The Quaker Kids of Newtown Quaker Meeting held their annual lasagna dinner for charity at the historic Quaker Meetinghouse and raised $2,707 for their designated charity this year, Bucks County Interfaith Coalition for Refugee Resettlement.
Bucks County Interfaith Coalition for Refugee Resettlement (BCICRR) was founded in 2016 as an all-volunteer group working together to support two Syrian families. In 2022, the organization began sponsoring an Afghan family of six as they resettled in Bucks County. Another Afghan family of three arrived in March 2025.
BCICRR was started by a local dentist, Norma Kaplis, affiliated with both a Jewish Synagogue and a Quaker Meeting who became increasingly concerned about the violence to people in Syria.
In 2015 Norma brought her concern for Syrian refugees into her silent worship at Newtown Quaker Meeting. In the meeting for worship, she felt a strong “leading” to “Find a home in Bucks County for a refugee family.
The BCICRR coalition includes Christians, Jews, Muslims, and others who have come together to provide friendship, practical assistance, and financial support for these refugee families
BCICRR is supported by Congregation Beth El, Bristol Friends Meeting, Congregation Kehilat haNahar, Congregation Kol Emet, Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, Newtown Friends Meeting, Plumstead Friends Meeting, St. Andrews Episcopal Church, St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, Yardley Friends Meeting, and Zubaida Mosque.
Newtown Meeting Quaker Kids have now raised over $50,000 distributed to charities of their choice during the past fourteen years by serving simple meals for voluntary donations.
Previous recipients of the funds raised at charitable events by the Newtown Quaker young people have been: Right Sharing of World Resources for micro-lending to women in India, Habitat for Humanity, Syrian refugee relief via the Shelterbox; US hurricane relief via the All Hands Volunteers; Valley Youth House’s Synergy Project for homeless youth in Bucks County and Allentown; Haiti Relief; The School for Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA), the first boarding school for girls in Afghanistan; Greater Philadelphia Diaper Bank; Mercer Street Friends Center in Trenton. NJ; Penndel Food Pantry; Save Darfur; and Heifer International.
Norval Reece, Community Contributor