The Friends Enrichment Program of Moorestown hosted an expo and monarch butterfly workshop at the Moorestown Friends Meetinghouse on Sept. 15.
Friends program committee members Maria Esche, who is also co-chair; Monique Begg; Bob Esche; Shannon Reilly; and Judy Van Tijn hosted tables that demonstrated program activities such as volcano building, the ecology of local trees, puppet making, how to distinguish between disinformation and misinformation and conflict resolution.
“Information on war and peace is what I displayed and talked about at my table,” Begg said. “The emphasis was on love as a key to good relationships among people and on the importance of reaching out to people who are not like us with a message of love and inclusion.”
Begg’s display also featured various trifolds illustrating the devastation of war and how we have not learned from the mistakes of our past to avoid it, she explained. The trifolds illustrated how the power of love can overcome conflict and that this is the only way we have any hope for peace in an increasingly turbulent world.
One trifold at the expo featured quotes from a workshop several months ago where children and their parents wrote about what peace means to them. The plan is to illustrate the quotes at other workshops and possibly turn them into a book.
Esche’s table had various puppets made by children of the Friends program with construction paper and mounted on paint stirring sticks. Each puppet represented a child’s self-image, followed by a healthy discussion, according to expo planners.
At her table, Reilly explained how to distinguish between misinformation and disinformation, the latter being deliberately created false information. Using computer graphs, she illustrated how disinformation has risen significantly in recent years with the growth of social media and how to make decisions that are based on fact and not online propaganda.
The Friends Enrichment Program of Moorestown event was held at the Moorestown Friends School playground, where eight monarch butterflies were released to begin their migration south.
Esche also explained how trees enrich the world, with fruit; as a home and food source for birds; small mammals and insects; and as a source of beauty. Van Tijn offered sessions on conflict resolution, rooted in the Society of Friends, understanding that resolving conflict works best when that conflict is fully examined from multiple perspectives and agreed upon rules of conduct.
Van Tijn used the Positive Action Conflict Resolution Curriculum, based on analyzing role- playing scenarios.
“Each of us had tables that represented iconic themes of the Friends Enrichment Program,” said Begg’s son Daniel.
Daniel and Glenn Curtis hosted a workshop on monarch butterflies at the expo that featured trifolds illustrating the metamorphosis from egg to caterpillar, chrysalis to monarch butterfly, and the insect’s life cycle. They also explained the butterfly’s importance to the environment and the dangers posed as they make their 2,000-mile annual migration to the Oyamel forests of Mexico, where they spend several months throughout the winter before migrating north again in late April or May.
Daniel and Curtis involved children and parents in the workshop, helping them re-enact the monarch’s attraction to milkweed and life cycle with the help of props. The kids then released eight monarchs so they could begin their migration south.
“I had a wonderful time,” Curtis noted of the workshop. “It was 16 years ago that I started planting milkweed. Sean (his son) was 6 years old. Sean is 22 years old now and continues to celebrate the monarchs and their conservation efforts in Chesapeake, Virginia.”
The Friends Enrichment Program is a Quaker-based volunteer effort that provides financially disadvantaged children in the township with scholarships and other life-enhancing activities. For more information, follow the program on Facebook.
“It was so full of joy and goodwill,” Monique said of the expo and butterfly workshop. “ … What I do know is the power of love, because I experienced it and I experienced it big time. I do want people to have the experience of love versus hatred.
“There’s that of love in everyone.”
