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

April 16, 2023

We met in a hybrid meeting on Zoom and in person.

Present:  

Dean Olson, clerk; Amy Cooke, Chamba Cooke, Dorothy Henderson, Doug Hamm, Kathy McCreery, fosten wilson, Dianne Marshall, Marilyn Guida, Sharon Davisson, Judy Hamilton, Mary Starr, Gordon Starr.

The Meeting opened with silent worship.  

Clerks’ Remarks and Query:  

The clerk opened the Meeting with a reflection on Henry David Thoreau’s thoughts about walking. 

“A township where one primitive forest waves above while another primitive forest rots below,–such a town is fitted to raise not only corn and potatoes, but poets and philosophers for the coming ages. In such a soil grew Homer and Confucius and the rest, and out of such a wilderness comes the Reformer eating locusts and wild honey.” – Henry David Thoreau

In one word or a couple of words, what is one thing that startled you, or struck you, or moved you this week.

Friends spoke out of the silence.

• The wildlife that grows in our yard.
• Kids coming to visit and seeing the green surrounding the house – like a green lawn – unusual. Very beautiful, but also very temporary.
• A very helpful young lady at Foothills Mailbox.
• A thought came that everything that I did, including my spiritual life, is perfect.
• Stunned at the instant village that was created this week to put up the tents at Woolman.
• Hopeful at the signs of reconciliation – Yemen, Iran, Saudi Arabia.
• Surprised at receiving love in the same way as seeing it in the face of children.
• Moved in the presence of young Friends and having participated in meetings with them.
• The Great Awakening that is happening to us all is profound and incredibly hopeful.

Action Items and Seasoning:  

• Nominating: Stuart Smith

Minute 2023.04.01: Grass Valley Friends Meeting approves the nomination of Stuart Smith to serve on the Spirit and Witness Committee, effective immediately. 

• Meeting for Business Minutes and Record, Third Month 2023: The minutes were approved as published in the newsletter.

COMMITTEE REPORTS 

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

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)

Mary Starr gave the report, appended. 

Fosten reported on the status of pursuing a 501(c)3 for the Meeting. Fosten read from a letter sent to Dianne from Karle DeProsse, the bookkeeper for Unity in the Gold Country church about what is involved in getting/ having a tax I.D. number. In part she stated that we need the 501(c) 3 status to accept funds from banks that have a fund set up for charitable contributions. The committee will continue to research this issue.

It was clarified that an annual contribution to CHIRP (the Nisenan tribe) is acceptable to the tribe. We understand that this contribution is dependent upon sufficient funds being available at the end of our fiscal year.  Individuals in the Meeting are encouraged to donate directly to CHIRP and are reminded that their donations to the Meeting allow us to meet all our contributions to the designated organizations we support. We were reminded that we cannot donate to specific line items in the budget, only to designated funds and the General Fund.

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)

Kathy McCreery gave the report, appended.

Judy Hamilton read the organization report on Woolman at Sierra Friends Center, appended. 

SPIRIT & WITNESS: Amy Cooke, Sharon Davisson, Reed Hamilton, Dorothy Henderson, Dean and Karen Olson (ex-officio co-clerks)

Dorothy Henderson gave the report, appended.

A suggestion was made that we host Rabbi Azen.  

CHILDREN’S PROGRAM:   Dorothy Henderson (clerk), Gordon Bishop, Doug Hamm, Judy Hamilton, Dean Olson, Karen Olson, Reed Hamilton, Don McCormick, Anita McCormick

Dorothy Henderson noted that the Children’s Program has consistently provided a program every week. The Meeting sees the Program in action every week.

There is a field trip scheduled for April 29. 

The committee is considering a monthly Teen Night, with pizza and a movie. 

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

Judy Hamilton reported that the slate is in development for the 2023-24 year. They are bringing forward a new role, Tech Support. The slate will have its first reading at the May Meeting for Business. 

OFFICER  REPORTS

• TREASURER: fosten wilson (see Stewardship)

Fosten wilson gave the report, appended.  

It was noted that Tithely (the online donation service we use) has been useful, although their reporting function is not ideal. 

• SFC REPRESENTATIVE:  Pat Phillips 

• INTERFAITH NEVADA COUNTY:  Dianne Marshall

GVFM is hosting Interfaith Nevada County on May 18. The attendees will be given a tour of the campus after the meeting.

ANNOUNCEMENTS 

• The Nevada County Planning Commission is opening public comments on the opening of the Idaho Maryland Mine in preparation for a May 10 public hearing. Please email Dean for more information. 
• 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, and it helps our visibility.  Follow this link.
• It is 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.  
• The College Park Quarterly Meeting will gather May 19-21 at Quaker Center in Ben Lomond, CA (and online for some activities). The theme for this quarterly meeting will be “Nurturing the beloved community across the divide – digital, generational, ideological…” The flyer with more information is available by clicking here.To register for the event, click here.
• Pacific Yearly Meeting 2023 will be an on-ground gathering with opportunities for remote or online participation held at Mount Madonna Center July 21-26, 2023.
• There is a new PacYM directory online.  See Dean for the password.
• The 2023 Friends General Conference Gathering, “Listen So That We May Live,” will be held at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, OR, from July 2-July 8, 2023.  
• We need more people who would be willing to set up the tech system for meetings.  Mary Starr is available for tutorials on setting up and putting away the OWL – just ask! She is very skilled and helpful. Please contact Mary if you can assist. You can also come at 8:45 am on any Sunday to observe the process. Thank you!!

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:

1. Stewardship Committee
2. Welcome Committee
   1. Organization Report: Sierra Friends Center
3. Spirit and Witness Committee
4. Children’s Program Committee
5. Treasurer’s Quarterly Report 

————————————————————————-

Stewardship Committee

Present: Mary Starr, clerk, Gordon Starr, recorder, Reed Hamilton, Fosten Wilson

Finance: Fosten reported last month’s income was $513, payments totaled $653, which included

rent and newsletter costs. Next month will be our PYM dues $2,744 – $98 per meeting member

(28).

Fosten read from a letter sent to Dianne from Karle DeProsse, the Senior Minister of the U.U.

church about what is involved in getting/ having a tax I.D. number. In part she states:

“The amount of paperwork & government filing should not keep you from filing to be a

charitable (501-c-3) non prophet under the category of religious. It is the easiest one to maintain.

There are no IRS or California Franchise tax forms to file… The usual reports to file are 1)

annual tax letters (early February) – only sent to individuals that gave more than $250 or more in

one gift;2) a bi-annual Secretary of State information form list officers, 3) an as-needed IRS

form when the treasurer changes.”

CHIRP (California Heritage Indigenous Research Project) Donation. The Nisenan tribe has

requested we send our contribution monthly rather than yearly (as we do with all other

donations). It was noted that our yearly budgeted donation of $125 would amount to only a little

over $10 per month, which hardly seems worth the time and trouble. Also the way Meeting

handles donations is to fund them at the end of the fiscal year if there is enough money to fund

them. This is really a matter for M4B.

Our next meeting will be on May 4, 2023

Treasurer’s Quarterly Report 

4-15-2023

summary  =  yikes !

We have yet to pay our annual dues to College Park Quarterly and to the Pacific Yearly Meeting. Plus, in March our spending exceeded the contributions received. This is enough to cause your Treasurer to ask for –  help. More income is needed. The good news is that since  October 1st  the contributions received ($7,875) have exceeded the spending from our General Fund ($6,765), thank you.

Overall we need a little increase in income.   Our bank balance is still strong from the year when we did not pay rent (other than for the storage container).   

The “Fund Balances” & the “Actual Spending vs Budget” reports are available in the Meeting House and by contacting me.   Our Sharing Fund has been active.  The other restricted funds are unchanged since December.

Thank you for your help.   All gifts, those in service to the Meeting & financial are deeply appreciated.

Fosten Wilson

Treasurer,

Grass Valley Friends Meeting

new email = fwkm at protonmail dot com 

Spirit and Witness Report 

April 2023

Our committee continues to hold our work as tending the spiritual life of our meeting and how we witness outward in faith.

We are bringing a proposal to the Meeting this month that we hope will support the Meeting and its members and attenders in their outward witness. 

Proposal: Grounding our Witness in Spirit

When a person or group in our Meeting has a nudge or leading to take action out of a spiritual discernment, the  Spirit and Witness Committee is available for support.

1. Bring the concern to Spirit and Witness: Email the clerk and/or members of the S&W committee a description of the concern and any actions being discerned.
2. If part of the action is to form a group, the person with the concern can bring that request to the announcements part of Meeting.
3. If a group forms, it can become a Witness Committee under the care of S&W. This is similar to Care Committees, Clearness Committees, etc. The committee reports to S&W each month and their report becomes part of the report to the Meeting. 
4. The Spirit and Witness Committee Clerk can post to the email tree, newsletter, Facebook page, etc on behalf of the Witness Committee.

We are requesting feedback on this proposal from the meeting in advance of our May committee meeting, when we hope to adopt this as a structure within the Meeting.  

Note: we are not needing formal approval from the Meeting as we understand it, because this would be under the overall structure of the Spirit and Witness Committee.

The Nisenan: We have been holding our Meeting’s relationship with the local Nisenan tribe with attention to how we can uphold their work to restore their federal recognition and visibility.

Sylvia Osmand Memorial: We have begun work on Sylvia’s memorial minute. The Meeting for Memorial is pending. Sharon and Reed will work on the memorial minute with Judy.

Email and member/attender lists: We are reviewing the lists of those who want to stay in touch with our Meeting. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Amy Cooke, Clerk, Spirit and Witness

Welcome Committee

Welcoming Committe

Report

April 2023

We met on April 6

th via Zoom. Present: Judy Hamilton and Kathy McCreery

Friendly 8’s will start next week. All group have a home to meet in for the first week and

almost all groups have a facilitator to explain the worship sharing process except one (and

we are working on that). The queries have already been sent out.

Organization reports: Judy- Sierra Friends Center in April. Don- Ben Lomond Quaker

Center

Name tags: Hailey will be printing these in next few months,

Procedure for adding new attenders to the various ‘lists’ (email, newsletter, directory).We

will have a sign in for new visitors asking for email addresses. We are still deciding when

and how they would be added to the above lists.

Party for new members: Saturday, June 3rd at Kathy and Fosten’s.

Woolman at Sierra Friends Center

(organization report)

Mission and Vision

Woolman seeks to both inspire and to prepare individuals to work for peace, justice, and environmental

sustainability, and to deepen their personal and spiritual growth.

Woolman History

In 1963, College Park Friends Educational Association created John Woolman School. The founders purchased a 300-acre cattle ranch in the Sierra Foothills, and in 1963, they opened the first Quaker residential high school west of the Mississippi. The school operated from 1963 until its closure in2001. Subsequently, a semester program offered high school students  environmental and peace-focused programming until 2016.

During the years from 2016 through 2021, Woolman weathered two major crises, the COVID-19

pandemic and the devastating 2020 Jones Fire, which burned 19 buildings and 150 acres of forest land on

Woolman’s campus.

After an intensive recovery period, in 2022 Woolman has begun working to achieve its renewed mission,

offering these programs and services:

• Camp Woolman – inclusive adventures for youth, providing summer camp sessions with backpacking excursions to the High Sierras
• Woolman Outdoor School – bridging the classroom with outdoor learning, hosting school groups for

immersive outdoor education programming (both residential and day field trips)

• Woolman Arts – cultivating creativity in nature, offering youth and adult arts programs
• Woolman Center for Activism – supporting change makers through workshops and organizing
• Retreats – welcoming spaces to rest, learn, and collaborate, hosting individual and group retreats

Children’s Program Committee

See above record.