Fox Valley Friends Meeting for Business, September 11, 2016

Present:  Carol C, Jim C, Lindsay D, Jill H, Reed H, Bob K, Tina M, Mary K - Clerk

Approval of Minutes:  Minutes from the July 17 meeting were approved for posting, with one clarification on RUTH activities.

Treasurer's Report:  Our current balance at the end of August is $2,051.88.  Subscriptions to Friends Journal will be sent to Shane K and Lindsay and Ned.  Our treasurer, Jim, shared a financial report showing we have collected $3,802 in income so far this year and our expenses have been $2,360.  However, our annual donations to the Quaker organizations we support (NYM, FCNL, FGC, FWCC, AFSC, RSWR) should be mailed soon, and we currently do not have enough funds to cover our full budgeted donation level of $2,900.  This situation will be reviewed again at our next Meeting for Business.  The Treasurer’s Report was approved, with gratitude for his service.    

New Business.

Structural Racism in FGC:  The following minute was approved after discussion, with one person standing aside from the decision:  “Fox Valley Friends Monthly Meeting supports a request forwarded to us by Friends of FGC/Spiritual and Institutional Accountability Working Group for an exploration of the decision-making mechanisms and practices of Friends General Conference to provide recommendations for the establishment of administrative practices that will help identify and address any implicit racial bias that may be present within the organization.”  This minute will be forwarded to FGC and the Working Group.

Bi-Monthly Meeting for Business:  This topic will be carried over to our next Meeting for Business. 

Reports from Coordinators of Work Projects.

Care of Meeting:  There was agreement that we want to continue singing a song after each Meeting for Worship, but we want a simpler method for organizing the activity.  Carol offered to send out a solicitation for favorite songs and create an annual schedule to be posted in the bookshelf.  This will allow anyone at Meeting to easily know what song has been agreed to for that day. 

There was also agreement that a monthly query can be helpful for those who might find the silence intimidating on a given day, however reading a query out loud once at the beginning of each month is not particularly helpful.  Instead, Madison Monthly Meeting’s Query for the Month will be posted by Carol on our bookshelf for those who would like to read the query to themselves before worship.   

Adult Education:  We will continue our practice of having volunteers lead Adult Education sessions of their choice at 10 a.m. before Meeting for Worship as they are called, but Carol will coordinate the volunteers and help them schedule dates and publicize the events.   We currently have two topics to be scheduled:  Hayden’s discussion on simplicity, technology and adapting to change, and a review of the FGC 2016 experience by those who attended.   

Mary reported that she and Dan E have been attending the monthly Community & Police meetings held at the Divine Temple Church in Green Bay on the last Thursday of each month at 5:30 p.m.  The meetings are a great way to meet and develop relationships with people of color in our community.  The group is very welcoming to all community members and everyone is encouraged to attend if they are interested.

WISDOM: Hayden requested that we increase the size of our ad in the JOSHUA annual report from $75 to $150.  This would allow us to add more information and contacts for our Meeting and would be a good outreach effort.  Meeting approved.

Mauthe Center:  Reed reported that he is now a member of the Mauthe Center Board of Directors.  Thank you, Reed, for your service!  Some renovations are planned for the building, but they should not interfere with our ability to have a Meeting for Worship.  It is possible we may have to move temporarily to a different room on some days. 

Potlucks:  There was no strong preference expressed for Fridays or Saturdays.  We will schedule our next potluck on a Saturday at Dan E’s home, and the rest of the fall schedule will be on Fridays at Sheila T’s home.  The potluck schedule will be sent out by Mary when dates are confirmed.  The first potluck will review several curriculum available for spiritual deepening and those attending will select one for use during the rest of the year.  Options are:  QuakerQuest In-Reach, FGC Spiritual Deepening, and Our Life is Love.

Communication:  Francesca reported that she posted our last minutes on our website and will continue to do so.  She also contacted Quaker Finder requesting them to put the link to our website into their listing for us. https://www.quakercloud.org/cloud/fox-valley-friends-meeting

Lindsay and Ned are continuing to develop our Facebook page.

Mary has been working on revising the contact list and will send it out soon.

Prison Visitation:  Tina reported that Jeanne B has also started visiting Shane at GBCI.  Also, some information she mailed to Shane about the work JOSHUA is doing to help Wisconsin inmates was sent back to her because it was ‘third-party’ information.

NYM:  The next NYM Interim Session will be in Eau Claire on Oct. 14-15.  All are welcome to attend.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Klos, Clerk

With support from Tina M