Come to the Table! Friendly Community Outreach

As the summer months begin, local communities will be hosting festivals, street fairs, and events in parks and other outdoor locations where Friends meetings will find opportunities for outreach and community connections. “Tabling” at these local events is a great opportunity for conversations and sharing information about the meeting. For those who don’t know our meetinghouses are more than historic buildings, meeting Friends at community events lifts up our current presence and vital ministries.

How to start?

Local chambers of commerce, word of mouth, and even a Google search can provide ideas for summertime outdoor events where setting up a table can lead to the meeting having a presence in your neighborhood and the wider community.

Some basic “ingredients” for tabling:

• Folding table (with tablecloth) and 2-3 chairs for greeters (most street fairs require vendors to provide their own)
• Pop-up tent for shade (consider borrowing from the PYM office if you don’t have one!)
• Reusable banners can be made at copy centers like Staples with images of the meetinghouse or other information. Hang where people can easily see when walking by, even if they don’t stop for more information. They’ll see your Quaker presence!

• Copies of information about Quakers and Quakerism that give different entry-points, depending on people’s interest. These might include a copy of Faith and Practice for people to see, issues of Friends Journal that they can take with them, and Friends General Conference’s “Newcomer Cards”
• Flyers or business cards with a QR code that links to the meeting (or QM) website — people are more likely to use a QR code on their phone rather than fill out an interest form. Use the flyer/card to share basic information about the meeting, like location.
• Standing frames are great for holding a flyer or print information about the meeting.
• Something for children! Quaker Activity Pages for children are a companion resourceto their Newcomer Cards with coloring sheets and puzzles.West Chester Meeting used mailing labels to create a crayon box giveaway. Paired with coloring pages, children are engaged while you speak with the adults they are with and leave your table with a “prize” that also sends home information about the meeting home with prospective visitors!

• Abington Meeting: “Our Worship & Ministry and School Committees and Abington Friends School had an outreach table at the Bucks-Mont Pride Festival at Abington Arts Center.”
• Harrisburg: “Participation in Harrisburg Pride Festival – we sponsored a table and provided outreach materials, water, snacks, and information.”
• Lehigh Valley: “We expanded our outreach efforts by providing a Friendly presence at our local Pride Fest. With the help of a grant from the Bucks Quarter Outreach Grant program we purchased a supply of “You might be a Quaker if…” postcards and paid the $350 non-profit booth fee for Pride Fest. Our Bucks coordinator, Wendy Kane, also provided us with fun and informative materials to display on our table. We found this event to serve as both outreach to the Lehigh Valley Community and inreach as we had robust participation from within our Meeting.”
• Reading: “This summer we are planning to have tables at Reading Earth Day faire and at the Reading Pride fair.”
• Third Haven: “Members of Outreach once again staffed at table at the Multicultural Fair and distributed relevant handouts.”