Quakers in Palo Alto, California

Palo Alto Friends Meeting does not rent its facilities but does make space available to other groups for appropriate uses. For building use calendar information, see the latest printout posted in the meetinghouse office or contact Tom Farley.

Friends Nursery School is an independent, non-profit, non-sectarian, cooperative nursery school sponsored by Palo Alto Friends Meeting. Since 1955, the school has offered part time, play-based pre-school programs for children ages 3 to 5 and their families.

Palo Alto Friends Meeting holds unprogrammed Quaker worship every week on First Day [Sunday] morning at 10:30 for about an hour. Occasional called meetings for worship are held at other times or places. Meetings for business are held on the second First Day of most months in the early afternoon.

Elementary-school-age religious education and preschool childcare meet at 10:30 on First Days in the nursery school building. A middle school group [mostly 10 to 12-year-olds] meets at 10:30 on first, second, and fourth First Days. The teen group has its own activities on second and fourth First Days each month and attends worship on the others. On fifth First Days there may be specially planned intergenerational events such as semi-programmed family worship.
First Day School Committee pages give more information about programs for children and teens.

Starting from here, you can find out about:

• The Religious Society of Friends -- general information on Quakers -- world wide, past and present

• Western Quaker Network -- Quaker meetings and organizations in the western USA

• Pacific Yearly Meeting [PYM] -- an independent association of unprogrammed Friends meetings in Nevada, California, Hawaii, Mexico, and Guatamala

• Pacific YM Faith and Practice -- the book of discipline used by Palo Alto Friends Meeting

• College Park Quarterly Meeting [CPQM] -- the regional association of PYM meetings for Northern California and Northern Nevada

• Ben Lomond Quaker Center -- a conference center near Santa Cruz, California, offering workshops and retreats including summer camps for kids and teens

• Friends House -- a Quaker retirement center in Santa Rosa, California

• Sierra Friends Center -- an educational center near Grass Valley, California, offering the Woolman Semester for high school juniors and seniors

• Friends Committee on Legislation [California] -- a public interest lobby with offices in Sacramento, California

• volunteer and internship opportunities -- with the American Friends Service Committee [AFSC]

• Unity with Nature Committee of Pacific YM -- statements on Quaker environmental witness and action and PYM's connection to Quaker Earthcare Witness a network of Friends and meetings in North and Central America

• Friends Bulletin -- a Quaker magazine serving Pacific Yearly Meeting, North Pacific Yearly Meeting, and Intermountain Yearly Meeting

• El Salvador Project -- started by Carmen Broz of Palo Alto Friends Meeting

• a survey on Movies on Peace and War Issues -- for family viewing

Page last updated on 8/24/07 by Tom & Sandy Farley of Spontaneous Combustion