Activities Table of Contents
COMMUNAL GARDEN
Come join us at our family-friendly Communal Garden. Have fun outside in the sunshine, harvesting and tending the garden, working side-by-side with like-minded folks. Learn about gardening, meet new people, and take home some of the organically-grown produce you’ve harvested. Maybe drop off a portion of the harvest to the local food pantry, Friends In Deed, and bring some to the Meeting House. EVERYONE is welcome, no tools or experience needed.
The Communal Garden was begun during the Covid Pandemic as a grassroots effort by young Quakers to keep us sane. It was also their plan to help the food-insecure, an ongoing effort. We’ve sponsored lots of family events and potlucks and are planning “garden parties” for the future when there’s lots to harvest. A favorite event for kids is a visit to the “fertilizer production unit”—Pat’s mules stabled down the street.
As its name suggests, our Communal Garden is a dynamic place where we share ideas and make suggestions about what we want to plant. We hope Friends/friends will continue to decide how our garden grows.
Location: Our member, Pat Wolff’s, one-acre property in Arcadia, about 15 mins from the OGMM Meeting House.
Time: Most Saturdays, but check the Announcements or text Pat. We usually start around 8:30 AM and stop at noon. Wanna garden at another time? Contact Pat (in OGMM Members Directory) and set it up.
CRAFTY QUAKERS
Crafty Quakers is a group of Friends/friends who gather monthly to work on craft projects, have lively discussions, and generally just enjoy each others’ company. Each person brings a project of their choice. Crafts that our members have worked on include knitting, needlepoint, quilting, beadwork, and mending. Also, making collages and jewelry. And, yes, some of those who join us are men.
All are invited! Crafty Quakers meets most fourth Wednesdays of the month. The time is 7:00 to 8:30 PM. We meet on the OGMM campus and/or on Zoom. Check the calendar for exact times and dates. For more information, email Jane at Treasurer@OGMM.org.
FIRST DAY SCHOOL (SUNDAY SCHOOL)
We call our children’s Sunday program “First Day School” in keeping with the Quaker practice of calling the days of the week by number rather than by the names of Norse gods. On Sundays, children who are able to sit quietly join the adults for the first 10 minutes of the 11 AM Meeting for Worship. Then, the children are invited out for their special program.
Members and attenders often bring their unique knowledge and skills to lead the children in activities. For example, one of our members, a Master Gardener, led the children in collecting acorns and planting them in milk cartons. For a series of Sundays, members and attenders talked about their jobs. Children bake cookies, listen to stories, and learn about Quaker values and, also, about other religions. Often the children participate by drawing pictures of what they’re learning or by playing games. Special holiday programs include an Easter Egg hunt, a Christmas talent show, and dressing up in Halloween costumes.
Volunteers for leading children’s First Day activities are always needed. We ask that the volunteers have six months of experience with OGMM. For more information, complete the Contact email form on this website and ask about First Day School.
UNION STATION ADULT CENTER
Union Station Adult Center provides over 50 homeless men and women with a safe shelter in Pasadena. The Center houses residents and also provides them with services such as support for recovery from substance abuse. Volunteers of the Orange Grove Friends Meeting rotate with other local non-profits to provide residents with evening meals.
For more information, complete the Contact email form on this website and ask about Union Station.
FREE YOGA
Come to the Orange Grove Friends Meeting House the third Friday of each month for free yoga at 6PM. All ages and experience levels are welcome. Bring a mat and your limbs. For more information, complete the Contact email form on this website and ask about Free Yoga.
FRIENDS IN DEED
Friends In Deed is a Pasadena non-profit that provides supportive services to neighbors who are homeless, experiencing food insecurity, or are in other at-risk situations. Its history stretches back to 1894, starting with the service work of a number of Pasadena churches. Now, it is an interfaith organization that also includes synagogues and mosques.
In 2025, the Friends In Deed food pantry served about 650 families each week. The Friends In Deed Women’s Room is a daily refuge for women who are homeless or in other insecure situations. In the Women’s Room, they can shower, nap, wash laundry, socialize, and engage in activities together. Friends In Deed staff and volunteers also connect the women with social services. Friends In Deed teams reach out to homeless people in surrounding neighborhoods to connect them with social services for finding housing, medical care, and jobs.
OGMM is a Member Congregation and provides a representative from our Meeting as well as volunteers to Friends In Deed programs. The OGMM Communal Gardeners also donate vegetables and fruits to the Friends In Deed food pantry. For more information, complete the Contact email form on this website and ask about Friends In Deed.
FRIENDS WESTERN SCHOOL
Friends Western School is a Quaker elementary school housed on the campus of Orange Grove Friends Meeting. The school is founded on the belief that there is an inner Light in each of us, which in turn inspires an ethos of support, respect and kindness. The curriculum supports academic growth as well as social and emotional development. Families come from a range of religious and non-religious backgrounds. Friends Western is one of 81 member schools of the Friends Council on Education. Read more…
NATIVE PLANT GARDEN
Caring for the garden.
Wild Evening Primrose.
Praying Mantis in our garden.
Members and attenders of Orange Grove planted the front yard of the Meeting House in a native plant garden in 2019. It’s a garden of low native ground covers and small native trees and is visited by many kinds of insects and birds. Members of the Landscape Subcommittee water and weed the garden. Every 3 to 4 months, we hold a Garden Workday in which many members and attenders participate. We clean up dead foliage and weed. We also put in new plants to expand the garden towards the edges of the campus. Members and attenders interested in gardening or who would like to learn about gardening are invited to join our Landscape Subcommittee and participate in our Garden Workdays. For more information, complete the Contact email form on this website and ask about the Native Plant Garden.
QUAKER BOOK CLUB
Every other month, we meet and discuss a book over dinner, usually a vegan dinner. The book is chosen by whoever has volunteered to host. Our book choices are all over the board, sometimes oriented to the spiritual, sometimes to social justice, and sometimes to the much less serious. We usually dine and talk on a Tuesday evening, at 7 PM every other month. All are welcome. For more information, complete the Contact email form on this website and ask about the Quaker Book Club.
PEN PALS FOR PRISONERS PROGRAM
Our program of corresponding with prisoners helps to relieve their loneliness. When a prisoner is reading or writing letters, as one prisoner put it, he can “forget where he is.” We, on the outside, can encourage inmates to take classes and prepare for release. Our letters can create a positive relationship with another human being. And, most importantly, we can give hope.
Corresponding with prisoners can be particularly rewarding as we watch them improve in their outlook on life. And, in few other relationships will we be so appreciated for such a simple activity as writing letters. Read on to find out how you can become a prison pen pal.
QUEER MEDITATION
Loosely modeled on Meeting for Worship with a dash of queer. We meditate for 45 minutes followed by an hour of fellowship. We create a space to celebrate and explore queer identity. Allies welcome. We meet the first Wednesday of the month at 7 PM to 9 PM at the Meeting House. For more information, complete the Contact email form on this website and ask about Queer Meditation.
AGING BOLDLY
Aging Boldly is a group of supportive, interested listeners who create a safe space in which to share the experience of aging. We ask: How are you getting along with Aging Boldly lately? Is the light waning? Or is the light growing brighter? We speak for ourselves and say what we feel comfortable saying. We do not answer, disagree, or debate. We do not try to solve each others’ problems.
Our topics are extensive: Clutter, hoarding, stressing, being grumpy, burial plans, fun plans, health issues, letting go of losses, accepting how things are right now without rushing before Spirit leads us….
We meet every three months, the first Thursday of each quarter, unless that falls on a holiday. We arrive after lunch at 1 PM, for water and nibbles. We begin with silent worship at 1:30. A rotating clerk facilitates our discussion. We always finish by 3 PM so that seniors can depend on rides home. All are welcome in the spirit of Friends. For more information, complete the Contact email form on this website and ask about Aging Boldly.
BIBLE STUDY
COME-AS-YOU-ARE BIBLE STUDY
We reflect on texts from the Bible in the manner of Quaker Worship Sharing.* We meet every fourth Sunday morning from 8:45 to around 9:50 in the Meeting House library and on Zoom. For further information, complete the Contact email form on this website or simply come in person or via Zoom. The Zoom address is the same as used for Meeting for Worship.
WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY
Women’s Bible Study invites women to study the Bible together the first Wednesday of the month from 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM. We meet online. For more information, complete the Contact email form on this website and ask about Women’s Bible Study.
*Note: Worship Sharing focuses on a particular question and helps people to express their own experience. This way of being together can draw people into sacred space, where they remove their usual defenses, and encounter each other in “that which is eternal.” When worship sharing, Friends often share more deeply than they would in normal conversation. (Source: Friends General Conference)
UBUNTU FELLOWSHIP
[Image based on Australian First Nations-inspired artwork, artist unknown.]
We meet on the last Thursday evening of each month over Zoom for about 90 minutes. We listen to carefully selected portions of a video or podcast episode about racial and/or political healing and reflect on them in Worship Sharing format. We are guided by queries provided by the facilitators. Examples of source materials we have explored include the Enemies Project, The Seed, QuakerSpeak, and Heather McGee’s The Sum of Us.
Details about each session are sent out in advance via the OGMM email list and Monthly Announcements.
*Note: Worship Sharing focuses on a particular question and helps people to express their own experience. This way of being together can draw people into sacred space, where they remove their usual defenses, and encounter each other in “that which is eternal.” When worship sharing, Friends often share more deeply than they would in normal conversation. (Source: Friends General Conference)
ORANGE GROVE RECORD NEWSLETTER
The Orange Grove Record newsletter is an important channel of communication among OGMM members and attenders. Copies dating back to 2005 appear on the OGMM website. The Record features articles about OGMM activities like harvesting at our Communal Garden, the children’s Easter Egg hunt, and the installation of solar panels on the roof of one of our buildings.
When important issues have come up before the Meeting, articles in the Record have provided background information needed for making decisions. For example, an article on alternative landscaping designs set the stage for decision-making about the front yard native plant garden. Similarly, articles in 2025 about our relationship with Friends Western School, which shares our campus, laid the groundwork for a discussion regarding any changes that might be needed in this important relationship.
Over the years, the Record has included a wide variety of articles and artwork by members and attenders. These include book reviews, poems, biographies of Quakers, and essays about social issues. The Record allows us to keep in touch with each others’ creative efforts and interests. For many years, the Record was published around four times a year. But in recent years, publication has lapsed for lack of an editor. Hopefully, a volunteer or volunteer(s) will pick up the mantle of editor and once again open up this important channel of communication for our Meeting. For more information about what is involved in producing the Record, please contact Zac (in the OGMM Members Directory). If you’re interested in reviving the Record, please let the OGMM Nominating Committee know or complete the Contact form on this website and mention that you would like to know more about editing the Record.
RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE WIDER QUAKER COMMUNITY
Our Meeting participates in national and international Quaker organizations. In addition, we participate in two regional organizations of Quaker groups, the Southern California Quarterly Meeting and the Pacific Yearly Meeting. These regional organizations are groupings of Quaker Meetings which follow the unprogrammed Sunday Meeting format that Orange Grove follows. The unprogrammed format is an hour of silence in which we await what Spirit may reveal to us and listen to the insights which other Friends may share. Click for a listing of other unprogrammed Friends Meetings within the region and for related information.