On April 27, 2020, SCYM lost a dear young Friend, Mimosa Boone Thomas, member of Coastal Bend Monthly Meeting, Corpus Christi, the meeting in which she grew up. She was 24 and suffered from a debilitating disease but worked with great energy to help all those around her, especially the disadvantaged and undocumented.

Mimosa served Friends Committee on National Legislation (fcnl.org) in 2015-16 as a member of the Advocacy Corps, working in the Rio Grande Valley on immigration rights. Her supervisor spoke very highly of her seemingly natural ability to organize. Her skills increased as she worked with FCNL. She was greatly loved by her fellow Advocacy Corps members for sharing her energy and enthusiasm for the work and being a beacon of fun and love among them all. She lobbied in Washington with the Texas delegation several times during FCNL s Annual Meeting and brought her friends to help significantly lower the average age of the delegation and bring the perspective of people of color to our lobbying visits. It gave us older Friends so much hope. I know she was a helpful mentor at Spring Lobby Weekend to the other young people who gathered.

Mimosa grew up in the tiny Coastal Bend Monthly Meeting. After leaving FCNL she sought and got meeting membership, in part so she could represent SCYM as an FCNL General Committee Member. Attached is a photo of Mimosa in the halls of Congress after a visit to one of the members. Mimosa is on the left with Selina, who served in the Advocacy Corps in Fayetteville, Arkansas in 2018-19 in the middle (her permanent residence is in Austin) and Jordan, who followed Mimosa working in the Rio Grande Valley on issues of poverty on the right.

Mimosa was unable to attend SCYM Sessions because our venue was too far from a hospital in an emergency. I wish others could have gotten to know her. She shared with me her wish that SCYM and FCNL reach out to her younger sister, Magnolia, now 12, when she comes of age to participate. I hope to be able to be in touch with Magnolia through the meeting and help her get involved.

Please hold Maria Boone, her mother and member of Coastal Bend MM, her sister, Magnolia and others in her family, meeting and circle of friends in the Light. A memorial service will be held at a time when it is possible to hold it face to face.

Photo of Mimosa, in front, with the 2018 Texas FCNL lobby in DC after a meeting with Ted Cruz's staff.
For more about Mimosa and her work go to https://www.fcnl.org/updates/remembering-and-grieving-our-friend-mimosa-thomas-2714.