November 2021 Meeting Minutes

GRASS VALLEY FRIENDS MEETING

Of the Religious Society of Friends of the Truth

College Park Quarterly Meeting, Pacific Yearly Meeting

MINUTES & RECORD

Meeting for Worship on the Occasion of Business

11/14/2021

We met on Zoom.

Present:  Gordon Starr, Amy Cooke, Chamba Cooke, Doug Hamm, Dorothy Henderson, fosten wilson, Kathy McCreery, Don McCormick, Reed Hamilton, Judy Hamilton, Dean Olson (co-clerk), Karen Olson (co-clerk) Dianne Marshall, Heather Reed.  

The Meeting opened with silent worship.  

Clerks’ Remarks and Query

We are meeting in worship on the occasion for business – what does that tell us about what we are doing?  What do you hear when it is phrased this way?  

• We are not doing “business as usual” – we are listening more, not getting our opinion out, but listening to what is underneath
• The song, Teach me to Stop and Listen, with modification of the last sentence – we do not end the silence, we carry it with us.  Silence helps guide us – We carry a deep silence within us and then come together to do business.  We carry with us the sense of the seed as we enter into business – we do not leave the place we touch when we are in worship.  
• When we act in an ordinary way we do not always make room for the still small voice.  
• When we make decisions we come to it with the Light in our hearts, we hold each other in loving kindness.  
• We engage in corporate discernment, with the Beloved Community, seeking love and truth.
• Worship and our search for truth on the occasion of business. 
• From the mindfulness teacher program – “background practice” sheds a useful light – there may be something we are doing in the foreground, but in the background there is a spiritual practice.  That describes Meeting for Business as well.

Action Items and Seasoning:

From Tenth Month:  The ad hoc Hybrid Committee Meeting will be working on the issues raised in this meeting to help us gain clarity on the rental agreement, children’s program, Covid requirements, storage, and the timing to empty the storage container.

COMMITTEE REPORTS (see reports appended, committee clerk is noted in bold)

STEWARDSHIP:  Mary Starr, Gordon Starr, Reed Hamilton, Pat Phillips, Doug Hamm, Fosten Wilson (Treasurer, Ex-officio) Dianne Marshall (ex officio as Librarian and Newsletter Editor), Hailey Wilson 

Gordon Starr gave the report, appended.

Minute 2021.11.01:  Grass Valley Friends Meeting (GVFM) approves the following changes to the authorized signatures on our checking account:  Add Mary Starr, Dean Olson, and Karen Davidson as authorized signatures. Remove Chamba Cooke & Don Kewman as authorized signatures. Continue Fosten Wilson as an authorized signature. 

Minute 2021.11.02:  The liability insurance required by Sierra Friends Center will cost $691 per year, $91 more than the budgeted amount of $600. Grass Valley Friends Meeting approves the increase in cost.  

Minute 2021.11.03:  Grass Valley Friends Meeting approves paying half rent ($275.50) to Sierra Friends Center for November and full rent ($575) beginning in December. 

Hybrid meeting equipment costs:  See Spirit and Witness report, below.  

The Rental Agreement with Sierra Friends Center will be brought back to Meeting for Business for review in the 12th month meeting.  

SPIRIT & WITNESS: Gordon Starr, Judy Hamilton, Gordon Bishop, Dorothy Henderson, Anita and Don McCormick (ex-officio Co Clerks), Judy Hamilton

Judy Hamilton gave the report, appended.  

Minute 2021.11.04:  Grass Valley Friends Meeting approves the expenditures to set up our hybrid meetings, up to $300.  

Minute 2021.11.05:  Grass Valley Friends Meeting requires all those attending Meetings in person to be vaccinated, sit three feet apart (except for family groups) and that all should wear masks except when giving ministry.

When will we be ready to advertise that we will be holding hybrid meetings in the meetinghouse?  We do not seem ready for that yet.  How can the Children’s Program be included if they are on Zoom?  Can we allow this to emerge slowly?  A Friend expressed a desire that we wait until we all feel ready and stable when we move forward.  How can we continue the trial hybrid meetings?  Can Spirit and Witness, Stewardship, and Children’s Program continue to meet and discern our preparedness?  Could Children’s Program meet in person elsewhere (e.g., in a private home)?   Can we do trial hybrid meetings on the Sundays left in this month?  

Grass Valley Friends Meeting will hold trial hybrid meetings on the remaining Sundays in the 11th month 2021, with the hope that we will be able to hold full hybrid meetings in the 12th month.  

Contact the members of the Ad Hoc Committee on Hybrid Meetings with any questions: Judy Hamilton, Reed Hamilton, Gordon Starr, or Dianne Marshall.

First Day School will be on Zoom until further notice.  

Organization of the Month:  QUNO (Quaker United Nations Organization)  

QUNO staff work with people in the UN, multilateral organisations, government delegations, and non-governmental organisations, to achieve changes in international standards and practice. Quakers are known for speaking out against injustice and war – issues that are incompatible with our vision of a world in which peace and justice prevail.  Their work is rooted in the Quaker testimonies of peace, truth, justice, equality, and simplicity. We understand peace as more than the absence of war and violence, recognizing the need to look for what seeds of war there may be in all our social, political, and economic relationships.

QUNO maintains houses in Geneva and New York to serve as QUNO offices and meeting places close to the UN. For nearly fifty years, Quaker Houses have provided a place where UN diplomats, staff, and nongovernmental partners can work on difficult issues in a quiet, off-the-record atmosphere out of the public eye.  In addition to providing space for informal luncheons with diplomats and UN staff, Quaker Houses are a centre for seminars, workshops, committee meetings, and Quaker hospitality. Friends and Friends’ organizations make use of Quaker House facilities as they learn about and participate in UN activities.

Shera Banbury can be contacted for further information on QUNO.  

NOMINATING:  Doug Hamm, Patrica Phillips, Karen Olson

No report.

We recommend that Nominating look at increasing the number of people serving on the Welcome Committee.

WELCOME: Karen Olson, Kathy McCreery, ex officio Website/Facebook Coordinator (Amy Cooke), ex officio Zoom coordinator (Hailey Wilson and Stuart Smith), ex officio Email Coordinator (Judy Hamilton)

No report.  We recommend that Welcome Committee look at what would be needed to notify people about the requirements for attending meetings in person, with a sign on the door.  

CHILDREN’S PROGRAM:   Karen Olson, Judy Hamilton, Dorothy Henderson, Gordon Bishop, Anita McCormick, Doug Hamm, Don McCormick

No report.  

OFFICER  REPORTS

• No reports.

ANNOUNCEMENTS 

• If you use Facebook, follow the Grass Valley Friends Meeting page, or join the Facebook Grass Valley Friends Meeting group. If you share a post from the page, your friends will see it!. It helps our visibility.  Follow this link.
• It’s easy to give to Grass Valley Friends Meeting!  Go to gvfriends.org and click on the Give button.  This takes you to a secure site for donations. Please consider making your contribution monthly.  Your contribution covers our Pacific Yearly Meeting dues and ensures that our activities as a Meeting are sustained.  Thank you.
  • Tithely now allows the user to change the dollar of their gift without making a new donation request.  
• Reed Hamilton announced that George Lakey, who gave a workshop in Grass Valley in 2019 and is a member of the Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT), along with EQAT, is planning an action addressing Vanguard. Vanguard investments are heavily involved in coal.  They are rated “F” in their green rating for fossil fuels.  The campaign will include writing letters, removing funds from Vanguard, and public actions.  If you are interested in pursuing this further, please contact Reed. 
• Sierra Friends Center is planting over 4000 trees.  The public is invited to take part over the first two weekends of December.  There will be training and all tools are provided. 
• Interfaith Nevada County will be taking part in the March for Peace and Social Justice on May 22, 2022.  

ACTION ITEMS & ITEMS SEASONING

• The Rental Agreement with Sierra Friends Center will be brought back to Meeting for Business for review in the 12th month meeting. 

FEEDBACK

How did you experience this meeting for worship on the occasion of business?  

• The eldering was very helpful
• The moment of silence with gratitude brought us back to that place of worship after the discernment around holding hybrid meetings
• Appreciated the clerking – it would be wonderful to see Karen in the frame of the Zoom camera!

READING OF THE RECORD AND MINUTES    

The record and the minutes were read, corrected and approved.

If you are giving a report to GVFM, please send the actual report to the recording clerk at grassvalleyfriends@gmail.com THE FRIDAY BEFORE MEETING FOR BUSINESS.     

GVFM Newsletter Reminder: Please have items into Diane Marshall by Tuesday at 10 am. 

The Meeting closed with silent worship.  

Respectfully recorded by Amy Cooke, recording clerk.  

APPENDICES:

1. Stewardship
2. Spirit and Witness and the Hybrid Meeting Committee report

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Stewardship Committee

Minutes from meeting on November 4, 2021

Present: Mary Starr, clerk, Gordon Starr, recorder, Fosten Wilson, Reed Hamilton, Dean Olson, Dianne Marshall.

  Treasurer’s report. Fosten reported there are a number of people who contribute regularly, one this month who did so generously. Income for the month was between $1,200 and $1,400, more than enough to cover expenses. In the coming months, as we begin to pay rent and internet commitments,  monthly expenses will increase.

    Approving Checking account signatories. The bank needs documentation from the Meeting that Dean and Karen, as new co-clerks, are approved to sign checks along with Mary Starr and Fosten and that Don and Anita be removed. This will go to Meeting  for Business.

   Annual Appeal Letter. Dianne, who wrote last year’s letter, has agreed to write this year’s as well. It will be brought to next month’s committee meeting.

   Liability Insurance. Reed reported we now have the liability insurance required by SFC. The cost $691 per year, a little more than the budgeted amount of $600. When questions arose about where the additional amount would come from, Fosten explained there are often budgeted funds not spent so there is room for flexibility. It was also questioned why Meeting should have to have their own insurance. Our insurance covers the Meeting’s own actions, accidents and incidents. If we were the cause of an incident and had no insurance, SFC would be next in line. SFC does require insurance for all their tenants.

   Hybrid Meeting Preparations.  Gordon and Reed talked about the progress of the Ad Hoc Hybrid committee and their meeting with Marty and Abby on October 21. We agreed in principle, subject to approval by M4B that we would pay half rent ($275.50) for November due to work still needing to be done on the Meeting House and full rent ($575) beginning in December. We discussed covid cleaning procedures based on current county health department, which change often. We briefly met a representative  from Quiet Tech, who was advising on our  and SFC’s technical needs for Zoom and internet. We later received a quote from them for the equipment necessary for our needs of$505.61 of which we have agreed to pay half. There may be considerable savings if we can use a donated computer.  Other comments: we will need a place (bench) to remove and put on shoes. There is concern that the footprint for our library is shrinking. We will likely need more chairs before too long.

November 2021 Spirit and Witness Report

We all met via Zoom on November 6th

• We have various Committees of Care and Support on going. We checked in with these and all seemed to be doing well.
• Some of us feel a need for a Memorial for Bob Barns. The family has not seemed able to come up with any plans. We decided we would approach them once more and let them know that we would like to proceed with a Memorial Meeting.
• Our Buddy proposal is still under discernment and discussion. Each of us have been paired with six folks chosen randomly by using the list of members and attenders. Still to be decided is how often we contact these Friends and how we do it (email, phone call, tea, a walk?). This is still a work in progress.
• The Waking Up to Race book group is moving out into the world. They attended a recent School Board meeting where a presentation on Critical Race Theory was presented to the Board. While no one from the group was able to speak, many of us wrote letters to the Board in supporting the teaching of diversity and the work that the anti-racist/inclusive task force (created by the Nevada Union Joint High School District) are doing. Members of the group that live locally will be attending a dinner and presentation at the Bethel AME Methodist Church in Marysville later this week.
• Sierra Friends Center has asked someone from GVFM to attend their board and community meetings. Dean is our SFC representative and may be able to do this.
• Ad-Hoc Hybrid Meeting Committee – Gordon S. reported the committee had met with Marty at SFC on October 21 and covered many topics including Meeting House rental, internet service, and Covid requirements.
• Meeting House – Remodeling work is not completed as yet but did not present a problem with the trial hybrid meeting we did. We now have liability insurance as of Nov.1 at a cost of $690 per year. This was $90 over that approved and budgeted and will also need to be brought to M4B for approval. We discussed paying rent and when starting in-person meetings might begin. There are many parts and pieces pertinent to this decision. At the time, the committee felt we could likely be meeting by some time in November. Given that work was not complete and the uncertainty of when we would start in-person meetings, we proposed paying half rent in November and full rent starting December.
• Internet service – Dedicated internet service is installed and working although they had to place the dish, with others, near the Office to get adequate reception. Connection fee was less than expected at $295, half of which ($147.50), the monthly charge ($44 for half) a little more. Meeting had previously agreed to pay for these costs but the changes will have to be brought back to M4B.
• Equipment- QuietTech (a local computer/communication company) has come up with a list and price for the equipment we will need to provide a robust hybrid experience. This comes to about $500 which SFC is asking that we split with them. We are not sure that we need the most expensive item, the personal computer which is about $250. These expenses also need to be brought to M4B. We will be able to store the equipment in a locked closet within the Meetinghouse.
• Covid requirements – Based on county requirements, we thought, when meeting, we should ask that all attending should be vaccinated, sit three feet apart, except for family groups, and that all should wear masks except when giving ministry. A central microphone seemed like the best solution so folks on Zoom could see and hear ministry being given. Singing presents a challenge but we saw no way except to wear masks. We do not feel that we can offer refreshments at this time.

Due to the technical difficulties of creating a second set of equipment for Zoom and that a hybrid type meeting would be challenging in engaging all the children, we thought the Children’s program would have to continue on Zoom as it is now.

We are also aware that we will need to train a small group of people to set up and take down the equipment.

• The Meeting House is now shoe free and we will need an area with a bench to take off and put on shoes. In later discussion, it was agreed that SFC would provide booties for shoe coverings. Cleaning after the meeting would include wiping down all surfaces used including chair arms, door knobs, bathroom and kitchen. Sanitizing is not required. All this, again, will be based on County requirements.