Update

Do you remember the 2016 election? With two candidates that had seemingly nothing in common and almost opposite policies, there was a lot at stake.

The COVID-19 pandemic couldn’t stop thousands of Quakers from conducting business with FCNL this March and April. 215 Meetings and Churches, as well as Yearly and Quarterly Meetings, chose to center their first virtual meetings for business on discerning FCNL’s legislative priorities for the 117th Congress.

We are living in a time of concurrent global crises. There is the COVID-19 pandemic at the forefront of our minds. It is forcing us to stay home, constantly wash our hands, and wonder when this time of uncertainty will end. Despite this immediate threat, there is still the persistently looming climate crisis. While its presence may be less obvious, it continues to affect communities across the world.

There have been a lot of things that have given me joy working as your Quaker Field Secretary over the past four, nearly five years now. The work has been inextricably woven with my deepening faith practice, and I have fallen in awe and in love with so many Friends.

As the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts our lives and occupies the bulk of our attention, the status of a key pact—the New START nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and Russia—hangs in the air.

The FCNL community is grieving the loss of our Friend and activist, Mimosa Thomas. She passed away on April 26, 2020. Her love for her border community in the Rio Grande Valley led her to grassroots organizing.

Congress passed another bill to blunt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on April 23. Unlike the prior bills that Congress passed, the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act (H.R. 266) is very limited. It includes $484 billion in funding to replenish the small business loan program, hospitals, and COVID-19 testing.

On April 21, the President announced he would temporarily halt certain immigration through executive order. As a Quaker organization, FCNL rejects using this crisis as leverage to further cruel and harmful policies (immigration or anything else).

The economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic will be felt for months to come. Congress has taken some good initial steps to expand key safety net programs and help stabilize our economy. But to ensure the wellbeing of our communities and country in the long term, lawmakers must provide assistance for as long as it’s needed, not just during the initial spike of the pandemic.

When I was young, I always associated Earth Day with tie dye. That’s because every year, my school would gather giddy children in the gymnasium, and we would dye shirts with every color combination imaginable before going to our respective clean-up projects.