Fox Valley Friends Meeting for Business, June 10, 2018

FINAL – Approved for publishing on our website 

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

Approval of Minutes:  Minutes from the April 8 meeting were approved for posting with no changes.

Treasurer's Report:  Our end of May bank balance is $2,615 and all current expenses are paid.  Reed reported that the Mauthe Center does not send us invoices for using their space because they consider our payments to be donations.  Meeting approved sending in regular donations to the Mauthe Center of $30 per week.  The treasurer can decide when the donations should be sent.

New Business.

Opportunities for Service:  Hayden G has shared that he would like to lay down his current responsibilities to FVFM due to health issues.  He has been serving as our Coordinator of Outreach, our Coordinator of the Library, and our representative to the JOSHUA Board.  Anyone interested in taking on any of this work for our Meeting should talk to Mary K.  Meeting extends their deep gratitude for the service Hayden has given us in these areas during the last several years.  We are a more welcoming community because of his efforts.

New Clerk Nominating Committee:  Reed H reported that the committee recommends that Mary K continue as Clerk for another three year term.  Mary K accepted the nomination on the condition that Carol C continue in her role of caring for the weekly Meeting for Worship.  Carol C agreed to continue in that role.  This recommendation for Clerk will be brought to the next Meeting for Business in August for approval. Any questions or concerns should be addressed to the committee (Reed H and Jim C) before then.

Reports from Coordinators of Work Projects.

Care of Meeting for Worship:  Dan E offered to host a late summer Meeting for Worship at his home.  It was agreed that we did not want to move our Sunday morning Meeting for Worship from the Mauthe Center because it is too difficult to get the word out to everyone and we have occasional visitors that we wouldn’t want to miss.  However, we would be happy to have an evening gathering at Dan’s home sometime in late summer.  Mary K will talk to Dan about scheduling something.

Mauthe Center:  Members expressed a desire to have our bookcase brought back to our meeting room at the Mauthe Center.  Reed H will check into that possibility.  Carol C offered to coordinate future work days to put our bookcase and library back in order.  She is available on Mondays and Thursdays for this work and will send out e-mails to identify specific work days.

Monthly Potluck/Discussion:  Three summer potlucks are scheduled at the home of Sheila T for 6 pm.

June 22 – Discuss Chapter 9 in “Friends for 300 Years” which describes the four periods of Quaker history and explains Hicksites, Wilburites and Gurneyites.

July 20 and August 17 will be social gatherings

FVFM Web Presence:  Reed H provided information on FVFM for the Mauthe Center to put on their Web site.  Francesca is adding better directions and an updated picture of the Mauthe Center to our Web site.  Thank you, Reed and Francesca! 

FCNL:  Reed H and Bob K agreed to participate in an upcoming FCNL conference call related to organizing action for the important upcoming mid-term elections.  They will report back on what they learn.  Bob K encouraged letter-writing in support of re-instating the Iran non-nuclear development treaty.  He will send out a sample letter.

NYM:  Carol C reported on the sharing of State of Society reports at Northern Yearly Meeting last month.  Having each Meeting share a song was greatly enjoyed by everyone.  Some songs were known and everyone joined in, and some were unknown.  Some were made-up and some were silent.  After the large group sharing, discussions were held in smaller break-out groups.  She attended the break-out group for small meetings and learned that Stevens Point is also seeing an increase in the number of children attending their meeting.

Prison Ministry:  Tina M and Mary K now have two men attending their Quaker pastoral visits at Green Bay Correctional Institute, Carl and John.  Both were recommended by Shane.  Tina M continues to participate in WISDOM’s monthly calls related to reducing solitary confinement.  They will be asking questions at an upcoming forum of candidates for Governor and she hopes she will be able to share the candidates’ responses.

Announcements:

-Elbon (Marlin) Kirkpatrick has move to Marquette where he is serving in a new chaplaincy role. We thank him for sharing his spiritual self with us while he was in Green Bay.  We will miss seeing him regularly, but we know Marquette will be grateful for his presence.

-NYM Newsletter is now a monthly e-mail newsletter.  If you haven’t received it, let Mary K know and she can have you added to the e-mail list.

Addendum:

First Day School:  FDS was not addressed at Meeting for Business, but there was communication with parents and the FDS teachers in the days after MfB and it was agreed that there would be no FDS during summer due to too many conflicting family activities.  It will resume again in the fall.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Klos, Clerk

With support from Tina M