June 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

06/13/2021

We met on Zoom.. 

Present:  Don McCormick (co-clerk), Anita McCormick (co-clerk), Amy Cooke (recording clerk), fosten wilson, Doug Hamm, Dorothy Henderson, Dianne Marshall, Judy Hamilton, Reed Hamilton, Chamba Cooke.

The Meeting opened with silent worship.  

The Clerk invited a check-in as we acknowledged transitions and travels.  

CLERK’S REMARKS

• 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.
• 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. 
• 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, and I hope we all will. 
• We leave room for Spirit to come through, releasing our thoughts, judgements, opinions and becoming silent inside and out. We can hand our issues to Spirit/God/Jesus, and then settle into any sensations or messages coming through.  

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

SPIRIT & WITNESS: Gordon Starr, Judy Hamilton, Gordon Bishop, Don McCormick, Anita McCormick, Amy Cooke, Dorothy Henderson

Judy Hamilton made the report, attached.  

• Spiritual Life sessions are on hiatus for the summer.  They will restart in the Fall:
  • September with Anita presenting Quaker Women. 
  • In October, Amy will offer a program on the Nisenan. 
  • November will be Dorothy on Walking
  • In December Gordon will present Birthing the Christ Within.

• The proposal to restructure the Representatives was presented.  It will now season until the 7th month Meeting for Business.

• The Waking up to Race (WUTR) book group will begin a new book, Healing  Resistance by Kazu Haga.  The group is open to anyone from Meeting who would like to attend.  The group meets Wednesday mornings from 9-11.  Discussion on the new book starts June 30^th.

PROPOSED MINUTE:  Grass Valley Friends Meeting approves the new Representative structure as attached to this copy of the Minutes.  Seasoning until 7th month.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE: Doug Hamm, Patricia Phillips, Karen Olson

From May:  Amy Cooke’s name is seasoning as a member of Spirit & Witness for 2021-22.  

MINUTE_2021.06.12:  Amy Cooke is approved as a member of Spirit and Witness for the 2021-22 year.

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

Dorothy Henderson gave the report, attached. 

The committee is seeking a teacher who would be delighted to teach on 2nd Sundays for Children’s Program.  This person can partner with a current committee member. The program will continue to be on Zoom until it is not – the program will not be hybrid when we transition to that model.  

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

The committee is discerning the lease with Sierra Friends Center as well as the hybrid meeting proposals.

WELCOME:   Amy Cooke, Don McCormick, Kathy McCreery

Amy Cooke gave the report, attached.

REPRESENTATIVE and OFFICER  REPORTS

• Sierra Friends Center: The report was read and is attached
• Interfaith Nevada County: Dianne Marshall gave the report.  The next meeting is next Tuesday, June 15.  A presentation will be given by Paul Cummings, Director of the Office of Emergency Services (Nevada County).  The conversation will be about how the Faith Community may support the OES during the event of a Paradise- scale fire.

ANNOUNCEMENTS 

• The Waking Up to Race book group is starting to read a new book, Healing  Resistance by Kazu Haga.  The group is open to anyone from Meeting who would like to attend. The groue meets Wednesday mornings from 9-11. Discussion on the new book starts June 30^th.
• The Friends General Conference 2021 Gathering will be held virtually, from June 27 – July 3, 2021.  Registration is open on a pay-as-you-are-led basis.  
• 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.  
• The dates for Pacific Yearly Meeting Annual Session 2021 have been set: July 23-28, 2021.  See the Clerk’s Call to Annual Session 2021 and the AS 2021 Information Page for more information. 
• Online Worship: every Wednesday evening, 7:00-7:30 pm sponsored by PYM Eldering subcommittee of the Ministry Committee.  Consider also the many other opportunities for online Quaker worship listed at westernfriend.org.

FEEDBACK 

• One of our co-clerks expressed a longing for more preparation prior to the Meeting for Business
• Appreciation was expressed for Friends in France being so present through Zoom technology
• Gratitude was given for Peggy Baldwin’s memorial service

ACTION ITEMS & ITEMS SEASONING

PROPOSED MINUTE:  Grass Valley Friends Meeting approves the new Representative structure as attached to this copy of the Minutes.  

READING OF THE RECORD AND MINUTES    

Note:  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. Spirit and Witness report
   1. Representative Committee 
2. Children’s Program report
3. Welcome Committee
4. Sierra Friends Center report

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Spirit and Witness Report

We met June 5^th and all members were present.  

Our first item was addressing the issue of confidentiality in documents placed on the Meetings Google Drive. We decided that Spirit and Witness’ monthly agenda and notes from our monthly meeting would be placed in a private Google Drive folder that could only be accessed by current Spirit and Witness members.  The monthly Spirit and Witness report is public and can be found both in the newsletter and the minutes of the monthly Meeting for Worship on the occasion of Business.

Dorothy reported that WUTR (Waking Up to Race) will be starting to read a new book, Healing  Resistance by Kazu Haga.  The group is open to any one from Meeting that would like to attend.  We meet Wednesday mornings from 9-11. Discussion on the new book starts June 30^th.

We discussed the new committee representative structure and the Spirit and Witness members were in agreement that this should be brought to Meeting for Business.  

Our Committees of Care are going well except for one that hasn’t yet been convened but that will be remedied soon.

We formed an ad hoc committee consisting of Amy, Gordon Starr and Judy that will be meeting to discuss when we can start meeting in person and how best to offer a hybrid Meeting. We will be meeting next week.

We have received the new lease.  Both the Stewardship and Spirit and Witness will be addressing this and our concerns in the next months.

The Spiritual Life programs will be on hiatus during the summer months (June, July, and August).  They will return in September with Anita (?and friends) presenting Quaker Women.  In October, Amy will offer a program on the Nisenan.  November will be Dorothy on Walking and in December, Gordon will present Birthing the Christ Within.

Representative Restructuring Proposal:  Our subcommittee – Judy, Amy, and Dorothy – have developed this proposal to ensure that our meeting stays connected to the organizations we care about and maintains representation in those organizations that require it.

We will be maintaining the following positions that are to be filled by Nominating each year. The representatives for these organizations are tasked with providing timely information to GVFM about events and communications from the said organizations.

Pacific Yearly Meeting

College Park Quarterly Meeting

Sierra Friends Center

Interfaith of Nevada County

All organizations would be housed in either the Welcoming Committee or Spirit and Witness.

Welcoming would include all the organizations that connect us to other Quakers and nourish us spiritually. Those would include:

• Ben Lomond Quaker Center
• Friends General Conference (FGC)
• Friends World Committee on Consultation (FWCC)
• Pacific Yearly Meeting (PYM)
• College Park Quarterly Meeting (CPQM)
• Sierra Friends Center (SFC)

Spirit and Witness would hold the faith, practice and witness organizations (ones doing work out in the world).  These would include:

• American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
• Interfaith of Nevada County
• Nisenan
• Quaker United Nation Organization (QUNO)
• Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR)

Each month, a member of the respective committee would prepare a report on the organization based on queries.  We would alternate months, with odd months going to one committee and even months the other one.  That would give many people the opportunity to “discover” Quaker organizations, and to hear from different people so that we all get to hear from each other.   

Folks who are passionate about these organizations could share from their point of view when the report comes up.  Monthly announcements would also be made by those persons who are involved or passionate about those organizations.  

The reports would be structured around the following queries:

What is this organization’s mission statement?

What are their current activities or plans?

What is exciting?  

Are there any concerns? 

How can Friends get involved if they feel inspired? 

Is anyone in our meeting particularly involved?  How? 

Children’s Program Committee Report

The Children’s Committee met in-person on June 8th, for  the first time in over a year. We met for a special occasion beyond our regular business as Karen Olsen is taking a sabbatical for an undetermined amount of time. Karen has been teaching in our Meeting’s First Day School for fifteen years. She is taking a break to refresh and to take part in some important  family activities over the summer. She will continue to offer the story on Family worship Fifth Sundays.

We discussed how to cover Karen’s class on second Sundays. Judy will take the first one in July and we will continue to work on how to cover beyond that. We are considering reaching out to other folks in the Meeting who might want to join us for a period or having the committee members rotate in, perhaps in different matching pairs. Continuing revelation.

 We then discussed how we want to offer First day school when we are able to return to the Meeting house and we came to an agreement that we will offer only an in-person program. The teachers agreed that trying to do hybrid is not satisfactory with children for several reasons, one of which is their desire to be outside and active. Letting go of zoom for the classroom does mean that we will not be able to offer our class to Grace in San Francisco, a sadness. We will miss Gracie and her mom, Alice when we are no longer with them.

We are not clear how many children will return after we are again in-person. We will be reaching out to our families when we are ready to return. We also recognize that we will need two persons for each First Day when we are again in-person. We briefly brainstormed possible scenarios if we did have enough children and enough age difference that it made sense to have two classes each Sunday. We might want to consider having the older children on zoom so we could possibly combine with another Meeting’s First Day class or with another church in our community, like the Unitarians. We have also explored the possibility of having older young people gather at Don and Anita’s for an event that was not on First day. These are possible plans for the future. Until we are able to return to the Meeting house, we will continue to offer our program on zoom. 

Dorothy requested that each teacher put  the content of their class in the Google doc. in order to keep a record of what we are teaching for future resources and so that we can share and learn from each other. There was agreement that one teacher from each Sunday will document what is being or was taught.

We closed our meeting with gratitude for Karen and with Strawberry shortcake!

Respectfully submitted,

Dorothy Henderson, Clerk

Welcome Committee

We have greeters scheduled for June and July.  Zoom coordinating and greeting are becoming more distinct as roles.  

We are proposing that the Zoom coordinator position be transitioned to a team model so that Hailey can participate fully in the Children’s Program and no one has to bear the weight of weekly coordinating.  Team members:  Hailey Wilson, Amy Cooke, Dorothy Henderson, possibly Gordon Bishop?  

We will be working with the Hybrid Meeting subcommittee to insure that visitors have both in-person and Zoom information to attend Meeting for Worship. 

We are maintaining publicity in The Union, on Facebook, and on Instagram.  

The committee will expand next month with the new year.  Members are Karen Olson, Kathy McCreery (clerk), ex officio Website/Facebook Coordinator (Amy Cooke), ex officio Zoom coordinator (Hailey Wilson and Stuart Smith), ex officio Email Coordinator (Judy Hamilton)

Respectfully submitted, Amy Cooke

SIERRA FRIENDS CENTER

Marty, the director of the Center, is sharing the updated information below on what is happening at Sierra Friends Center.

THE MEETING HOUSE:  The Meeting House is almost finished.  The remaining work is the wall and floor to the left when you enter the door.  All the rest of the floor now has vinyl plank flooring.  Some really nice new chairs are inside.  Last weekend, the Board met in the Meeting House.

THE CENTER’S OFFICE building has a new carpet and awhile back a full forced air furnace and air conditioner was installed.  She said “ heat and air conditioning are also in the classroom!”

THE CAMPUS GARDEN, which was destroyed in the fire (including the fencing and structures), is being brought back to a new life by Malaika Bishop, founder and former director of Sierra Harvest Program.  Malaika no longer works at Sierra Harvest and is now Woolman’s Farm Manager through the Farm Restoration. Please be aware of notices from her for volunteer help in the garden. Literally, it is rebuilding the garden from the ground up.

YOGA CLASS is being offered on campus by Abby Cerino.  For more information, contact her at abbyc@woolman.org

THE BIG HOLDING POND, to the right as you are coming onto campus on Woolman Lane, has been dredged, is significantly deeper and has vertical sides.  Signs are posted to stay out of it and location of the emergency exit ramp.

NEW NID IRRIGATION SYSTEM which will replace the old 3 inch diameter pipe with 6 inch pipe, and new addition of fire hydrants.  Marty shared that the grant received over a year ago is for the materials with the Center responsible for the labor, “which will be 2/3 of the total cost.”  

There are also plans to put in a campus lighting system to assist visitors and program participants safely move across campus at night.

FEMA IS HERE right now, cleaning all the burned building sites.  So far the big barn on the upper campus has been cleaned out and the old Red Barn remains that once stood as you entered campus.  Sites are left clean and the ground dirt is scraped, taken away and replaced.

A LOT is going on, the Center has a new life and a full board.  Very exciting time!  

You might have noticed in the report I keep referring to “the Center.” Here’s Marty’s comment:  “I understand the nostalgia of calling Woolman a “School” but our mission has changed.  I find it better to call it “the Center” or “the Camp.”

HERE ARE THE VISION, MISSION AND VALUES now for the Center:

VISION  A future where engaged communities are stewarding a peaceful world, a more equitable society and a healthy planet.

MISSION  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.

Continuing its six-decade legacy, Woolman offers diverse educational and enrichment programs at the Sierra Friends Center campus, a hub of Quaker values.

• WOOLMAN PROGRAMS:  Trans formative workshops, camps and retreats for people of all ages, in groups or as individuals.

• SIERRA FRIENDS CENTER:  A special place where guests can study, practice, reflect and renew as they are immersed in nature, with simple accommodations, meeting spaces, and a working farm that provides fresh organic food.

VALUES  We are grounded in the Quaker belief that there is that of God in all creation reflected in a loving relationship with the land.  We are guided in our work by core values of silence, simplicity, nonviolence, truth speaking, service, and a belief in the human spirit.

Woolman at Sierra Friends Center is a place where everyone experiences radical acceptance for who they are, is treated with dignity and respect, and who is surrounded by the physical, mental and spiritual healing power of nature.

Submitted by:   Dean Olson