[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 155 (Monday, October 15, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2128]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




COMMEMORATING 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ORANGE GROVE MONTHLY MEETING OF 
              RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS IN PASADENA, CA

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                          HON. ADAM B. SCHIFF

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 15, 2007

  Mr. SCHIFF. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 100th 
anniversary of the Orange Grove Monthly Meeting of Religious Society of 
Friends in Pasadena, CA.
  The Orange Grove Monthly Meeting of Friends was founded in 1907 by a 
group of 20 Eastern Quakers who had moved to Pasadena. Quakers have 
played leading roles in working for peace and an end to war, promoting 
racial and gender equality, and supporting environmental and other 
social justice causes. After World War I, the Meeting members supported 
the American Friends Service Committee, AFSC, which engaged in post-war 
relief efforts in Western Europe and Russia, and also helped establish 
AFSC's Pacific Coast branch.
  During World War II, the Meeting house served as a hostel for 
Japanese-Americans being sent to internment camps, and aid was sent to 
those already interned. The Meeting members provided hospitality and 
financial support to area conscientious objectors and their families, 
and after the end of the war, hosted families displaced by the war and 
its aftermath.
  Meeting members have frequently led the way in civil rights and 
social justice movements. Meeting members took part in efforts to 
desegregate the Pasadena school system, participated in freedom rides 
in the South and attended the Selma, AL, protests.
  The Orange Grove Monthly Meeting of Friends founded educational 
institutions that provide a nurturing educational environment for 
children. Pacific Ackworth Friends School (1942) and Pacific Oaks 
School (1945) were established by Meeting parents. In 1961, Mara Moser, 
an Orange Grove Friends member, established Mothers' Club to support 
families of men in prison. Mothers' Club later evolved into a child 
development and family center serving low-income families.
  Members of the Orange Grove Monthly Meeting of Friends are active 
participants in the community. Meeting members routinely provide dinner 
for the homeless at Union Station in Pasadena, participate in many 
prison visitation programs and allow the meeting house to be used by 
local groups for activities such as a tutoring program for elementary 
school children.
  It is my pleasure to recognize the Orange Grove Friends Meeting of 
Pasadena on its 100th anniversary of active participation in the life 
of our community. I ask all members to join me in extending a hearty 
congratulations.

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