A joint effort of the Ethical Society of Northern Virginia and five other area religious congregations resulted in scholarship awards to 10 high school seniors, six from South Lakes H.S. and four from Herndon H.S., at their honors assemblies in June.  This was the first year the Ethical Society participated in the Jennifer Mitchell Memorial Fund, but the19th year students have benefited from gifts from the fund.  The fund was established to recognize graduating seniors who have attained a solid record of achievement despite economic, family, linguistic, or other difficulties that would have impeded less dedicated and determined students.

This weekend represented the best of our NoVES community, I think.  On Saturday, we had a fun gathering for spaghetti dinner at Blueberry Hill, thanks to Amy Anderson, her crew of cooks and setup and cleanup volunteers, and everyone who attended.  I saw lots of people in pleasant conversation with each other, talking ethics, politics, life, the universe, and everything.

Then on Sunday, Julius Coles of Africare spoke to us about the project that this Society has been supporting, and the rest of the work of Africare.  I was reminded of Michael Harrington's statement: "That the poor are invisible is one of the most important things about them."  I'm grateful to Mr. Coles for letting us see the faces and the numbers -- in the movie and slides he showed, and for helping the poor of Africa become less invisible.

The NoVES Spaghetti Dinner will be held on March 8, 2008 at the Common House of the Blueberry Hill Cohousing community. The doors will open at 5:30 with dinner served at 6:00. (Those who've volunteered to help, please arrive at 4:00.) The dinner costs $8.00 per person with $24.00 maximum per family. Come for some great food and even better conversation!

NoVES' annual retreat is June 13-June 15.  For more information, stop at our Welcome Table on a Sunday.

During the winter, the Ethical Society occasionally closes if the weather conditions are unsafe for driving. Conditions may be safe in some parts of our Northern Virginia area and unsafe in others, so use your judgment and also check email (the announcements email list), this website, or the NoVES phone number (703 437-3161) before leaving on a day where icy conditions may be present.

The usual procedure: A decision is made about 7:00 a.m. on Sunday morning by the NoVES President, the NoVES Leader, and two others who live in different parts of the county, as to whether NoVES will have its platform as usual or not. We do our best to interpret the predictions and current conditions to assess likely safety for our members and friends driving to the platform meeting.

If conditions look like they won't be safe for the drive to or from the Society, and assuming that power is not out, we then try to (a) change the voice message on the NoVES phone line to reflect a closing. We also try to update the front page of the website and send an email to the announcements email list. Check for the email and web update by about 7:30 a.m. on Sunday (power permitting).

To get email announcements from this Society, please subscribe to our announcements email list. Enter your address and name in the section "Subscribing to Announce."

One of the best ways to get to know us is to hear the stories of some of our members. Here are a few of those: