Upcoming events.
Playing in the Spirit: “Biography Exploration”
In this virtual session, we will read children’s biographies as a way to engage in spiritual connection with other equity advocates. We will see what we can learn from them as we seek to revise and strengthen our own spiritual equity advocacy work.
Purpose
To construct reading biographies as a spiritual practice
To situate children equity advocates as our teachers
To contemplate and acquire equity advocacy strategies
Materials: Please bring an empty jewelery box or treasure box (something to put your collected wisdom in), crayons, markers, or colored pens/pencils
Prework: Research a child who has been investing in equity advocacy work.
Deadline to Apply for the Inaugural Charles van Horne Art Award!
Announcing the 2025 Charles van Horne Art Award, a self-nominated competition for Fellows currently on grant who are practicing visual artists! Apply by August 31st!
This award honors Charlie van Horne, a longtime Roothbert Board member, Treasurer, President, and great-nephew of Antonie van Horn Roothbert. Charlie was a financier, philosopher, and gifted artist who brought curiosity, compassion, and creativity to everything he touched. This award celebrates his legacy and enduring love for the arts.
The Award
$500 prize
Featured spotlight on the Roothbert Fund website (including the winning work and a selection of additional pieces)
How It Works
Submit one high-quality image of your visual artwork by August 31, 2025. Submissions will be shared with the Roothbert Fellowship community for a vote in September, and the winner will be announced in early October.
Submit via the link below by August 31st!
We hope you’ll consider sharing your creative work and honoring Charlie’s legacy through this special opportunity.
Deadline to become a Fellowship Pod Coordinator
We are seeking Fellowship Pod Leaders for 2026! This is an opportunity for you to be connected to the fund in a substantial way and one way of engaging in reciprocity.
Please respond to Nadjwa Norton, Fellowship Pod Coordinator at nelnorton@gmail.com by September 14, 2025 if you would like to be a Fellowship Pod Facilitator.
You can sign up knowing who your dyad facilitator will be and your pod content. You can also sign up and I will match you with a dyad facilitator and then you will decide your pod content.
Email Nadjwa with any questions. The actual final pod abstracts will be due October 5, 2025.
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Design Rationale Thinking
The pods increase our alignment to fellowship within and across fellows of all classes.
The pods reduce the likelihood of the fellowship interactions being abandoned as a result of mismatched schedules, relational synergy, or solitary responsibilities for maintaining contact.
Fellowship Pod Design
Two veteran fellows come together to facilitate the fellowship pod.
3+ new fellows are in the fellowship pod.
Pods meet every 2 months for at least an hour and a half.
There is some type of interactive component with materials/resources included.
Commitment to the pod is for a year, 6 pod sessions, for both facilitators and fellows.
Fellowship pod dyad facilitators write an overview of their pod focus. A pod focus indicates the area of interest/expertise/focus for a pod dyad. A description of the pod dyad and pod focus will be made available to new fellows.
There will be a host day, October 25, 2025, in which all fellows can listen and learn with and about each other. New fellows will meet and greet the dyads and have an opportunity to ask questions and have short conversations. The dyads will have an opportunity to share about their pod foci and themselves, answer questions, and learn about the fellows.
Pendle Hill Retreat
"Nobody listens anymore!" This may be a legitimate complaint in a world of superficial sound bites, real and imagined factionalism, and media that isolate while purporting to connect. What might be gained by honing our ability to listen to others, to our higher power, to our inner selves? During this weekend retreat, we'll explore the meanings of listening and practice some ways to tune in more deeply.
Facilitator: Ann Jerome
Bio: Ann Jerome attended Yale University and Brown University as a Roothbert fellow. After twenty years as a college professor, she pursued another education and launched a new career as a professional homeopath, which led to entrepreneurship in founding a school for practitioners. Two recent stays as Friend-in-Residence at Pendle Hill helped her orient to her next and current phase in writing, Quaker eldering, and living in multi-national and multi-generational community.
Details: If you wish to invite a guest, please make sure to respond to that item on the form. Fellows may generally invite no more than one guest to a retreat. A contribution of $100 per guest may be made by check to The Roothbert Fund, Inc. Fellows who request to bring a guest will be informed as soon as possible if there will be space available. Guests should refrain from incurring any travel expense until they learn whether there will be room for them.
As always, the weekend offers plenty of time to connect with others, hike the beautiful grounds of Pendle Hill, eat yummy food, make art in the open studio, shoot hoops, read, or just relax. Casual attire only!
If you have any questions about the retreat, please contact James Heinegg and Claire Heinegg at roothbertretreat@gmail.com.
We are at capacity for this retreat. To join the waitlist, please fill out the form below.