|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
SPRING
1999
attending: Roshan Dinshah, Lois Dinshah, Sondra Ball, Mario Cavallini (rc), Phil Anthony, Marge Foulks, Priscilla Lamont, Shirley Lock, Cindy Cox Crispin (c), George Crispin, Carlton Cox Crispin, Gloria Horvay, Robert Horvay, Marsha Gaspar 10 January 1999
The committee convened in silent worship at about 1:30, following a sociable lunch. Minutes of our October 11th meeting were approved.
Ten Thousand Villages
Mullica Hill and Woodstown Meetings cooperated during November and December 1998 on selling Ten Thousand Villages holiday goods (a Mennonite Central Committee endeavor). Marge Foulks asked whether the Quarter might take a stronger role for the 1999 season. The main need is for people to talk up the events, take shifts in selling, and pick up goods to sell and return the remainders to the warehouse in Pennsylvania. We suspect that involving the Quarter’s Young Friends would work well. Advance publicity would include running an article in the autumn Salem Quarter News and announcing at meetings. People from other meetings who help out at the Mullica Hill and Woodstown events would gain experience useful if their meetings later decide to host their own events. Interested persons should contact Donna Gibson of Woodstown Meeting for more information.
Carlton’s Birthday
The Crispins will celebrate Carlton’s one-year birthday on Monday, January 18th (covered dish dinner); his actual birthday is the 12th.
Cindy Crispin expressed appreciation for Barry Sloane, who served as co-clerk and presided in our meetings during the past year while she has been tending to newborn necessities.
Quaker Parenting Workshop
Woodstown Meeting wants to host a Quaker Parenting workshop, as described in the January PYM News, and would like the Quarter to arrange it. Phil Anthony will contact Yearly Meeting.
Monthly Meeting Activities
Woodstown Meeting has held covered dish suppers for parents to socialize and discuss child-rearing, as part of nurturing their recent influx of attenders. Woodstown attributes their growth almost entirely to attention to children’s services (primarily, First Day School). It is something of a (welcome) chore for Overseers to make sure that visitors and attenders are well welcomed.
Mickleton Meeting reported that last October’s second Halloween haunted graveyard went well. Not only were Cindy and George Crispin so impressed that they will help out this year, but Mickleton has gained a teen attender. Among forthcoming events, Mickleton is working with Yearly Meeting to prepare an information session on international debt forgiveness, to which it will invite the Quarter and the general public. Also, Mickleton is planning a celebration of the meetinghouse’s 200th anniversary on August 15, 1999. George and Cindy are willing to bring their animals as a petting zoo.
In fact, George and Cindy are more able than before to take their zoo on the road, thanks to Woodbury Meeting’s purchase of a portable cage. Their interfaith Thanksgiving supper and worship was, once again, spiritually powerful. Alas, the meetinghouse was accidentally left off the city’s annual Christmas tour. Woodbury Meeting is still largely focused on the July 2000 visitation to Woodbury by a delegation from Bury, England. The central planning body for the festivities is the City of Woodbury, which has not held planning meetings lately, so there is no news to report. As before, the main need for support is host homes for the expected 1,000 visitors. Woodbury’s next public event is their annual Earth Day festival, in April (date to be determined). While continuing with these events, George noted that Woodbury has declared a hiatus on outreach in order to devote attention to inreach.
Mullica Hill Meeting held its 68th annual interfaith Thanksgiving worship, a morning service, which was typically well attended, filling even the balcony. Members of the town’s ministerium take various roles (preaching, reading, singing, etc.), and about 15 minutes of silent worship are observed. Forthcoming is the Spring open house in conjunction with the town’s street-sales weekend (held twice yearly, in April and October). Ongoing is the meeting’s prison outreach at Southern State Correctional Facility, meeting faithfully for 11 years on Wednesday evenings and currently drawing eight to ten inmates. Roshan Dinshah spoke of one particular inmate, who came into the group to disrupt it but has been working past his rage to discover his spiritual strengths. Quakers who would like to attend the worship should contact Roshan at least a month beforehand, so that admission to the prison can be arranged with authorities.
Greenwich Meeting has asked Yearly Meeting to conduct a Quakerism 101 series. The meeting has three new attenders, two of whom have children. Phil noted that Greenwich had approximately 40 people at their Christmas breakfast.
Salem Meeting seems to be poised on the verge of a revival. Visitors from other meetings can be important in injecting fresh energy or simply in demonstrating the support and interest of the Quarter community. In fact, intervisitation is valuable to any meeting, and we discussed some means of supporting visits, such as reviving Field Committee or holding Steering Committee meetings at various monthly meetings. We decided to consult with our monthly meetings and gather their ideas for encouraging intervisitation.
Outreach Article
Cindy strongly expects a Woodbury attender to provide an article for the next Salem Quarter News; George will substitute if necessary.
Outreach to Friends School Families
The letter approved last meeting was sent. Whether due to the letter or not, a Friends School family has attended Woodstown and Mullica Hill has had several families with children visit over the past couple of months.
Outreach at Rowan University
George has identified several Quaker faculty, who are (unfortunately, for our purposes) very busy. He also has identified a place suitable for leafleting. George and Cindy will look for opportunities to stage a gathering; Mario Cavallini and Sondra Ball are willing to help. Another possibility would be to conduct a free evening course on the faith and practice of Quakerism.
Materials to Libraries
Availability of videotapes continues to be confusing. Sally Rickerman has turned videotape business over to the PYM Library, and Phil is pursuing information there. Mario will check with the Publications Service Group about whether an ISBN number has been secured for Faith and Practice, and whether the cover has been revised to prominently mention Quakers.
Using Salem Quarter News for Outreach
We considered possibilities for secondary distribution of Salem Quarter News. Ideas include area libraries, Friends School families, the Friends School Fair, and Rowan University. Some adjustment in format may be needed, such as a clear statement of what the Quarter is, how to contact the Quarter and the monthly meetings, and when they hold meeting for worship. However, after much discussion, we were clear that the News must first of all be of service to the members and meetings of the Quarter. We should be continually careful that we do not censor ourselves in order to present a “suitable face” to the wider public. We also considered in detail whether to attempt writing an introductory paragraph that would summarize the faith and practice of Friends. We could only conclude that any brief statement would be at least misleading, if not offensive, given the diversity and subtlety of our many Friends’ faith. No final decisions were made, save to discuss this item in our next meeting.
Followup on PYM Grants
Cindy has sent a report to PYM Membership Development Support Fund on the brochure distribution grant. At our next meeting, we will need from the monthly meetings any specifics on where the brochure was distributed and how many people have come to Meeting as a result.
Souper Bowl Fundraising
Woodbury Meeting has raised money for a local family in need as part of the “Souper Bowl” fundraising described by Jeff Summerton of Mullica Hill at December Quarterly Meeting. We discussed whether to issue a press release, and decided against doing so. We saw a difference between recruiting the support and participation of the general public in an ongoing project versus making what might be considered a prideful announcement about charitable works.
Website Construction
Mario reported that the PYM Website Working Group is making the Yearly Meeting website (www.pym.org) available to postings from member meetings and bodies. In order to accept material from a meeting, the Working Group requires either that the information be accompanied by a minute from the meeting authorizing the posting, or that the meeting minute appointment of an “agent” who can administer web content on behalf of the meeting. At December Quarterly Meeting, Mario was minuted as the Quarter’s agent for posting information about Salem Quarter, under the supervision of Outreach Committee. The Committee can also appoint other persons as agent or replace Mario. We encourage our monthly meetings to appoint agents to submit information to the website. Such appointments should be communicated to the clerk of the Working Group, Hal Taylor. Mario is willing to work with monthly meeting agents, both in terms of PYM website standards and procedures, and in the craft of creating web pages. It is essential that anyone serving as an agent must have Internet access.
We discussed what information Salem Quarter should put on the Web. At present, no quarter has information on pym.org; this is an area that is opening as part of a general reworking of the PYM website. We decided that immediately Mario should see that all our monthly meetings have basic contact information on the website (half of our meetings’ listings were lost when pym.org changed service providers). Further, we would like to post event calendar information and the contents of Salem Quarter News. Phil and Mario will work on getting source material to Mario for posting. As appropriate in individual items, we will include links to related websites.
FGC Opportunities
Bob Horvay has spoken at a couple of our monthly meetings about Friends General Conference events, such as the “Nurturing the Nurturer” conference and the annual Gathering, and he would welcome invitations to talk either to Overseers or at First-Day School about the programs, scholarship support, etc.
Next Committee Session
11 April, 1:00 covered dish lunch, 1:30 meeting, at Woodbury Meeting.
Meeting closed at approximately 5 pm with a brief period of silent worship.
RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS
Last modified:
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:19 AM
