An in-person program with Valerie Brown Friday, May 29th to Sunday, May 31st, 2026 (for adults 25 and older)
This program is currently full. Please send an email to nico@quakercenter.org to put your name on our waiting list, and we will be in touch with any openings.
Immersed in the stunning beauty of the redwoods in spring, this retreat explores issues of life transition, vocation, passion, purpose, meaning, direction, and underlying patterns, to live in greater alignment with your deepest values, to listen to your own inner wisdom, and to have the courage to act with integrity and authenticity.
Grounded in mindfulness practices in the Plum Village tradition, Quaker faith and practice, the work of Center for Courage and Renewal® and Parker J. Palmer, we will immerse ourselves in nature, build a caring, supportive community, and engage in contemplative practices to support personal and societal transformation.
Program Costs – Weekend Program
All Quaker Center programs are on a sliding scale, with the following suggested contribution amounts:
Standard rate: $200 – $350. Welcome rate: $75 – $150.
For more information about our program fees, click here.
About the Program Leader
Valerie Brown is an author, Buddhist-Quaker Dharma teacher, facilitator, and executive coach specializing in leadership development and mindfulness practices with a focus on diversity, social equity, and inclusion. A former lawyer and lobbyist, Valerie transformed her high-pressure career into serving nonprofits to create trustworthy, authentic, and compassionate workspaces. For more information about Valerie, please visit
Do the Quaker Testimonies have a home in the world of business?
Yes!
When Quaker Joseph Wharton founded The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1881, it was the world’s first collegiate business school. Its purpose was both to train those engaged in commerce and to “prepare graduates with the breadth and depth of knowledge to become pillars of the State, whether in private or in public life.” In keeping with Wharton’s vision, at this program Eric will unpack the reasons why “business ethics” isn’t an oxymoron, and the Quaker Testimonies are an advantage in commercial affairs.
All are welcome to attend this program. Business students and those active in business are especially welcome, but no business background or academic experience is necessary.
This will not be a lecture course – it will be a fun, participatory gathering of those interested in learning how Friends values can be applied to business.
Program Costs – Weekend Program
All Quaker Center programs are on a sliding scale, with the following suggested contribution amounts:
Standard rate: $200 – $350. Welcome rate: $75 – $150.
For more information about our program fees, click here.
About the Program Leader
Eric has spent most of his life in or around business. He has an MBA from The University of Chicago, teaches ethics at Georgetown University, and is active in the Central Coast Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). You can read more about Eric by visiting his LinkedIn.
All are welcome to join us for the 260th session of College Park Quarterly Meeting (CPQM) at Quaker Center. This event will be hybrid (both in person and online). Registration will begin in March 2026 through www.collegeparkquarterlymeeting.org.
CPQM is a quarterly regional gathering of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in northern California and northern Nevada. It is a cherished and joyous gathering for children, young people and elders. All are welcome to attend Quarterly Meeting: Friends Meeting members and attenders, visiting Quakers, and those new to Friends.
College Park Quarterly Meeting has held its spring gathering at Quaker Center for over 70 years. Newcomers are always welcome.
Registration for Spring Quarterly is handled by College Park Quarterly Meeting. Please reach out to CPQM with registration questions and concerns.
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About College Park Quarterly Meeting
College Park Quarterly Meeting (CPQM) is a regional gathering of Quaker meetings affiliated with the Religious Society of Friends through Friends General Conference (FGC). CPQM connects local Friends communities for worship, shared discernment, mutual support, and collaborative ministry. Rooted in the Quaker testimonies of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship, the Quarterly Meeting provides opportunities for spiritual deepening, leadership development, and collective action within the broader Quaker tradition.
Palo Alto Friends Meeting hosted the first annual Pacific Yearly Meeting in 1947
An online workshop with Rick Narad Saturday, March 14th, 2026 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Recently, some insurance companies have requested that religious groups, including Quakers, develop safety and emergency plans to maintain their insurance coverage. Join us for an online workshop with Rick Narad, an emergency management specialist, where we’ll review the basics of disaster preparedness and emergency planning, and learn how Quaker Meetings can develop their own plans.
This is a free, online program. Registration is required.
This program will provide some basic skills to help meetings begin their preparedness process. Participants will learn how to identify hazards and risks that a meeting might face and how these might be mitigated. Then, we’ll look at planning and preparing for risks that cannot be prevented or mitigated. Finally, we’ll discuss how individuals can improve their own preparedness for emergencies.
In addition to mini-exercises where participants will get to immediately apply these concepts and consider the needs of their meetings, we’ll do an exercise that will pull together the entire process. Finally, some resources will be provided to help participants improve the safety of their meetings.
Program Costs – Online Program
All Quaker Center programs are on a sliding scale, with the following suggested contribution amounts for online programs:
Standard rate: $100 – $250. Welcome rate: $50 – $75.
For more information about our program fees, click here.
About the Program Leader
Rick Narad is a professor of health services administration at California State University, Chico where he teaches a course on emergency management for public health and health services. He was a firefighter and an emergency medical services administrator, and he is a member of CAL-MAT, California’s state disaster medical team. Rick is a member of Chico Friends Meeting.
An in-person program with Keith Runyan March 20-22, 2026
A weekend workshop with Keith Runyan, the General Secretary of Quaker Earthcare Witness, a Friends’ environmental organization. Through reflection, Quaker worship, and deep dialogue, we will explore our shared times as a collective rite of passage – shedding illusion, grounding in conscience, and awakening to our unique callings. Inspired by Daniel Berrigan, Bayard Rustin, and Joanna Macy, we’ll ask:
‘In the tumult of our times, who was I born to be?’
Childcare will be provided during program sessions.
Program Costs – Weekend Program
All Quaker Center programs are on a sliding scale, with the following suggested contribution amounts:
Standard rate: $200 – $350. Welcome rate: $75 – $150.
For more information about our program fees, click here.
About the Program Leader
Keith Runyan, General Secretary of Quaker Earthcare Witness, is an activist, speaker, and new father. With a background in education, Keith began his Quaker activist career with a 12 day hunger strike to awaken climate action in the Friends Community and beyond. In 2024, he and his family began traveling in the ministry through QEW on the Road, inspiring prophetic action on the planetary crisis. He is now spear-leading the QuakerEarth Campaign, aiming to unite global Quaker earthcare action.
An online program with Mary Miche Mondays, February 2, 9, 16, and 23rd. 6:30pm – 8pm PST
Over four 90-minute sessions once each week in February, this online workshop will use short videos and guided, worshipful discussion to explore the rich varieties and common threads within the practice and experience of prayer among Friends.
Learn about the deep tradition of prayer among Quaker mystics and the kinds of prayer that shape and transform the lives of Friends today.
Newcomers welcome.
Schedule. Each week, we’ll treat a different aspect or theme of Quaker Prayer.
Session 1: The Varieties of Quaker Prayer with Quaker Speak video: Seven Quaker Approaches to Prayer
Session 2: What is Quaker Prayer? with Quaker Speak video: The Prayer Life of Quakers, ( David Johnson)
Session 3: What is Happening on the Inside? with Quaker Speak video Why do Quakers Worship in Silence (Lloyd Lee Wilson)
Session 4: Practice of the Presence with Quaker Speak video: How I Practice Quakerism throughout the Week (Fritz Weiss)
Program Costs – Online Program
All Quaker Center programs are on a sliding scale, with the following suggested contribution amounts for online programs:
Standard rate: $100 – $250. Welcome rate: $50 – $75.
For more information about our program fees, click here.
About the Program Leader
Mary Miche, of Redwood Forest Friends Meeting and Lake County Worship Group, will facilitate this program. Mary is the author of the children’s book: Kids Pray in Many Ways; Las Muchas Maneras en Que Los Ninos Oran. She wrote her thesis at the Graduate Theological Union on prayer and therapy. Mary works as a therapist with children and their families in Lake County, California, and she has been a Friend for more than 50 years.
Barbara Birch of Strawberry Creek Friends Meeting will serve as Elder for this program.
This is an in-person gathering for folks age 18 to mid-thirties, and will go from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon. Folks who wish can also stay over on Sunday night, as Monday February 15th is a holiday.
Slow down and hang out. Over the weekend, we’ll spend time having fun and cooking food, playing games and relaxing, in conversation and song, hiking and exploring, and more. All are welcome to attend, regardless of Quaker affiliation. Newcomers are especially invited.
Come when you can. We hope that you will attend for the entire weekend, but if you’re unable to come for the entire weekend, you are welcome to come for some part of it.
Children of attenders are also welcome and childcare will be provided at various times.
Housing will be in both the Orchard and Redwood Lodges, and camping and commuting (visiting in the daytime and sleeping elsewhere) are also welcome.
This is a participant-run retreat and there are opportunities to sign up to volunteer on the registration form.
Program Costs – Grant Funded ($50)
This is a grant-funded event, and we are asking folks to contribute $50 per person if possible. We hope that finances will not prevent anyone from attending. If you are affiliated with a Quaker Meeting, it is also possible to use an Annual Meeting Pass to attend.
For more information about our general program fees and policies (not specific to this program), click here.
The 2025-26 Year-End Retreat Dorothy Henderson and Nora Lissette Sunday, December 28, 2025, to Thursday, January 1, 2026
Grounded in Romans 12:1-2a, we will bring our bodies and the Bible to the year-end retreat at Quaker Center. We will explore being fully present in the Casa, the labyrinth, our sleeping space, the Orchard and Redwood lodges, the waterfall, the Redwood Circle. Sinking down to Spirit within our bodies in these beloved spaces, we will bring our curiosity to the Bible as a possible guide to transformation and worship in our everyday lives.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Remaining open to continuing revelation, we imagine exploring daily practices to deepen our body consciousness, daily activities to bring us fully into the spirit and places of Quaker Center, and invitations to daily Bible readings integrating and deepening our experience of our bodies in this place and this moment – what does this experience have to tell us?
Some activities will include mindful walking in groups and alone, reading select Bible passages within a worship sharing format, practicing breath and grounding exercises in chosen Quaker Center places, responding to select Bible passages in journal writing, or offering of a Bible reading for first thing in the morning and the last thing at night.
We hope that questions, wonderings, and challenges about the Bible will be a part of our daily journey together. Through all of these practices in our bodies in the spaces of Quaker Center, the Bible will be offered as a guide, a friend, an instigator, a troublemaker, and a continuing source for waking up to what is Holy.
No previous experience with the Bible is needed or expected. We will all come anew to the Bible.
Those who wish to arrive a day early on Saturday, December 27th, will be welcome. We will not have meals or activities planned until the Retreat begins with registration on December 28th, Sunday afternoon, and dinner at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.
Childcare will be provided for kids 4 and up during the program sessions, and children are welcome to come along for free.
About the program leaders:
Dorothy Henderson. I am a member of Grass Valley Friends Meeting. At age 78, I understand that my biography has been built in community. My Monthly, Quarterly and Yearly Meetings sustain and inspire me. I have been in the presence of and studied the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and Marshall Rosenberg. I have attempted to live their teachings and have taught Marshall’s Nonviolent Communication over the past twenty years. I am an elder, and a member of the Eldering Subcommittee of the Ministry Committee of Pacific Yearly Meeting. My teacher for that pioneering practice is Elaine Emily. Stephen Matchett introduced me to the Bible as a Quaker, and his teachings have guided my offerings of Bible Study over the past ten years. I only recently understood that Jesus has come to teach me himself. I am currently writing a book about the experience of walking with Jesus. My time as a Kenneth L. Carroll Biblical Scholar during the 2024 Spring Semester at Pendle Hill has helped me integrate these teachings into my writing. My early morning conversations with my husband, Doug Hamm is helping me integrate these teachings into my life. My four adult children bring me continuing revelation.
Nora Lisette. I am a Quaker committed to living faithfully in alignment with the Divine and Quaker testimonies. Raised among Quakers, seekers, and activists, I became a convinced Friend in my early teens. A lifelong dancer, my practice of dance and other movement arts and movement meditation are at the center of my spiritual life. I experience Quakerism as an embodied faith.
After completing the Woolman Semester and a Quaker Studies minor at Guilford College, I began a career as a postpartum doula, called to accompany families, individuals, and communities in redirecting rivers of trauma into paths of healing. While at Guilford, I first studied the Bible and was deeply struck by Romans 12. This passage continues to shape my conviction that faith must be lived in and through the body.
In 2021 I returned to university to pursue Psychology, but paused my studies in 2023 to pursue a long-awaited calling: motherhood. I will return to complete a PsyD in Collective Trauma and Social Healing in 2026. After welcoming our son, Juniper James, in 2024, my partner, Keith Runyan, and I have been traveling in the ministry as a family. I bear a witness that conflict is sacred and the Quaker testimony of Community cannot be passive.
Program cost
Like all Quaker Center programs, this program is priced along a sliding scale – we encourage you to contribute an amount that you are comfortable with and that enables you to attend. We hope the suggested cost ranges below will help you to do this. Standard rate: $200-400. Welcome rate: $75-150. You can learn more about Quaker Center’s program costs here.
On the first weekend in December, this beloved event returns to Quaker Center – now fifteen years running. Join us for a weekend of celebration, music, singing, dancing, workshops, hanging out, great food and more, here in the redwoods.
We encourage musicians, singers, dancers, and those who just enjoy listening to attend. No particular dancing or musical talent necessary to enjoy this all-ages event. In past years, activities have included folk dancing from around the world, ukulele workshops, round singing groups, hymn singing, instrumental jamming, songwriting sessions, children’s songs, and more. If you have an activity or workshop you’d like to share, we’d love to hear about it!
We’ll gather after dinner on Friday evening, Sessions of this program will be participant-led, with the exception of a professionally called community dance on Saturday night, with a fiddler and band.
Early risers may begin the morning with meeting for worship, a Quaker Center daily practice.
Children are welcome and some childcare will be provided.
Overnight lodging will be in the Orchard Lodge bedrooms and Redwood Lodge bunkrooms. Camping is also available, and commuters staying at home or elsewhere are welcome.
All Quaker Center programs are on a sliding scale, with the following suggested contribution amounts: Standard rate: $200-350. Welcome rate: $75-150. For more information about our program fees, click here.
an in-person program with Eileen Flanagan October 24-26, 2025
We are all one – and if we don’t know it, we will learn it the hard way. -Bayard Rustin
Whether you consider yourself a Friend (Quaker), or a friend of Friends, come find wisdom and strength in the Quaker tradition of resistance grounded in love. At this workshop, we will combine lessons in strategy and spiritual grounding to help us navigate this period of political and ecological crisis.
