In the spirit of Continuing Revelation, Solebury Meeting is living our Quaker Peace Testimony with practical and realistic support of a most worthy young man.
Light the Minds, a 501(c) nonprofit organization, supports and empowers students from areas impacted by war and military conflicts. The founder of the organization, Gene Gateniuk, was an international student himself who received a Quaker education. He and his wife started Light the Minds as a personal initiative; it has evolved during the past two years into its current mission. You can learn more on their website. Learn more at lighttheminds.org.
Currently, Light the Minds is able to support a number of Ukrainian students by helping them to study in U.S. boarding schools. This is made possible by the generosity of donors.
The student supported by Solebury Friends Meeting lives in Kyiv with his mother and younger sister. His father, a lawyer, voluntarily joined Ukrainian armed forces during the first days of the Russian invasion. He was killed in combat near the city of Izyum in August 2022. Our recipient is an outstanding scholar, and receives financial aid from Solebury School based on merit and need. Given the circumstances, however, his family has limited ability to pay for the total cost of his attendance.
Solebury Meeting will support this young scholar’s education for two years, his junior and senior years. His story and the availability of additional funds moved the Mary Blackmar Fund Committee to support this student who is deserving and holds great promise.
Solebury Meeting’s Mary Blackmar Fund historically supports education costs for children whose parents are members of the meeting and/or students attending Friends Schools. The focus of the fund is usually local. However, sometimes world events call us to act with a larger scope. In the darkness of war, finding the light of learning can develop young people to become faithful stewards of a peaceful world. To this end, the Mary Blackmar Fund committee members of Solebury Friends Meeting were moved in 2024 to support a Ukrainian student who is attending Solebury School.
