Causes for Holiday Market – Dec. 2, 2023

Since one of the goals of the Quaker Market Committee (QMC) is to provide education regarding causes, as well as financial support, here is some background on each:

Germantown Elementary Backpack Buddies is a weekend food backpack program operating at Germantown Elementary School in Annapolis, where last year 75% of students qualified for Free and Reduced Lunch funding. Because funds are insufficient to provide weekend food backpacks for all children, the Community School Manager works with the guidance counselor, teachers and the Bilingual Family Facilitator to identify recipient students/families who are in exceptional need. The needs may be due to factors such as illness, unemployment, or homelessness. Each participating student receives two breakfasts, two lunches, two snacks, and two dinners each weekend. The program was able to provide weekend food backpacks for 15 students last year, and hopes to secure sufficient funding to support at least the same number this year. Funding for this program flows through the school’s Parent Teacher Association, which is a 501(c)3, although the program receives no funding from the PTA, since the program’s services are not available to all students. QMC members felt led to recommend support of this local effort aimed at reducing food insecurity among children in the greatest need at one of our local Annapolis schools, which we view as a social justice issue. In addition, one of our AFM community members, Mary B., plays a very active role in this program, including working to secure adequate funding, even in the face of rising food costs and other challenges. This cause was last supported by Quaker Market proceeds in the spring of 2016, so it meets the committee’s goal of not supporting causes more frequently than once every five years.

Let’s Go, Boys and Girls (LGB&G) is a local 501(c)3 that partners with schools, youth organizations, and other non-profits in historically under-resourced communities to provide STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) learning experiences for youth from elementary school to post-secondary school age. They focus on serving youth adversely affected by racial, gender, and socioeconomic inequities in underserved communities in Baltimore, Annapolis and Anne Arundel County. QMC members were drawn to this cause as a small, local cause addressing social justice by helping to enhance the educational opportunities available to local children in under-served communities. More information can be found at their website https://www.letsgoboysandgirls.org/.

The USAP Community School is a residential 11^th and 12^th grade school that educates high-achieving, low-income Zimbabwean students to excel at the world’s top universities and return home to build society. Unlike other college access initiatives, they are very concerned to support students throughout their college years and help them make the transition home again to put their education to use on the African continent.  The school is a flagship program operated by Education Matters Africa Foundation/Education Matters (an educational non-profit in Zimbabwe that is registered as a 501(c)3 in the US). The school has a Quaker affiliation, and places the values of integrity, equity, service and curiosity at the core of their community. Each Quaker Market, QMC hopes way will open to include at least one cause beyond our region or country. The USAP Community School resonated with committee members as a cause that could contribute a broader geographic outlook, since the school is located in Zimbabwe, as well as helping children in need by working to level an extremely unlevel educational playing field, helping them to transition home after their university education, and including a focus on values that we believe in. More information can be found at their website https://edmattersafrica.org/usap-community-school-3/.

QMC members felt led to recommend that the Internal 25% of Quaker Holiday Market 2023 proceeds be awarded to the joint AFM/ Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis partnership that has managed support for an Afghan refugee family that fled to the US over two years ago, after the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban. This refugee family was assigned to us by Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area (LSSNCA) and we are acting as their co-sponsor agents in supporting their resettlement.  Although Quaker Market proceeds are not available to provide ongoing support to the family, they could be used once to help provide support to the family during a difficult time, and to honor the time, funds and hard work that many members of both communities have invested on our behalf in the support of this Afghan refugee family.