About Quest

Mission Statement of Quest for Learning

The mission of Quest for Learning is to plan and conduct cultural and educational programs for retired persons living in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Quest for Learning is incorporated as a nonprofit corporation under the Pennsylvania Nonprofit Corporation Law of 1988.

The History of Quest for Learning in Lancaster

In 1975 Ms. Lee Musgrave told some fellow members of First Presbyterian Church in Lancaster about an educational program for retired people she had earlier helped to organize in Plainfield, New Jersey. As a result the pastor at First Presbyterian, Dr. Donald Wilson, soon took the idea of creating such a program in Lancaster to the pastors of some other downtown Lancaster churches. Dr. Wilson, along with the pastors from the Church of the Apostles, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, St. James Episcopal Church and St. Mary's Catholic Church agreed to pursue the idea by appointing members of their congregations, one of whom was Ms. Musgrave, to a committee charged with creating the program. A few months later, a representative of First Reformed Church was added to the committee.

From this committee, chaired by Ms. Musgrave, the notion of Quest for Learning emerged. The committee defined the purpose of Quest as "seeking the encouragement of mental stimulation and growth, the excitement of new knowledge and the pleasure of new friends." In February 1976, the committee began to organize a curriculum for the fall. Financial backing was provided by $50 contributions from each of the churches. Quest was officially introduced to the Lancaster community in the Fall of 1976, when sessions held at First Presbyterian Church from September 29 to November 17, 1976 attracted 162 participants. Each session included two class periods with seven courses, followed by lunch and a town meeting where community leaders spoke on timely topics.

By 1977 the Quest program was six weeks long and held twice a year in the Spring and in the Fall. A coffee fellowship was added between the two class periods to allow an opportunity for refreshments and conversation with other participants. At this time, to accommodate the increasing registration, Quest moved its sessions to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, where they have been held ever since.

In 1999, Quest was incorporated as Quest for Learning, an independent not-for-profit corporation, with the former Quest Committee transformed into a Board of Directors.  From the beginning, the Quest Committee was a volunteer group of people from many backgrounds who conceived the programs, obtained the speakers, handled the mail-in registrations, served at the Coffee Hour and handled the physical arrangements necessary to serve the participants.  The current Board of Directors continues to be a working board, performing many of the same tasks as the original committee.  However, the Board now uses contractor services for those tasks that Board members do not have the capability to perform.  This includes such activities as printing and mailing program brochures and creating the basic design for the Quest website.

In early 2020 the COVID-19 virus arrived, causing a pandemic that forced the Quest Board to cancel its Spring 2020 program on short notice — the first cancellation of Quest since its inception in 1976. The persistence of the pandemic caused Quest to switch its program from in-person presentations to online ones for Fall 2020, all of 2021, and Spring 2022 using Zoom, a video-conferencing system that allows sessions to be broadcast into participants’ homes via the internet. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Quest often had close to 500 participants; the Quest Board hopes to return to that level once the pandemic recedes.

Over the years hundreds of Quest presenters have shared their knowledge and talents without any reward other than the appreciation of those who attend. Speakers include artists, archeologists, astronomers, bankers, botanists, business leaders, clergy, craftsmen, government officials, historians, journalists, lawyers, theologians, manufacturers, philosophers, physicians, physicists, and war veterans. The Quest Board is proud that the program has enriched the cultural life of Lancaster.

But, essential as the organizers and presenters who make Quest happen are, the soul of Quest continues to be the hundreds of participants who continually demonstrate that it is never too late to learn.