A few weeks ago, Friends Jour­nal’s poet­ry edi­tor, Nan­cy Thomas, includ­ed a sweet sto­ry at the end of an email coor­di­nat­ing the May selections:

My hus­band, Hal, stepped out of our apart­ment and into the hall just before 4:00 p.m. on a Sun­day after­noon. He began walk­ing down the hall, play­ing on his har­mon­i­ca a zip­py ver­sion of “When the Saints Go March­ing In.” Peo­ple had been wait­ing. Doors opened, and our neigh­bors stood in their door­ways — well over the des­ig­nat­ed six-feet apart — and began wav­ing and greet­ing one anoth­er. This con­sti­tut­ed our “call to wor­ship,” and the begin­ning of a new pattern. 

I thought it was so nice that I asked her to expand it. The result is a nice snap­shot of how a Quaker-affiliated retire­ment com­mu­ni­ty in New­berg, Ore­gon, is adapt­ing to life under COVID-19 restrictions.

A Quak­er Retire­ment Com­mu­ni­ty Faces the Pandemic 

Cre­ativ­i­ty and ser­vice flow­ers under quarantine.

Friends Journal