George Lakey
talks about his most recent book,
Dancing with History: a life for peace and justice

Click here to watch the video of this event.

Quaker activist and master storyteller George Lakey shared vignettes from his life at the center of history-making events as one of the world’s most effective practitioners and teachers of nonviolent resistance.

As people of faith and conscience,
believing in the sanctity of all life on this planet,
we call for a
CHRISTMAS TRUCE IN UKRAINE.

Inspired by the miraculous Christmas truce of 1914, faith leaders of many diverse traditions petition the Biden administration to push for negotiations.

"In the spirit of the truce that occurred in 1914 during the First World War, we urge our government to take a leadership role in bringing the war in Ukraine to an end through supporting calls for a ceasefire and negotiated settlement, before the conflict results in a nuclear war that could devastate the world's ecosystems and annihilate all of God's creation." 

Signers include Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Jewish Renewal movement; Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America; Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR); Valarie Kaur, Sikh leader and founder of Revolutionary Love Project; Thay Phap An, Plum Village Buddhist community; Bishop William J. Barber II, Repairers of the Breach and Poor People's Campaign; Rev. Grayland Scott Hagler, Fellowship of Reconciliation; Dr. Zoharah Simmons, National Council of Elders; Mary Novak, Executive Director of NETWORK Lovvy for Catholic Social Justice.

Click here for a full list of signers. If you are a faith leader, add your name here.

Help GET OUT THE VOTE across our nation
(without traveling anywhere)!

This election is crucial for the values of peace, justice and human dignity in our country. Here are two nonpartisan GET OUT THE VOTE (GOTV) efforts that you can participate in from the comfort of your own home -- or with some local friends.

If we ever needed to vote for justice and democracy, we sure do need to vote now!

TEXT: Join the Poor People's Campaign (PPC) Voting is Power Unleashed National Text-banking Program aiming to reach 5 million poor and low-wealth, low-propensity voters across 15 strategic states! Living wages, healthcare, housing, voting rights and other issues critical to poor and low-wealth people are on the ballot. No experience necessary! All virtual gatherings will begin with a training session led by a Poor People's Campaign text bank administrator. Click here to register for an online. (Note that the times listed are all Eastern Times!)

TEXT: Sign up to join a faith voter text bank with Interfaith Power & Light! Reach out to climate-alarmed faith voters who don't vote often in Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Each text is sent individually by a volunteer like you from our online system, not your own phone or phone number. It’s an easy-to-use system called ThruText with pre-written scripts, and we’ll walk through all the steps to use it at the event. Click here to see schedule and sign-up.

PLUS the national organization Faith in Public Life has great resources now available, including "Faithful Voting Talking Points," "Bring Voting to Worship," and "Faithful Voter Reflection Guide." Click here to go to their website and scroll down.

The Palo Alto City Council has established a Safe Parking Program (SPP) to assist individuals who are unhoused and sleeping in their cars on city streets with a safe place to spend the night and support for finding permanent housing. Safe Parking provides a safe place to sleep for individuals living in their cars and helps connect them to more permanent housing options.  The Safe Parking Program is set up in a way to protect the safety of all nearby residents while at the same time respecting the privacy and dignity of the people it will help.  Through SPP local congregations can provide safe parking for individuals who have been sleeping in their cars on city streets.  

The First Congregational Church of Palo Alto (FCCPA) has submitted an application to the City which has been approved by City Staff and is on the Consent Agenda for the Council’s August 22nd meeting. However, a neighbor of the church, acting on behalf of a group of Palo Alto residents has filed an appeal, objecting to FCCPA’s plans for SPP because they feel the program will jeopardize community safety.   Two other Palo Alto congregations (The Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto and the Highway Church) are currently participating in SPP.  Neither program has received complaints from neighbors or community members nor have there been any incidents jeopardizing community safety.

Please consider writing to the Palo Alto City Council to support FCCPA's Safe Parking Program application.

See below for more information about the application process, as well as contact information for City Council Members.

Nuclear Prayer Day
August 6, 2022

On August 6, 1945, at 8:15 AM, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Since then, the potential for nuclear catastrophe has grown to an unimaginable scale. This August 6th, on the 77th anniversary of that horrific tragedy, people around the world will be joining in prayer for a future free from the threat of nuclear weapons. You and/or your faith community are encouraged to join this global community of prayer! Prayers and prayer gatherings are invited throughout the weekend of August 5-7. Click here for more information, to add your pin to the interactive global map, event updates, and more!  #NuclearPrayerDay2022 #prayforpeace #nonukes #savetomorrows

One possible prayer for a world free of nuclear weapons is offered by the sponsoring organization VOICES, part of the United Religions Initiative. Click here to download. This prayer is also available in many different languages here on the URI website. (Use the "Select a Language" option in the top right side of the webpage.) Feel free to use another such prayer, perhaps one of your or your group's own designs, and share this prayer when you drop your pin on this interactive map. (If you plan to pray alone and do not know what to put for the required "Name of Organization," feel free to say "Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice"!)

You may also join with others in this first Nuclear Prayer Day at 8:15am PDT via a Facebook Live Event! Click here for more information. (This is open to everyone, whether or not you are on Facebook.)

9/11 Multifaith Peace Picnic & Prayers
Sunday, Sept. 11, 6:15pm-8:15pm
King Plaza, 250 Hamilton
Palo Alto

We came together to get to know one another and move from fear to friendship!

WATCH PROGRAM ON YOUTUBE HERE.

PERUSE PHOTOS FROM PROBONO HERE.

Hosted by American Muslim Voice in partnership with MVPJ. 

Together we honored the victims and first responders,
as we strive to transform this day into one of peace and community building.

The ability to make our country safe, secure, peaceful and harmonious lies in our hands.

We are excited to partner again with YOUTH COMMUNITY SERVICE and the
9/11 NATIONAL DAY OF SERVICE!

We joined hundreds of volunteers on Sunday, Sept 11 for the National Day of Service!

Sponsored by Youth Community Service (YCS).

Read more about each service site and project and register online here.

Join SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) at Sacred Heart in its CARE FIRST campaign to advocate for alternatives to incarceration and improving access to behavioral health in our county!

The current budget does NOT address community based, non-carceral alternatives. The budget funds, to the tune of $689,000,000, a new jail, but no non-carceral behavioral health facility!

ASK: We need people power. Justice needs you. Our affected brothers and sisters need those who live in Santa Clara County to call and email the Supervisors.

Emails: Click here for SURJ's page with contact information, sample text and guidelines for emailing county supervisors in support of CARE FIRST JAILS LAST in the budget.

Calls: Make this ask: We urge the Board literally to put "Care First" by prioritizing the approved noncarceral Behavioral Health Facility in the FY2022-2023 Capital Improvement Budget, authorizing a bond to fully fund it, and deferring the line item for the new jail from the FY2022-2023 budget.

Our SURJ faith group is recommending that you add that you are praying daily that they will make the right decision.

March for Our Lives
Saturday, June 11
Across the nation and around the bay area!

Click here for updated list of events and times on the March for Our Lives website.

Redwood City 9-11am
1044 Middlefield Road
Front Plaza of Redwood City Library

Mountain View 5-7pm
Gateway Park
790 W. El Camino Real

SPEAK - PRAY - ACT to End Gun Violence
Sunday, June 5, 3-4:15pm
Lytton Plaza (University & Emerson), Palo Alto
*WEAR ORANGE*

Join Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and Friends Meeting of Palo Alto to hear from local faith leaders and a gun violence survivor, share in a Quaker led Public Worship (see below), and participate in actions to end gun violence.

While June is National Gun Violence Awareness Month, the multiple staggering events of the past several weeks would compel us to speak and act no matter what. We gather particularly in light of the racist mass murder in the Buffalo supermarket, the hateful shooting at a Presbyterian Church in Laguna Hills, the horrifying massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and the tragic killing of four people at the hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We gather to grieve the senseless and unspeakable loss and ACT to end gun violence NOW.

A Quaker Called Meeting for Public Worship is a time to wait in silence as an opportunity to listen deeply to each other and to the Spirit which guides human affairs. Everyone is welcome to participate.

*Why Orange? On January 21, 2013, Hadiya Pendleton marched in President Obama’s second inaugural parade. One week later, Hadiya was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago. Soon after this tragedy, Hadiya’s childhood friends decided to commemorate her life by wearing orange, the color hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves and others.

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