Fox Valley Friends Meeting for Business, February 12, 2017

FINAL

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

Approval of Minutes:  Minutes from the January 15 meeting were approved for posting.

Treasurer's Report:  All is well.      

New Business

Follow-up on January New Business Items:

On January 29 we had a visit from the NYM Treasurer, Dan O’Keefe, and our A&O contacts, Guy and Mary Lord.  We relayed our support for local Quaker organizations within NYM, and our continued interest in having scholarships readily available so everyone can attend NYM Session each year.  They understood we are a small meeting and we are already giving as much as we can to NYM given our current size.

Carol and Mary attended the MLK Celebration at Divine Temple Church.  There were many honorary guests, like the Mayor and Police Chief.  There was singing from the children’s choirs at Divine Temple and St. Willebrod and many inspiring prayers and messages.

The GIFT MLK Evening Prayer Service was cancelled due to bad weather.  They are planning to repeat the same service next year.

GIFT (Gathered in Faith Together – a group of leaders from local spiritual traditions) is planning a Vigil for Humanity at 7 pm on March 7 at the Brown County Central Library Auditorium.  All are welcome.  This is a non-political response to the current ban on immigration issue.  The purpose of the event is to show how all spiritual traditions share the same common message of love and respect for everyone, even the strangers among us.  Mary was asked to deliver a short message from the Quakers during the Vigil.  Bob will help Mary prepare the message.  It was suggested that we might want to share the query that we use before the beginning of each Meeting for Business.

State of Society Report:  We decided to make writing the new SOS report a group effort.  Mary will send out last year’s SOS report and a template for this year’s report to everyone on the e-mail list.  Everyone is encouraged to add their thoughts to the template.  We will review it at our April Meeting for Business.

Reports from Coordinators of Work Projects

Adult Education:  Hayden’s discussion on change will be held on February 26 at 10 a.m.  In April, the Crawfords will share their experience of FGC last summer.

WISDOM: Bob reported that RUTH is continuing to work on getting the dollars promised to their community to start a drug court.  Jim reported that the JOSHUA Mental Health Task Force is focused on improving the process in Brown County for third-party petitions.

FCNL:  Bob shared a letter from FCNL encouraging us to write to our Representatives in support of keeping the Affordable Care Act.  They also recommend calling them at the Washington Capital Switchboard at (202)224-3121.

Potlucks:  Future potlucks will be Feb 17, Mar 17, and April 28 at Sheila’s home.  Each week is a topic from “The Spirituality of Aging”.

Meeting Retreat:  No one has stepped forward to help Carol plan a retreat, so it is unlikely we will be able to have one this year.

NYM:  Interim Session will be March 24 and 25 in Madison.  Jim and Carol and Mary are probably attending and would likely be able to give rides to others who are interested in going.

FGC:  Friends General Conference will be in New York near Niagara Falls this summer.  The list of speakers and workshops is now available on-line.

Prison Ministry:  Things are changing at GBCI with the new chaplain.  There is a possibility that they will allow someone to come in to share a Quaker Meeting on a regular basis.  If anyone is interested in this ministry work, please talk to Tina or Mary.

Communication:  We sent group Valentines to our faraway Friends/friends.  Mary has ordered ‘business cards’ with information about our Meeting.  The cards should be available in a few weeks.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Klos, Clerk

With support from Tina M