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Report 2000
Affiliate Reports
William Penn House
William Penn House is making progress, under the able direction of Friend Errol Hess and with the guidance of a local Quaker Board of Directors and a National Consultative Committee.
Providing Service: We have increased our services to the national Quaker community. We host FCNL Policy Committee members for their quarterly meetings. We co-sponsor a Young Friends Lobbying Weekend. We offer national Quaker youth a yearly seminar, which was in February this year. It brought a diverse group of 30 high school-aged Friends together to examine the peace testimony, with the able help of seasoned Friends including Gail Newbold,
Ben Richmond, Max Carter, Priscilla Adams, and Robert Lawrence Smith. We host, at no charge, Quaker groups such as Friends Peace Teams and the Quaker Volunteer, Witness, and Training Network. We regularly offer workshops on issues of Quaker interest, including recent ones on journaling, spiritual eldering, discernment, forgiveness, and response to disasters. We also offer for groups who stay at William Penn House programming for educational, advocacy, or service work. We can tailor-make a seminar for any group's needs. We schedule human service work for George School each spring break, and a fall seminar on international human relations for University of Washington at Bothell--to give just two examples.
Promoting Friends' Vision for a Just and Peaceable World:
Well over half of the people who use William Penn House are in Washington on missions to improve society, whether by education, lobbying, organizing for social change, or non- violently protesting injustice and inequity. We host Quaker schools who come to Washington to learn and to do service. And we host advocacy groups such as Citizens Coalition Council and the Million Mom March for gun control.
Providing a Quaker Spiritual Presence on Capitol Hill:
Each day at William Penn House begins with Meeting for Worship which is open to the public as well as guests. We have a worship group under the care of Friends Meeting of Washington which meets each first day at 10:30 am. Two recent Earlham graduates have added to the house's Quaker presence by interning here.
Improving Our Facilities: We have always offered simple accommodations. That doesn't mean they have to be uncomfortable. In the past year we have upgraded our alarm system for safety, and have installed heat pumps in the whole house, which will permit summer air conditioning in this city's muggy climate. We have also purchased new beds and mattresses for our guests' comfort, made needed roof repairs, and replaced 16 old windows with energy efficient ones.
Upgrading our hot water system awaits $10,000 funding, as does a new $6,000 phone system to replace the current failing one, which was installed in 1984.
Re-Dedication to Our Mission: In the late 1980's when city codes required over $100,000 in safety improvements for which there was no budget, we decided to take in ordinary tourists whenever the house was not booked for a group. This income, which is unrelated to our mission, is now one-third of our total income. Staff now spend so much time with these tourists that our mission too often comes second. In order to recover and reaffirm our mission to serve Friends and others who come to Washington for education or to promote a peaceful and just world, the William Penn House Board has decided to end lodging for individuals who are not Quaker. We will continue to take non-Quaker groups who are doing work related to our mission, and individual Friends and attenders. This major re-focusing is done with faith that we can replace the $57,000 annual loss by increasing group lodging and contributions from Friends who wish to support our unique mission.
Please help us promote our mission by: Using William Penn House as your base for education and advocacy in Washington; recruiting groups to use our facilities for programs and lodging; giving generously to maintain this fulcrum point with which Friends can work to move Congress.
Thank you for your continued support.
Errol Hess, Executive Director
