July/August 2022 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
07/10/2022
We met in a hybrid meeting on Zoom and in person.
Present: Anita McCormick and Don McCormick, co-clerks filling in for Dean Olson and Karen Olson. Amy Cooke, Chamba Cooke, Nancy Anderson, Marlyn Guida, Sharon Davisson, Dianne Marshall, Mary Starr, Gordon Starr, Kathy McCreery, fosten wilson, Hayley Wilson
The Meeting opened with silent worship.
Clerks’ Remarks and Query: The co-clerks shared their remarks, reminding us about why we gather in worship to do business (see appended). Query: what can we do to make this an occasion of worship rather than just an administrative meeting?
Action Items and Seasoning:
- Correct and Approve the Draft Minutes from Sixth Month 2022
The minutes were read and approved. The minutes approved will be numbered and included in the archive of minutes for 2021-2022.
COMMITTEE REPORTS (see reports appended, committee clerk is noted in bold)
NOMINATING: (terms as noted) Dorothy Henderson (fulfilling Pat Phillips term): 2022-2023, Sharon Davisson, continuing: 2021-2023, Judy Hamilton: 2022-2024, Gordon Starr: 2022-2024
No report
STEWARDSHIP: Mary Starr (clerk), Pat Phillips, Reed Hamilton, Gordon Starr, Doug Hamm. Dianne Marshall (ex-officio, Newsletter editor), Fosten Wilson (ex-officio, Treasurer), Don McCormick (ex-officio, Librarian).
Gordon Starr gave the report verbally. While the committee has not met, there is an item that needs to be brought forward to the Meeting. We will need to acquire a new computer and printer. The treasurer was asked to report on the funds available for this expense, and if there are vendors who could help us acquire these items. The Treasurer reported on background information. The meeting has been using a donated desktop computer from 2005. It has no anti-virus protection so has been kept off the internet. This is not a crisis, but does need to be addressed.
There will be research done by the Stewardship Committee. Don McCormick may have a computer and printer that could be used.
Minute 2022.07.01: GVFM approves authorizing the Stewardship Committee to use the Meeting’s resources to address the issue of obtaining a new computer and printer for the Meeting’s use, up to $1000.00. A proposed excess of this amount would require a called Meeting for Business. GVFM recommends that a fund for replacing items be created in a future budgetary cycle.
The next meeting will be August 4th. There will be a budget meeting as well, to present a budget to the Meeting in September.
SPIRIT & WITNESS: Amy Cooke, Gordon Bishop, Sharon Davisson, Reed Hamilton, Dorothy Henderson, Dean and Karen Olson (ex-officio Co Clerks)
Amy Cooke gave the report, appended.
Sharon Davisson reported on FNCL.
WELCOME: Kathy McCreery (clerk), Don McCormick, Pat Phillips, Karen Olson. Hailey Wilson (ex-officio, zoom coordinator), Amy Cooke (ex-officio, Website and Facebook coordinator), Judy Hamilton (ex-officio, email coordinator),
No report
CHILDREN’S PROGRAM: Dorothy Henderson (clerk), Gordon Bishop, Doug Hamm, Judy Hamilton, Dean Olson, Karen Olson, Reed Hamilton, Don McCormick, Anita McCormick.
No report
OFFICER REPORTS
- TREASURER: fosten wilson gave the report, see appended report. There were questions after the report, which the Treasurer answered.
- SFC REPRESENTATIVE: Pat Phillips
- INTERFAITH NEVADA COUNTY: Dianne Marshall
The will be rescheduling the Singing for Peace event, proposed for September 25.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Bob Barns memorial will take place on zoom on Saturday, July 16th at 10 am, Pacific time, 1 pm Eastern time. To attend the memorial, e-mail at bobbarnsmemorial@gmail.com and you will receive the zoom link.
- Fifth Sunday, Sunday, July 31: Intergenerational Meeting, with all ages. 20 minutes of music, 20 minutes of storytelling, and 20 minutes of silence.
- Pacific Yearly Meeting Annual Session 2022 (AS 2022) will take place July 22-27, 2022. It will be a hybrid gathering, with the in-person component taking place at Mt. Madonna Conference Center near Watsonville, CA. Theme: Beloved Community: What Does It Mean to Belong: to Ourselves, to Each Other, to the Earth? See the Clerk’s Call 2022 o en español AQUÍ (Convocatoria). For more information and to register, visit the AS 2022 page.
- 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.
- Paul Hartsough is recovering from a serious stroke. Hold him in your heart. He had surgery July 6, and is now home again. For updates, search for his name at “www.caringbridge.org”.
- Chamba Cooke, who is currently one of the amis-residents at the Centre Quaker Congenies in France, invited us to the Bicentennial Celebration of the Quakers in Congenies, France at the end of October.
- 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. Please note: Tithely now allows the user to change the dollar of their gift without making a new donation request.
- Sierra Friends Center has volunteer opportunities available. See www.woolman.org.
- We hold Dean and Karen in the Light as they navigate Covid. Several people are reaching out to see if they need support.
ACTION ITEMS & ITEMS SEASONING
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:
- Clerk’s Remarks
- Spirit and Witness Report
- Treasurer’s Report
- Minutes, Sixth Month
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Clerk’s remarks
o The purpose of our meetings for business is to seek the Spirit’s will for us as a community. We are here to worship and not to get through an agenda.
o If you want to suggest that we take some time for worship or take more time between speakers, please say, “Clerk, can we have some time for silence” or use the Time Out sign.
o Being a clerk is a role assigned to one or two people, but clerking is a bunch of behaviors that we all can engage in clerking and I hope we all will.
o We make this a spiritual process by focusing on a query and through worship at the beginning and end. I’ve always found wanted a way to bring the Spirit more into the middle. I’ve discovered a way that can be used when discussing an issue that requires discernment. It involves using silence to give the Spirit a chance to communicate with us. This is how it goes.
o We would like to seek the Spirit’s guidance. To do this, we will give the Spirit a chance to communicate
o I want to encourage everyone to release all the thoughts filling your mind. Lay aside concerns not germane to this meeting, including all the ideas and opinions you have brought to the meeting.
o Release your judgments about each person into the hands of the Spirit, even if you feel sure they can’t “hear” the Spirit or wouldn’t listen if they did. Forgive anyone who has wounded you or the group.
o Become silent inside and out.
o Imagine yourself telling the Spirit or Jesus all about it, or just handing the proposal or issue to them. Then observe the thoughts, feelings, and sensations that come to you or rise up within you. The Spirit communicates through these nudges, thoughts, images, and sensations.
o Please share what came to you as you listened to the Spirit
There may not be an opportunity to do this today if there aren’t any issues that call for discernment.
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Spirit and Witness Committee
The Spirit and Witness Committee met with both outgoing members and incoming members. We expressed deep appreciation for Judy Hamilton and Gordon Starr, who will be leaving the committee, and welcomed Reed Hamilton and Sharon Davisson.
Amy Cooke was chosen as committee clerk and Gordon Bishop will be the recording clerk.
We reviewed our job description as well as the relevant section of Faith and Practice.
After a brief report on Committees of Care we reviewed our upcoming Spiritual Life programs.
- On July 24 we will host a time for the meeting to review the Spiritual Life programs that were held in the 2021-2022 year, and sense what is alive in the meeting that future programs might speak to.
- August 28: Don McCormick will be leading a session on writing Spiritual Autobiography.
- In September we hope to have a Meeting retreat.
We also heard a report from the Waking Up Book Group. They are reading The History of Us, an account of the Nisenan people.
Sharon Davisson will share about the Friends Committee on National Legislation as part of our representation for Quaker organizations.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to any of the members – Sharon Davisson, Reed Hamilton, Gordon Bishop, Dorothy Henderson, and Amy Cooke.
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Quarterly Treasurer’s Report
7-9-2022
summary = ok, for now.
Contributions were excellent in April, – thank you – then adequate in May, & insufficient in June (the numbers appear below). Overall, contributions received exceeded our expenses, since October. But after we restarted paying rent last winter, we are just breaking even with our expenses.
All Restricted Funds (Sharing Fund, Scholarship Funds, etc.) are unchanged in the last three months. Our “Fund Balances” & our “Actual Spending vs Budget” reports are available on the bulletin board in the Meeting House and by contacting me.
Money contributions can be mailed to my address below or sent online by using the “give” button at “gvfriends.org”.
Thank you for your help. All gifts to Grass Valley Friends Meeting — whether money, service, or prayer– are deeply appreciated.
Fosten Wilson
Treasurer, Grass Valley Friends Meeting
email: new email = fwkm at protonmail dot com
mail: 15719 American Hill Rd, Nevada City, Calif. 95959
INCOME: April = $1,451. May = $891. & June = $526.
EXPENSES: April = $890. May = $647. & June = $767.
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DRAFT MINUTES & RECORD: Sixth Month
Meeting for Worship on the Occasion of Business
06/12/2022
We met as a hybrid Meeting, in-person and on Zoom.
Present: Dean Olson (co-clerk), Dianne Marshall, Kathy McCreery, Scott Semans, Anita McCormick, Don McCormick, Nancy Anderson, & fosten wilson.
The Meeting opened with silent worship. A Query was presented, “what is heavy on our hearts & what brings great joy”. Many comments arose.
Action Items:
After seasoning, these additions to the 2022-2023 Meeting Slate were approved:
>> Doug Hamm for Pacific Yearly Meeting representative
>> Doug Hamm for College Park Quarterly Meeting representative
>> Reed Hamilton & Sharon Davisson for the Spirit & Witness Committee
>> Dean Olson for Mail Clerk.
After seasoning, the Nominating Committee was approved:
>>> Sharon Davisson, continuing for 2021 – 2023.
>>> Dorothy Henderson (fulfilling Pat Phillips’ term) for 2022 – 2023
>>> Judy Hamilton and Gordon Starr for 2022 – 2024.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
WELCOME Committee was thanked for their work for Deborah Aufdenspring’s Memorial on 6-11-22. The Memorial went well and involved approximately equal numbers of people in-person and via Zoom.
Both SPIRIT & WITNESS & STEWARDSHIP reports for June have been written but were not available at Business Meeting. They will be heard in next month’s Meeting for Worship on the Occasion of Business.
Fosten gave a summary of May finances. We received more contributions than our May expenses. He expressed appreciation for the increase in contributions in recent months. Also the Stewardship Committee is exploring the possibility of obtaining a credit or debit card to simplify paying for our annual web-site and Zoom costs.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
>> Julia Reynolds’ Memorial will be at Trabucco Ranch off Bitney Springs Road on Saturday, June 18, at 11 a.m. Contact her daughter, Martha, at (530) 652-4106.
>> Bob Barns‘ memorial will be held July 16, 2022. It will be held on Zoom. Additional details will be forthcoming.
>> Paul Hartsough is recovering from a serious stroke. Hold him in your heart. He is home & has joined us in the Meeting House, but can not communicate easily. For updates, search for his name at “www.caringbridge.org”.
>> Chamba Cooke who is currently one of the amis-residents at the Centre Quaker Congenies in France, invites us to the Bicentennial Celebration of the Quakers in Congenies at the end of October. at Congenies, France at the end of October.
- 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.
- Sierra Friends Center has volunteer opportunities available. Dean volunteered & reports it was well organized & fun, a lot of fun! See www.woolman.org.
Pending Action Items: Correct & approve the Draft Minutes & Record from 6-12-2022.
The Meeting closed with silent worship.
Respectfully submitted, fosten wilson, acting recording clerk.