Frederick Friends Meeting

Meeting for Worship for the Conduct of Business

February 10, 2019

 

Opening Worship

In attendance were Ann Payne, Steve White, Julie Odland, Greg Tobin, Dat Duthin, Michele Hartley, Richard Broadbent, Karen Lockett, Carlotta Joyner, David Kuntz, Jim Wagner, Tori Bolton, Carol Ahlum, Lynn Diviak, Karen White, Isaac Smith, Nick 

Funkhouser, Kathy Funkhouser and Betsy Tobin

 

2019-02-01 Quarterly Financial Report– Greg Tobin

Acceptedreport is attached. We finished 2018 with a small surplus even after installation of the mini-split system. Meeting minutes its appreciation for the careful, spirit led work of the Committee.

 

 

2019-02-02 Ministry and Council Annual Report– Isaac Smith

Acceptedreport is attached. Meeting minutes its gratitude and appreciation for the work of the committee.

 

 

2019-02-03 Peace and Social Concerns– 

1. Dat Duthin - Approvedsending attached letter to our Federal Congressmen
2. Ann Payne – ApprovedFrederick Friends Meeting hosting an information session regarding The Healthy Green Amendment on March 3, 2019 at 2:00pm. Flyer attached.
3. Ann Payne – Laid overapproval of letter to state representatives regarding the Clean Energy Jobs Act. Clerk expressed appreciation for the work of the committee on this letter. Their use of email communication was clear and deep. One committee member requested that the committee have the latitude to make improvements to the letter before sending it out. Meeting was not in agreement. The revised letter will be circulated by email and brought to a Called Meeting for Business on 2/17/19 at the rise of meeting, before potluck.

There was some discussion about whether to write two different letters, one to state representatives and another to the newspaper. That decision is left to the committee’s discretion.

It was noted that members of our meeting come from several legislative districts. When sending letters to our representatives we need to assure we are sending letters to representatives from Maryland Districts 3 & 4.

1. Ann Payne – Approvedattached letter regarding the proposed Maryland ban on polystyrene food containers, picnic supplies, and packaging materials in H.B. 109 and S.B. 285.

 

 

 

Our next Meeting for Worship for the Conduct of Business will be held March 10, 2019 at noon.

 

 

 

 

Kathy Funkhouser, Presiding Clerk

 

 

 

Betsy Tobin, Recording Clerk

 

Frederick Friends Meeting: 2018 Year-end financial report:  February 10, 2019

 

Thank you to all Friends for their financial contributions! We finished 2018 with a surplus of about $1,257. Although this may seem like a modest number, it includes approximately $3700 in operating budget outlays for the purchase and installation of the $12,600 mini-split HVAC system. We transferred $9,000 from long-term savings to help pay for the system and made up the difference with operating income. 

 

We now have $95,000 in long-term savings We had $23,000 in our checking account year-end and now have about $18,000 after January expenses which include payments for camp scholarships. We plan to transfer funds back into our Pax World Funds account to reduce the amount in our local bank account. We are in pretty good financial shape. 

 

Greg Tobin, Treasurer, Frederick Friends Meeting

 

Frederick Friends Meeting Ministry & Counsel Committee 2018 Annual Report

Presented at Second Month 2019 Meeting for Business

Ministry & Counsel Committee has responsibility to nurture the spiritual life of Meeting (including meetings for worship and business), to care for the spiritual needs of members and attenders, and to manage the communications tools for the Meeting. 

 

Our current roster is:

 

Carol Ahlum

Yarrow First-Hartling

Kathy Funkhouser

Julie Odland

Isaac Smith

Betsy Tobin

Steve White

 

This year, we said goodbye to Helen Tasker and welcomed Steve White as a new member. Kathy Funkhouser and Betsy Tobin have also become Co-Clerks of Meeting, making the normal coordination between the office of Clerk and Ministry & Counsel even closer.

 

Our committee meets monthly at the meetinghouse on the second Friday of the month, sharing a potluck meal before starting on committee business.

 

Under our care is the Web Administrator (Olivia Evans), the Social Media Administrator (Isaac Smith with assistance from Yarrow First-Hartling Smith), and the Frederick Area Ministerial Association Liaison (Katie Bliss). The job of Quarterly Meeting Liaison is currently being shared by the whole committee, with individuals being designated to attend Quarterly Meeting on an ad hocbasis.

 

We also have regular participation from the Recorder, whom we have worked with to provide demographic information about our Meeting to Baltimore Yearly Meeting and have had ongoing discussions about how best to maintain the Meeting’s directory.

 

The following is a summary of activities we have done in the past year.

 

We assisted Nominating Committee with the process of selecting our new co-clerks.

 

We held public meetings to consider queries from Baltimore Yearly Meeting, the results of which we used to produce our Spiritual State of the Meeting report.

 

We produced guidelines and an application form for our adult scholarship funds. We were disappointed that the increased funds were not taken advantage of during the year and are considering ways to encourage more Friends in 2019 to apply.

 

We supported the admission of Rose First-Hartling Smith to associate membership and the transfer of Steve White’s membership from Gettysburg Meeting to our meeting.

 

Pastoral care, or seeing to the temporal and spiritual needs of members and attenders, has continued to be an important focus for us. Besides coordinating transportation to the meetinghouse for those who need it, we have helped provide care and spiritual support for Friends and the families of Friends facing illness and death, as well as those welcoming new life into the world. 

 

We have continued to arrange for greeters and conveners for meetings for worship.

 

We have continued to welcome new attenders, sending postcards and emails to visitors and inviting them to further participation in the life of Meeting. We have also reached out to absent members to see how they are doing.

 

We have continued to support a discussion group on end-of-life issues. 

 

We have observed the conduct of Friends in meetings for worship and meetings for business and, where it has been feasible, supported leadings and addressed concerns. 

 

We have continued to maintain our online presence, both at our website and through social media, where we have endeavored to be salt and light amid the tumult of the current moment. 

 

The coming year will be another period of transition for us, with several members’ terms expiring in June, including mine. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to support the Meeting through Ministry & Counsel for the last six years, and hope I can continue to do so in new ways.

 

As always, we give thanks to the work of the Spirit, in whom we live and move and have our being.

Respectfully submitted,

Isaac Smith

Clerk, Ministry & Counsel Committee

 

 

Frederick, MD 27 January 2019

 

Dear Senators Cardin and Van Hollen, Representatives Trone and Raskin:

 

As the federal government emerges from its longest ever partial shutdown over the contentious issue of funding for additional walls along our Southern border, it is timely for us, the Frederick Friends Meeting (Quakers), following the guidance of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), to speak up in support of comprehensive immigration reforms that respect the dignity, protect the safety, and recognize the contributions of immigrants and refugees to our nation.

 

Effective immigration reform should include measures that:

• Keep families together;
• Bring accountability and community engagement to border policies;
• Create a path to lawful status and citizenship (e.g., the Dream Act, S. 1615/H.R. 3440, and the American Promise Act, H.R. 4253, proposed in the 115thCongress);
• Protect all workers, regardless of immigration status;
• Align immigration enforcement with humanitarian values;
• Preserve the human and civil rights of all immigrants;
• End mass incarceration of immigrants (e.g., the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act, H.R. 3923, proposed in the 115thCongress);
• Uphold international and U.S. law obligations to protect refugees, asylum seekers and survivors of human trafficking.

 

Only Congress has the power to meaningfully reform U.S. immigration policies to be just, welcoming, and equitable. Congress should invest in long-term solutions rather than endless enforcement. 

 

 

 

Clerk,

Frederick Friends Meeting

723 N. Market St.

Frederick, MD 21701

 

The time is always right to do what is right.  

Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

(This attachment is for reference, it was NOT approved. A revised letter will be circulated and a Called Meeting for Business will be held 2/17/19 to approve the revised letter.)

 

The Friends Meeting of Frederick MD (Quakers) has studied the 2019 Clean Energy Jobs Act which is now before the state assembly. Our faith compels us to uphold our fellow human beings and to honor our Mother Earth – so we ask you, our representative, to support the 2019 CEJA bill now. 

 

By creating many new local clean energy jobs, through an investment in local workforce development, we can lift many of our struggling neighbors out of poverty. 

 

By using our own clean natural resources, we can bolster a strong domestic economy based on a newly created renewable energy industry. 

 

By reducing the heat-trapping air pollution generated by coal fired power plants, we may slow the progress of severe climate change. We have already seen our neighbors suffer from recent floods, severe storms, and other extreme conditions. We must do all we can to spare the rising generations.

 

By lowering and eliminating dangerous air pollution from coal-fired power plants, we can prevent hundreds of our state’s children from developing asthma, spare our seniors with already compromised health issues, and save many lives. 

 

We accept the gift of life on this earth together with the commitment to care for the earth and each other. We believe this bill moves our state along this path of caring and sustainable practices. We urge you to support this legislation.

 

Dear   , (See http://www.mdelect.net. for contact info.) 

 

Our congregation at Frederick Friends Meeting (Quakers) examined the use of polystyrene containers in our Meeting House last year. After a thorough discussion, we decided to ban the use of this and other single use plastic materials from our kitchen. 

 

Polystyrene products are typically used only once, often for mere moments, by humans, and then discarded. Polystyrene persists in the environment, however, for hundreds of years. Rather than biodegrade back into the earth, like paper products for example, polystyrene breaks into tiny pieces. These pieces are toxic and mistakenly eaten by animals, contaminating the earth’s fauna up through the food chain. 

 

Furthermore, we see quickly discarded polystyrene containers accumulating in our waters and across our landscapes. We see this carelessness as an affront to the earth that we have been given to care for.

 

When studying whether we should ban polystyrene products, we also considered the production of polystyrene itself. The small moments a polystyrene product is useful to us are not remotely  balanced by the use of the earth’s materials in their production. Creating polystyrene involves burning fossil fuels that have accumulated for millions of years. The process of production itself creates unnecessary toxins and pollutes the earth. The polluting production of polystyrene contributes to the fast approach of global climate change. It dirties our air, contributing to the ill-health of many,

 

We support the proposed Maryland ban on polystyrene food containers, picnic supplies, and packaging materials in H.B. 109 and S.B. 285, which are co-sponsored by members of our local delegation, Senator Ron Young and Delegate Karen Lewis Young. Though alternative and biodegradable products are readily available now, these bills would  offer hardship provisions for small businesses for which this legislation would cause undue financial hardship. 

 

We thank Sen. Young and Del. Lewis Young for their support and urge you to join them in supporting this legislation. [modify this paragraph as appropriate for recipient]

 

Thank you.