Newtown Quaker Meeting's third, fourth and fifth graders have adopted the Peace Garden on the Meetinghouse grounds at 219 Court Street as a "gift to the community" for improvement and cultivation.

Newtown Quaker Kids Adopt Meetinghouse Peace Garden

Newtown Quaker Meeting’s third, fourth and fifth graders have adopted the Peace Garden on the Meetinghouse grounds at 219 Court Street as a “gift to the community” for improvement and routine weeding.

Sarah Buxton of Newtown, their volunteer teacher, said “It is the hope of the students in the next year to create a small veggie garden with a raised bed so that we can plant cucumbers and peppers. They also plan to plant more flowers to attract butterflies.”

The Quaker Meeting’s Peace and Service Committee had asked the children to help them think of ways to make the Meetinghouse grounds more sustainable and less dependent on grass.

The Peace Garden and Peace Pole was initiated at the Quaker Meetinghouse in 2005 when it joined 200,000 other sites in 180 countries around the world in planting a Peace Pole. The Peace Garden surrounding it was soon added in the space beside the playground just outside the new wing of the Meetinghouse.

The Peace Pole was the suggestion of Elizabeth Hendricks, a Newtown Meeting member and resident of Pennswood Village. She had been instrumental in bringing a Peace Pole to Atlanta Friends Meeting when she lived there and thought Newtown should have one as well. The
Meeting enthusiastically embraced the idea as a public witness to Friends’ Peace Testimony.

The Peace Pole Project was started in Japan by the World Peace Prayer Society, a non-profit, non-denominational organization founded by Masahisa Goi in 1955. The goal of the project is “to uplift humankind toward harmony rather than conflict.” Goi believed that war begins with thoughts of war and that peace begins with thoughts of peace. The Peace Poles are reminders to people around the world to keep peace ever present in their thoughts.

There are peace messages in four languages on the Newtown Quaker Meetin Peace Pole, one for each side. The English side reads, “May Peace Prevail on Earth.” This also appears in Japanese, Delaware (Lenape), and Gulla (representative of African languages brought to this country by slaves). A small plaque in Braille is also included.

Newtown Quaker Meeting meets during the summer months for worship in gathered silence at 10 a.m. Regular fall and winter hours resume on September 20 with children and adult religious education classes at 9:48 to 10:45 a.m. And worship service from 11:00 a.m. To 12:00 noon.

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