Present: Christopher Cadbury, Mary Foster Cadbury, Denise Sherman, Karen Snare, Vonn New, Caroline Besse Webster, Bob West, Nettie West.
The Meeting opened with a period of worshipful silence.
2010-19: The Clerk announced New York Yearly Meeting Spring Sessions to be held at Chautauqua Institution April 11, 2010. Friends approved a change of date for the next Monthly Meeting from April 11th to April 18th.
2010-20: The auditor's review of the 2009 budget stated that the auditor has found the treasurer's reports to be accurate and to represent the financial status of the Monthly Meeting as set forth in the statements. The auditor's review was accepted.
2010-21: Mary Foster Cadbury reported that Quarterly Meeting will be held May 2, 2010. More people are needed to work on food. Vonn New volunteered to make a large pot of vegetarian soup. It is suggested that people bring bread, salad, and fruit. The clerk will convey this to the Hospitality Committee. Friends approved.
2010-22: Peace and Social Action Committee: Vonn New reported that the committee is open to all who wish to participate. The next meeting will be April 11. The committee hosted a meeting for worship on March 14, 2010, to hold in the Light the Oscar Romero delegation to El Salvador, in which Friend Caroline Besse Webster will be participating. Vonn presented the following travel minute for Caroline to carry with her. The minute was approved.
To Friends in El Salvador and elsewhere:
We commend to you our Friend Caroline Webster, who will be traveling with the School of the Americas Watch Oscar Romero Legacy Delegation in March 2010. The peace building work of this delegation in healing the hurt of past violence and preventing future violence is consistent with our understanding of the Quaker Peace Testimony. We hold the witness of the delegation and Friend Caroline in our prayers that all may know and live in peace.
2010-23: State of the Meeting 2009: Friends approved the State of the Meeting report. (Attached)
The Monthly Meeting with a concern for business closed in silent worshipful reflection. The next Monthly Meeting will occur April 18, 2010.
Karen Snare, Clerk Caroline Besse Webster, Recording Clerk
STATE OF THE MEETING 2009
We write in response to three of the queries posed by the Yearly Meeting. We are blessed that our worship is deep and our meetings for worship often feel gathered. We are concerned about the relatively advanced age of nearly all of our members and attenders and about the lack of children in the Meeting. Our remote geographic location makes for a low probability of drop-ins, spontaneous or otherwise. What feels like minimal outreach is of concern to many of us. Some of our members continue to worship with men in nearby prisons, participate in Yearly Meeting and wider Quaker organizations and conduct active ministries in the wider world. We collect food for a local food pantry, and individually take actions for social justice. Our recently revived Peace & Social Action committee is looking for opportunities for service for the Meeting as a whole, both because we are called to this and because those searching for Friends or for Friends values and beliefs would expect to find us acting in ways to help others.
We are aware that before this and other improvements can take place, we must solve the task of ready communication among ourselves. We have been unsuccessful at communicating Meeting events or news of individual Friends. We have a website which provides a calendar. This has proved, however, to be ineffective for many, and we recognize that we need a more promising method.
Over the years the Meeting has had an active First Day school. Today that is not true, although there are 2 teenagers who come fairly regularly and often choose to stay in Meeting for Worship. We have explored various ways to attract young families: designated one Sunday a month for First day school, provided teaching materials ready to use should children come, and sponsored a ‘fun day.’ The fun day was attended by previously non-attending parents and their children as well as regulars. We did have a good time. The efforts, however, did not achieve their goal: consistently attending children and families. Does our current lack of families and children represent only one of the many dips and climbs of a long established meeting which will eventually change?
Our Meeting is feeling the financial pinch that the world is feeling. In October we thought we wouldn’t be able to make our budget/expenditures and the decision was made to reduce our Yearly Meeting contribution for 2010. But we note with surprised gratitude that at the end of the year we met our 2009 expenditures with only a $250 shortfall, and felt able to restore our Yearly Meeting commitment to the 2009 level. We feel a strong commitment to supporting the work of the Yearly Meeting, and were helped in making our financial decisions by the visit from Peter Phillips as a representative of the Yearly Meeting finance committee. Our largest expenses are maintenance and the Yearly Meeting contribution; our spending for community or committee support is small.
We are grateful for our Meeting community. We try to be faithful; we are aware of our weaknesses. The love and support of everyone in our beloved Meeting community nourishes and sustains us on our journey.
