
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September 2025, Atlanta Friends Meeting Retreat
1 minuteThis retreat was a great start to the new SAYF year. We began Saturday morning with opening circle followed by the talent show, which was different then when the talent show is usually scheduled, but went off quite well with the teens. We then packed burrito lunches and loaded into cars to drive about 30…
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June 2025, SAYF at SAYMA, Berea College, KY
1 minuteTwenty four SAYFers and five FANs gathered for SAYF at SAYMA this weekend. We worked with RAW Tools South to turn a gun into gardening tools. Later we did workshops and intergenerational games. We went to a Pride event and did fishbowl with SAYMA members of various ages. Some SAYFers explored the Berea college campus…
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May 2025 Nashville Friends Meeting Retreat
1 minuteTheme: Music In Our Lives. Although our group was smaller than usual, with many of our dear friends absent due to end-of-school-year commitments, the SAYF group had a great time in Music City. On Saturday, we took a trip to the National Museum of African American Music where we took a walk across time, seeing…
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March 2025 Celo Friends Meeting Retreat
1 minuteCultivating Community: This retreat was about being witness of and experiencing how it feels to be in a space such as Celo where we activity participate in a cultivated community. We experienced Tai Chi which grounded us and lead us to tap into the energy around us. We further Immersed ourselves into community land, enjoyed…
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February 2025 Nurturer Retreat at West Knoxville FM
1 minuteNurturers from Atlanta, Celo, Asheville, Berea, Durham and Chapel Hill gathered for a nurturers retreat to plan SAYF retreats. We completed productive business meetings on Saturday, and enjoyed time spent talking, watching movies, playing music, and creating amazing hairstyles during our down time.
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January 2025 Atlanta Friends Meeting Retreat
1 minuteClimbing Through Change: We began Saturday morning with a breakfast made by A’s mom in celebration of her 15th birthday (Quincenera). We learned some about what a Quincenera means as a coming of age ceremony in Latinx culture. Following that we made bottle cap pins, using paint, collage material, and markers, then sealing it with…
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November 2024 Durham Friends Meeting Retreat
1 minuteTaking care of ourselves and our community: We did mindfulness activities & learned how to do body scans to find out where we are holding stress and how to discharge energy. We explored Duke gardens, performed a skit for our Stone Soup community potluck, then had a Fishbowl with local adults.