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April 29, 2007, 8:30
AM
Westtown Meeting House
Silent Worship
Announcements:
Correspondence:
- Sarah Yeoman letter asking
for transfer to Center Meeting lifted up for approval by Westtown Meeting.
The Meeting approved this transfer.
- Other Clerk’s correspondence
in the coming month: Letter to Poughkeepsie Meeting (Deb Wood transfer
to Westtown Meeting completed); State of the Meeting letter to CQM.
Old Business:
- Please sign up on Coffee
and Greeter signups so that we’re set for the rest of the year.
- Report on the Hickman Spring
Cleanup, 4/14/07. Lot of people showed up including some students. Good
morning. A lot of work was accomplished.
- Report of Pastoral Care
& Concerns Committee:
- From April: Peter Lane
spoke about Forrester Wilson and asked that we verify his attendance
back to December. We also need someone to continue to verify that
he is helpful and in attendance.
- Spoke about Parent
questionnaire and made comments to forward to Rebecca and Ginny.
- Two clearness committees
were formed for Rose Alken's membership and marriage.
- Peter reminded the
Committee of CQM service project.
- Spoke about members
who are graduating from high school or college
- Cary Asselin, Amanda
Forrester, Nora Wright, Tim Gallagher, Casey Snedecor?
- Meeting Audio system.
Both Birmingham and West Chester have audio systems with microphones
hung throughout the meeting that amplify what people say when they
have a message to deliver. There is a Meeting House trust fund for
systems such as this, it is under the care of Willistown Monthly
Meeting. Does the school have an interest? PC&C has decided
that an ad hoc committee should be formed to carry this work forward.
- New letter received
from Sarah Yeoman expressing her appreciation for the care Peter
gave her in seeing a way forward.
- Sarah Gilpin and Mike
Dudas, Westtown graduates, had written a letter requesting that
she be allowed to use the Meeting House for her marriage to another
Westtown graduate. Peter will speak with her.
- Nancy Bernhardt will
take care of the Summer Lake Supper sign up.
- Short description of greeter's
job, written by Ginny Sutton, was shared with the meeting.
- ASK GINNY FOR AN ELECTRONIC
COPY OF THE DESCRIPTION
- Progress in planning for
the 6/10/07 Meeting for Worship for recognition of First Day School
children? Worship and Ministry will take this on. Please send the invoice
quickly.
- Report of Worship &
Ministry Committee: Laurie Worth is drafting the state of the Meeting
Report for PYM and will send off soon. Please contact Laurie Worth if
you have anything you want included. Worship has also generated and
approved a form for families with children to use to share with us their
sense of this experiment this year in Religious Education and the new
Meeting Structure. The surveys will be available in meeting today and
electronically.
- Report of Peace & Social
Justice Committee: Busy doing First Day School this Quarter, the themes
are Peace and the Environment.
- Report on Concord Quarterly
Meeting, at West Chester Meeting, 4/22/07. The Program focused on Friends
Committee on the Association for the Care of Children. Their main location
is the old synagogue on Church Street. Some West Chester Mtg, middle
schoolers presented the program. They had wanted to help ease the separation
and sense of lose of home that the children served by FCACC experience.
The WCMM children decided that one thing that speaks of home is the
book bag one has for the first day of school. The Children of the Quarter
then left and put together about 50 book bags. Lark Worth then spoke
to the adults about the program, the services they provide, the outreach
into the community. Lark said they needed help with clothing, especially
for young mothers needing help with looking appropriately dressed for
job interviews. This is one of the best, kept secrets of Chester County.
- There is a Quarterly Meeting
planning session this evening. The next Quarterly Meeting will be here
at Westtown Monthly Meeting. Anyone interested in helping to plan for
this Meeting should contact Peter.
- Rebecca reported about
her first attendance at Interim Committee. This meeting focused on money
and structure. How to collect the quotas from meetings and how to help
meetings from within the PYM structure. Arthur will be working to bridge
the gap between PYM and the Quarterly Meetings.
- Report of Committee for
Clearness on Membership of Rose Alken: from Kevin Gallagher and Tom
Haviland., with hearty recommendation for approval. The Meeting approved
Rose's membership. We will greet her in May after meeting for worship.
- Committee for Clearness
on Marriage of Rose Alken and John Koenig will take place at Kevin and
Karen Gallagher’s house, 6:15 pm on Wed. 5/2/07. Nothing to report at
this time.
- Ad hoc committee on Meeting
House repairs. Includes Mitch Beaver, David Dobbins, Kevin Gallagher,
Bruce Harrison, and Ginny Sutton. This committee has not yet met with
Bob Connolly and Phil Guenther and so does not yet have anything to
report. A new roof will be put on the Meeting House and painting of
the windows. This will be about $65,000 of work. There is about $100,000
of delayed interior work that will not be done this summer.
- Discussion of yearly or
as-needed corporate giving by Westtown Meeting to selected outside organizations.
The following passage from the March Meeting for Business minutes sums
up the discussion that did take place then without a decision:
- The old practice has
been that there is no corporate giving. There are no funds in the
budget for corporate giving except for the necessitous fund. What
would need to happen from a financial stand point for us to give
corporately? We would need to agree on the organization. The beauty
of the current policy is that we as individuals can do with our
donating dollars as we please. Are we too diverse to agree on a
group or witness for our financial support? Some groups are asking
for us to make a commitment as churches or communities of worshippers.
We as a meeting make all kinds of corporate decisions without having
every member present and agreeing to that, how would this sort of
decision/witness be any different.
- When we had the plant
sale we did make corporate gifts, though with the proviso that the
recipients be local organizations or individuals.
We have in the past given as individuals through the treasurer and
then had the treasurer write a check to that organization.
- How do we choose among
all the worthy organizations for which we might give? How would
we sift through them and make decisions about how we allocate our
funds?
- Are there local organizations
supported by local churches from which we are conspicuously absent.
Rebecca will check on this.
- The necessitous fund
is for serious needs within the membership. So a corporate gift
would require greater giving on our part.
- If any one of our members
is willing "to sell" the meeting on an organization for
us as a Meeting to support we should leave that door open and not
limit it only local organizations. When occasion rises for a corporate
donation sponsored by and arising from an individual leading, the
Meeting . . . .
- But is this the same
as corporate partnership? Are gifts the same as corporate partnerships
and memberships,
- Do we need to increase
membership gift to cover a line item for corporate gifts.
- Is there a practice
that most of the churches use? We will ask Alan Wright to check
with the inter faith council.
- Is this Policy in the
Meeting Minutes?
- We agreed to table
this discussion for now.
New Business:
- Peace and Social Justice
Committee on joining “Jubilee Partnership”
- The Address list has not
been updated as no one has been keeping this current since Jesse and
Branin were released from this work. Ask Laurie Worth, as recorder,
to send her electronic address list to Tom Haviland. This should be
referred to Peter Lane to help find someone, Carrie Goodman might be
a good person. Whoever the person is they should work with Tom so that
we have one complete list of email, and snail mail addresses as well
phone numbers. Ask Laurie Worth to report on what information she has
at the next monthly meeting.
- Handbook is still in process.
- Newsletter is overdue.
The deadline for new information is next Friday 5/4/2007.
- Lucille reported on new
acquisitions by the library.
We ended with silent
worship.
Respectfully,
Margaret Haviland
Recording Clerk |