March 2011 Newsletter

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CONTENTS

Minutes — February 2011 Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business

Attachments to Minutes:

Spring Events

Announcements

From the FMW Vault: 1937 Poverty Study   — Hayden Wetzel

 

 

FRIENDS MEETING OF WASHINGTON

ORDER OF WORSHIP

MONTHLY MEETING FOR WORSHIP WITH A CONCERN FOR BUSINESS

February 13, 2011

Minutes

2/11-1 Opening  The Meeting opened at noon with a period of silent worship.  Meg Greene served as Alternate Clerk, and Debby Churchman served as Recording Clerk. The clerks read Advices, Queries and Voices concerning Membership which have been proposed by the Faith and Practice Revision Committee of Baltimore Yearly Meeting.

Membership: Queries

How am I maturing into the fullness of membership in this spiritual community?

How does meeting nurture my spiritual growth and transformation?

Membership: Advices

Just as Friends have “affirmed the priesthood of all believers” so we also affirm that each Friend, not just the clerk, has a direct responsibility for the meeting. As we are all ministers of the Word, so we all are ministers to each other and to the community as a whole. As members of a community we look not to our rights, liberties and privileges, but to our obligations, responsibilities, and our duties.

Membership in the Religious Society of Friends is a spiritual commitment. To become a member, an applicant should have come experientially into general agreement with the Society’s principles of belief and testimonies.

Membership carries with it spiritual obligations. Each member is called to participate in the Meeting’s spiritual life and to attend worship regularly. Members need to nurture each other’s God-given gifts and talents. They seek guidance from one another and the Meeting in discerning God’s will for themselves. They pray for one another.

The basic spiritual commitment creates practical obligations. The vitality of each Monthly Meeting depends on its members’ investments of time, energy and financial support. Friends put practical meaning into their spiritual commitment through regular participation in meetings for business, service on committees or as officers, regular financial giving, taking part in service projects under the care of the Meeting, assisting in maintenance of Meeting property, and representing the Meeting in community and wider Friends’ organizations.

Membership: Voices

For as in one body we have many members, and not all members have the same function, so we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.                                                                                                             Romans 12:4-5 (NRSV)

When early Friends affirmed the priesthood of all believers it was seen as an abolition of the clergy; in fact it is an abolition of the laity. All members are part of the clergy and have the clergy’s responsibility for the maintenance of the meeting as a community. This means helping to contribute, in whatever ways are most suitable, to the maintenance of an atmosphere in which spiritual growth and exploration are possible for all.

Britain Yearly Meeting 11.01

Like all discipleships, membership has its elements of commitment and responsibility but it is also about joy and celebration. Membership is a way of saying to the meeting that you feel at home, and in the right place. Membership is also a way of saying to the meeting, and to the world, that you accept at least the fundamental elements of being a Quaker: the understanding of divine guidance, the manner of corporate worship and the ordering of the meeting’s business, the practical expression of inward convictions and the equality of all before God. In asking to be admitted into the community of the meeting you are affirming what the meeting stands for and declaring your willingness to contribute to its life.                    Britain Yearly Meeting 11.01

Membership is costly … It is not just about belonging, feeling accepted, feeling at home. It has also to do with being stretched, being challenged, being discomforted … We can never be entirely sure of where the venture will lead us … [but] the one thing we can be sure of is that the process, taken seriously, will call us to change.                    Helen Rowlands, 1952

Membership does not require great moral or spiritual achievement, but it does require a sincerity of purpose and a commitment to Quaker values and practices. Membership is a spiritual discipline, a commitment to the well-being of one’s spiritual home and not simply appearance on a membership roll.                                                                             Britain Yearly Meeting 11.01

Entry into membership of the Religious Society of Friends is a public acknowledgement of a growing unity with a community of people whose worship and service reflect, however imperfectly, their perception of discipleship and their recognition of the work of the Holy Spirit in the world. This unity is grounded in the experience of being ‘gathered’ in the love of God in the silent expectancy of our meetings for worship and in a willingness to surrender ourselves to a corporate seeking for the will of God in such measure as we can comprehend it.

Britain Yearly Meeting 11.04

Worthiness has nothing to do with membership. God has already accepted us in our imperfection and is loving us forward toward a more perfect image of God’s self. The real issue in membership is commitment on the part of both the meeting and the applicant to remain faithful to the development and requirements of the process within Quaker tradition.

Patricia Loring, 1997

 

The Inward Light is a universal light given to all men, religious consciousness itself being basically the same wherever it is found. Our difficulties come when we try to express it. We cannot express; we can only experience God. Therefore we must always remember tolerance, humility, and tenderness with others whose ways and views may differ from ours.

Pacific Yearly Meeting, 1953

And oh, how sweet and pleasant it is to the truly spiritual eye to see several sorts of believers, several forms of Christians in the school of Christ, every one learning their own lesson, performing their own peculiar service, and knowing, owning, and loving one another in their several places and different performances to their Master, to whom they are to give an account, and not quarrel with one another about their different practices.

Isaac Penington, 1659

2/11-2 Attendance Approximately 37 Friends were present. FMW welcomed Sarah Ramey of AFSC, who is working on the Human Rights Learning Project. She would welcome feedback from Friends as she develops this curriculum. The Meeting also welcomed Mark Cannon from Rockville, MD, Alex Painter from Falls Church, VA and Sarah Upgard from Falls Church, VA.

2/11-3 Clerks’ Report  Meg Greene, Alternate Clerk, reported on upcoming memorial meetings. The meeting for Winnie Walker Jones was held the previous day at Friends House, and the meeting for Joan Oehser will be held at FMW on February 26. If a Friend is willing to clerk Friend Oehser's meeting, please contact Faith Williams on the Ministry & Worship Committee. A memorial meeting will be held for Raoul Kuhlberg on May 7; please let Ministry & Worship know if you are willing to clerk this meeting. As a tribute, a special film will be screened at the Avalon Theatre that afternoon. A Friend asked if if another meeting might be held at FMW for weighty Friends such as Winnie, so that all might attend.

2/11-4  Worship Sharing on Membership In a worship sharing format, Friends considered the issue of membership at FMW. Harry Massey, Clerk of the Membership committee, asked Friends to consider the following queries?

What does membership mean to me at this Meeting, and at our Yearly Meeting, and in the wider fellowship of Friends? Is this tradition alive? Is it calling me to something greater than myself, or is it dead?

   A Friend commented that the Meeting's directory includes the names of many attenders who do not attend, and suggests that this gives us a false sense of the size of the Meeting. He asks that we list those who actually attend the Meeting rather than those whose lives have been touched by the Meeting.

   A Friend spoke of membership as being like marriage, a kind of commitment under the care of the Meeting which makes you a special part of the Meeting and conveys the Meeting's commitment to you. She stated her belief that Membership should matter. She believes that if you can participate and clerk any committee without being a member, it no longer matters.

   A Visitor shared his perspective that what is going on is sacred, and what is happening is revelation. Membership is an opportunity to declare your relationship with God and to share that with each other, he believes.

   A Friend spoke of the difficult question of what is required to be a member of the Meeting, in terms of commitment to the Meeting and to the beliefs of the Meeting. He feels that the Meeting is not united on this question. He noted that Membership is a procedure, not a sign-up sheet.

   An Attender said he does not feel called to be a member, and does not feel guilt about that, He said that Attenders should be welcome to participate as they are led.

   A Friend notes that the love we feel for people expresses itself in different ways and at different points in our lives. She believes that neither being a member nor an attender is more important, but expresses where we are in our life's journey.

   A Friend spoke of growing up in a culture where it was okay to discuss membership in a religious organization, and his longing to have that kind of cultural acceptance here.

   A Friend reviewed how other religious organizations handle the question of membership. She noted that the governance that Friends developed over 300 years was to keep chaos from reigning by empowering the the corporate body to make the major decisions. Certain committees are standard, appointed by the corporate body to season issues and bring them to the business meeting. She believes that approvals at business meeting should be by Members only. Key decisions about money, property, and order of business need to be made by members of this corporate body, she said.

   A Friend spoke of being disturbed by discussing questions of membership as something with rigid boundaries, when she feels that things are often much muddier. Numerous members do nothing with the Meeting; numerous attenders are extremely active in the Meeting. In her case, both membership and marriage came long after the commitment had been made.

   A Friend spoke of how she came to be a member after many years of active attendance. She had deep questions, and finally put them to the Membership Committee, who did not have any qualms about her membership. Membership, she noted, is a journey which may take a great deal of time and discernment.

   A Friend remembered Friend Leon Kanegis, who asked to join the second Sunday he attended, and was told he had to let it wait until he was ready. He actively attended FMW for 35 years but finally joined after someone asked him to do so. The Friend who told this story finds it impractical to have the Meeting discern who is and who is not a member at business meetings. He also believes that wisdom is not contained by any one group, and that the wind of the Spirit may come from anyone. He believes that membership is important but not central to being a part of the community.

   A Friend said that membership is about the testimony of community. For him, it is a statement that he cannot live a whole, healthy life without a community of faith. He wants to respect each person's decision to be an Attender or become a Member. Membership is a big commitment, not to be taken lightly.

   Harry Massey asks that we remember this discussion as the Membership Committee brings forth the names of new members.

2/11-5  Marriage of Sarah Apgar and Alex Painter  Susan Griffen, Clerk of the Marriage and Family Relations Committee, presented the request for marriage under the care of the Meeting of Sarah Apgar and Alex Painter. The request lies over for a month, as is our custom.

2/11-6 Request for Transfer of Erik Edgerton Harry Massey, Clerk of the Membership Committee, presented the second request for transfer of membership of Erik Edgerton from Goldsboro (NC) Friends Meeting to FMW. Friends APPROVED.

2/11-7  Nominations  Marcia Reecer, Interim Clerk of the Nominating Committee, presented the following nominations:

• Michael North as Clerk of the Library Committee for 2011 (waiver needed). A Friend noted that Michael North has applied for membership.

• Steve Williams and Zoe Plaugher to the Personal Aid Committee for terms ending in December 2013.

• C.J. Lewis to the Capital Improvements Task Force.

Friends APPROVED these nominations, one Friend noting that she is approving Michael North's nomination now because he has applied for membership.

2/11-8 Resignations

Marcia Reecer presented the following resignations:

• Beverly Reader from the Personal Aid Committee

• Tina Giffin from the Mary Jane Simpson Scholarship Fund.

Friends ACCEPTED these resignations.

2/11-9  Annual Report of Nominating Committee Marcia Reecer, Interim Clerk of the Nominating Committee, presented the committee's annual report (see attached).

   A Friend asked that the Nominating Committee contact members in the Directory whether they know them or not to ask for a connection to FMW. Marcia Reecer suggests that this be done in conjunction with the Membership Committee, and that people be allowed to come back to Meeting and settle in before being asked to join a committee. The Membership Committee has already begun the process of reaching out to members who have not been seen or heard from in a long time.

    A Friend spoke with gratitude about the report, and its depth. It made him realize that we are all seekers and on a spiritual journey, able to give in different ways at different times. He spoke to the need for a 21st century form of service for people with very busy, complex lives, many of whom are in transition and have a limited amount of time. Marcia Reecer points to the last paragraph of the report, which lists ideas about how to better use the volunteers that we have, such as giving one-year assignments instead of 3-year ones, or asking committees to make brief presentations from the Facing Bench to attract new members.

   A Friend pointed out that the responsibility for staffing committees does not just lie with the Nominating Committee, but with each of us. Another Friend spoke of the danger of burning out committee members by overburdening them.

2/11-10  Report of Finance and Stewardship Committee  Loie Clark, Clerk of Finance and Stewardship, requested that the calendar of committee annual reports in the Handbook be amended so that the F&S report can be presented in September following the close of the Meeting’s fiscal year and the completion of the annual audit.

She then presented a financial update for the current fiscal year through January.  Donations were $145,190 toward our goal of $230,000, meaning that we are about $800 short of the contribution goal for the year to date and below the level for the same period last year.  In fact, the contribution level is more than $10,000 below that achieved in at the same time in 2008.  Our number of donors is down, the average donation is up, but the median yearly donation is still less than $500, which is well below other Protestant sects.  However, expenses through January were substantially under budget, mostly due to the vacant staff position but including other office and site savings.  Therefore, the Meeting is in strong enough a cash position to transfer the budgeted $16,000 to capital reserves now rather than at the end of the fiscal year.

FMW has spent about $25,000 so far on renovations to Carriage House and Quaker House; these expenditures from the capital reserves were previously approved by the Meeting.  The newly renovated space is currently generating about $28,500 more in annual revenue this year than last year.  This margin could increase to over $40,000 per year when the previous School for Friends space is renovated and available for use.  Loie expressed gratitude for the hard work of Property Committee members and other Friends for making this new revenue possible.

A Friend asks that an Open House be held so that Friends can see the renovations.

 2/11-11  Update of Capital Improvements Task Force Steve Brooks, member of the Capital Improvements Task Force, presented an update. The task force's goal is to come to unity as a Task Force as they go forward, and to bring these points of unity to the Meeting. He says that the task force is moving in the direction of a campus-wide approach for accessibility. A Friend spoke in support of that approach, especially as a fund-raising strategy.

2/11-12  Property Committee Update Steve Brooks, on behalf of the Property Committee, presented an update from the committee (see attached). The committee intends to have an Open House to show the renovations. Friends spoke with deep gratitude for their work.

2/11-13 Minutes The minutes were read and APPROVED.

1/11-14 Adjournment With approximately 34  Friends present, the meeting adjourned at 2:15  p.m. to reconvene as way opens on Sunday, March 13 at 11:45 a.m.

Attachments:

  • Nominating Committee Report
  • Sticks & Bricks – Capital Improvement Task Force & Property Committee Updates
  •  

 

 

Nominating Committee Annual Report for 2010

As always, our real report, the sign of our year’s work, is the proposed slate of committee members presented each December and January. But we have been thinking and talking throughout the year about our difficulty in recruiting people to serve on committees. We don’t believe this is a new problem but it has seemed especially severe in the past several years.  Generally speaking, the problem results from the composition of our meeting, which in turn reflects the city we live in. Many people come to Washington, stay a while, and then leave.  The same is true with FMW.  And while they are with us, many are too busy with their work and the young families they are raising to spare much time for committee work.  This fact leaves us with a smaller and older pool of potential committee members than we might hope for and makes it difficult to match demand for volunteers with supply.

Supply: The size of the pool

So how many people are we talking about? It’s hard to tell. There are 752 listings of resident members and attenders in the current directory.  However, many of these are inactive and/or reside outside the DC-MD-VA area (and therefore are unlikely to be able to serve on committees).  In terms of financial activity, Finance and Stewardship records show that 378  member and attender households have made at least a minimal financial contribution to the meeting since July of 2007.  Of these, 42 live outside the area.  Assuming that members/attenders who are not financially active are unlikely to want to be active in committee work , this would leave a pool of 336 potential volunteers for committee assignments -- approximately half of them members and the other half attenders.  Given the confidentiality rules governing financial donations to the meeting, the Nominating Committee does not know the names of those potential volunteers. 

 

 

 

 

 

The Nominating Committee consequently undertook its own survey of the FMW directory to identify people whom we knew as active in the meeting and therefore likely to be interested in contributing to the work of the committees.  The results of the survey suggest that our pool of potential committee members is far more limited—in the neighborhood of 120. (See Appendix A for how we arrived at this number.)  This is bad news when it comes to filling established positions. 

Demand:  Volunteers needed

The Handbook identifies 126 positions on standing committees, to which we need to add 10 for Healing and Reconciliation, which does not appear in the current edition of the Handbook.  Currently 103 of the total of 136 positions are filled by 87 people
 (i.e., a number of people occupy more than one position). *

These figures demonstrate that the members and attenders who are willing to serve are really pulling their weight. The trouble is, there are too few of them.  Nearly all the committees are short of people to do the committee’s work, and when a clerk tells us he or she is desperate for more hands, we often can do no more than sympathize.

We should mention here the “ghost” committee members (their names appear on the committee list but they never show up for meetings) and the members who may come to meetings but don’t have the time or inclination to do their share of the committee’s work. To be fair, some of them probably agreed to serve because a Nominating Committee recruiter pushed too hard, but whatever the reason, members-in-name-only often make a committee look better staffed than it actually is.

Also worth mentioning is the recent increase in the number of special committees. Since September, the meeting has authorized the Capital Improvement Task Force (which currently has 9 members), the Capital Campaign Task Force (4 members) and the Information Technology Committee (5 members). No one would deny the importance of these committees, but each of them will demand a serious time commitment from its members and will constitute a further drain on the number of members and attenders available to join our already depleted standing committees. As hinted in a previous paragraph, our current solution to the problem of too many jobs for too few people is to encourage people who are already serving to take on yet another responsibility, but this is not a good or sustainable answer to the problem. (See Appendix for B for figures on how many people currently serve on more than one committee.)

*  Note:  Numbers for FMW volunteers, here and elsewhere in this report, now reflect the situation as of January 15, 2011.

Recruiting for committees

When we recruit for committees, we try to find people who seem to be a good fit for the committee in terms of experience, temperament, and interest.  This is done by comparing the needs of each committee with our knowledge of likely candidates.  Of course we also ask committee clerks and other members and attenders for their help in identifying suitable candidates, and we check with clerks to see if nominees we have found meet with their approval. But matching a demand for 136 volunteers with an available pool of 120-odd people is a challenge, even though some volunteers are willing to serve on multiple committees.

In practice, this can mean inviting a nonmember to serve on a committee that is supposed to be limited to members--if the person seems otherwise to be a good choice.  We try to avoid this but believe it is better for the meeting to have a committee position filled by a well-qualified and enthusiastic attender than by a member who must be pressured to serve. It does happen that when a committee needs a clerk, the best-qualified and most experienced person on the committee is a nonmember. In that case, we do not hesitate to request a waiver, as permitted in the Handbook. Given the scarcity of people interested in joining committees and the outstanding committee work done by many of our attenders, we believe these procedures are sound and in the best interests of the meeting.

Reorganizing FMW’s committee structure?

As for the possibility of reorganizing FMW’s committee structure to bring it in line with the number of potential committee members, we have often discussed how we might do this over the course of this year and last. 

We have heard of meetings that, in despair, simply abolished all current committees and began again.  However, the most radical idea we have considered would be to let each committee find its own balance between supply and demand.  In other words, committees would limit themselves to doing the work they had the people to carry out. For example, if there were no volunteers  to make coffee for the coffee hour and clean up afterwards, there would be no coffee hour. If there were no one to take charge of one of the First Day School classes, that class would not be offered.

This scheme would force committees to decide on their priorities, i.e., identify what is important enough to make sure it gets done. The problem here is that committees are not just following their leadings; they doing work that the whole community judges to be necessary. The Finance and Stewardship Committee would certainly get the meeting’s attention if it decided not to prepare the yearly budget, but that is not an option. In any case, we do not think the current situation is desperate enough to warrant such an extreme measure.

What we would like to do is to modify the way committees do business by encouraging clerks to participate in a “classified ad” system. The idea here would be to figure out what pieces of a committee’s work can be carried out by volunteers and “advertise” for that help. This system could relieve an overworked committee and it could also be useful for people who would like to get involved in the work of the FMW community but feel unable  to serve a three-year committee assignment.  The Property Committee has already made good use of nonmembers in doing Meeting renovations, and other committees such as Religious Education have successfully recruited volunteers for short-term projects.  

We recently received a proposal from Young Adult Friends suggesting that new, young participants in the meeting be encouraged to sign up, where appropriate, for one-year committee appointments. This would be another way of providing extra hands for committees, and it could have implications beyond the concerns we have been describing by helping to draw more new, young attenders into the meeting community.

We are mindful that some simple initiatives could also be helpful. People who are new to the meeting (and some not so new) may not have a clear idea of what committees exist and what they do. A well-designed brochure could help here and so could some publicity by the committees themselves when they sit on the Facing Bench and in the listserv.

Obviously, we don’t know the extent to which these (or other schemes we have not yet thought of) will solve the problem of too many committee jobs chasing too few members and attenders willing to undertake committee work, but we will continue to work at it.  Needless to say, we welcome comments, suggestions, and willing hands from all those who are interested.

Nominating Committee:  Arne Paulson, Diane McDougall, Beth Cogswell, Meg  Greene, Merry Pearlstein, Marcia Reecer, interim clerk

Appendix A:

  We assumed that members of the Nominating Committee are likely to know most of the people who regularly attend meeting or participate in meeting events--in other words, the people involved with the meeting and likely to be interested in committee membership. Following this assumption, each of us checked the 752 directory listings for names of people we knew and knew to be resident in the area. Then we collated the checked names and found that 222 names were known by at least one member of the Nominating Committee while  only 114 were known by a majority (3) of the committee members. On rechecking, it turned out that 30 of these known people had moved away or become inactive.  We therefore came to the conclusion that a reasonable ‘guesstimate” of the number of potential volunteers at our disposal was about 120.

Appendix B

To capture the extent to which some people assume multiple responsibilities, we counted every volunteer position currently filled at FMW, whether or not the Nominating Committee was involved in filling that position, i.e., meeting officers, trustees, positions on special committees, and liaisons and representatives to outside organizations.  We counted 192 positions in all. Forty-six people occupied more than one position; 16 people, three or more; and 6 people were filling five positions each. Admittedly some of the special positions don’t require more than a couple of hours a month, but many of them involve substantial commitments of time.  And of course our overlaps include people who serve on more than one standing committee, some of them as clerks. In addition, people involve themselves in other time-consuming ways, volunteering for fundraising events, property days, occasional teaching of first day school, and so on.

 

 

Sticks and Bricks

February 2011

Capital Improvement Task Force Update

We have met three times since the last Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business.

We remain optimistic about being able to maintain unity and complete the task before us.

We are clear that our primary task is to provide accessibility to important Meeting spaces by means of an elevator and that this needs to happen as soon as ever we can manage it.

We are necessarily spending some time familiarizing CITF members with the issues and constraints that surround those questions that must be answered before an elevator installation can be planned and installed.  Those questions include:

  • the location of the elevator
  • the size and configuration of any new construction that is built to contain the new elevator
  • how the elevator will connect to the street and to the interior spaces that must be accessible
  • which meeting spaces are to be connected and which are to remain inaccessible
  • whether there are critical unfunded Meeting maintenance or safety issues that should be included in the capital campaign fund raising.

Issues and constraints include, cost, feasibility, safety, historical preservation review, architectural issues, DC building codes, and the many concerns of Meeting Friends.

The experience of the previous planning committees suggests that there is not unity within the Meeting about the answers to these questions.  We believe that the Meeting has expressed a desire to see options that are simpler and more affordable than the $3.8 million package proposed by the Quinn Evans Architect recommendations.

To the extent that there are choices to be made in coming to unity on the answers to the above questions, we believe that many Friends will want to know at least the rough cost of those alternatives.  For example, what would it cost to provide access to the Assembly Room and Meeting Room levels, and how much more would it cost to provide access to Quaker House spaces or to the Meeting House attic level?

We have decided to try to provide a rough cost and description for the most basic possible plan and for various optional additions and to try to find Meeting unity on whether those options must be included in the minimum fund-raising targets, or included only if sufficient funds can be raised, or postponed for possible future additions (if possible), or abandoned.

We will be posting updates on our progress on the Meeting bulletin board, the FMWQuaker list, the Meeting website, and in regular reports to Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business.  We are eager to move this process forward as quickly as we are able.

 

Property Committee Update

Meetinghouse North Room

The Meetinghouse First Floor North Room, formerly known as the Storage Room, has been remediated for lead paint and asbestos flooring.  It now serves as a multipurpose room, with space for First Day School and other diverse programs.  A partition will be installed to create a separate storage area for tables and chairs.   Heating and cooling vents may be added for comfort.  Additional storage organizing may expand available program space.

Quaker House Entry

The entry stairs in Quaker House leading up to the Living Room have been refinished by Brian Greenberg, husband of member Meg Greene, in gratitude for the Meeting’s hosting of his wedding.  Meg will soon be basing her international work out of Quaker House, while volunteering to help the Meeting coordinate the partners sharing space.   

Quaker House North Wing

The Quaker House Second Floor North Wing is done, and the Meeting’s newest non-profit partner is here.  Promundo works across Brazil to advance gender equality and prevent violence against women and youth.

Carriage House First Floor

The former classroom in the first floor of Carriage House has been cleaned out and now has a new wood floor, in preparation for expansion of Tostan, which has worked to advance women’s rights and community empowerment in thousands of villages across Africa.  Next steps include installing partition walls, updating electrical, and painting. 

Quaker House Ground Floor

Part of the Quaker House first floor now has new plumbing lines and environmental remediation.  Volunteers and contractors are now finishing office areas like the once and future headquarters of the Peace Tax Fund, and incubator spaces soon to be used by AFSC-DC’s Steve Cary Fellow, FMW Attender Sara Ramey, and GreeneWorks Global, run by FMW Member Meg Greene.  The incubator has also attracted interest from such other human rights and peace groups as Stop Modern Slavery, the Federation of African Women Educationalists, and PeacePlayers International.

Other Upcoming Work

Next steps also include painting/improving the Front Office and moving the Bookkeeper from the Children’s Library. 

Contact

If you have an idea or comment about the Meeting’s ongoing improvements, or want to be part of this work in any way, email: fmwproperty(at)googlegroups.com

 

 

Spring Events

 

FMW Adult Study Group

   The Adult Discussion Group will meet on Sunday, March 6, at 9:15 a.m. in the Assembly Room. John Scales will read selections from the play Our Town by Thornton Wilder, who was a Quaker, and how the “message” of the play resonates through the play. The Group will also meet on Sunday, March 27, at 9:15 a.m. in the Assembly Room and the group will discuss Quaker or Quaker influenced persons of the arts. It is not mandatory to attend every group meeting if a F/friend is interested in participating. For questions, or more information, contact John Scales.

William Penn House

   William Penn House, a Quaker Center on Capitol Hill, hosts monthly potluck dinners with a speaker and discussion afterwards. In addition to monthly potlucks, the William Penn House provides low cost accommodations and Quaker Centered programs and seminars. On Sunday, March 6, at 6:30 p.m. Alaine Duncan will be the presenter. She is a Quaker acupuncturist and trauma healer. Alaine has been working to bring peace to the bodies and minds of returning soldiers, their families, and caregivers. Toward this end, she has created Crossings Healing Works. Healing Works is currently providing acupuncture and therapeutic bodywork to critically injured soldiers in long-term rehabilitation, their families and caregivers in the Warrior Transition Brigade at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The trauma of war comes home with soldiers and those who surround them. Helping to restore order, transform instinctive survival responses and bring peace to the body-minds of those most personally affected by war is critically important to bringing peace to these families and to our communities.

   Alaine Duncan’s expertise at the interface between acupuncture and the euro-physiology of traumatic stress is rooted in 20 years of clinical practice and a deep concern for the impact of war on service members, their families and their caregivers. Her research background includes studies evaluating Acupuncture for: Chronic Headaches in Veterans with Traumatic Brain injuries in Walter Reed Medical Center (WRAMC), PTSD-related Insomnia at the DC VA Medical Center, PTSD (WRAMC); and Complimentary Medicine for Caregiver Stress (WRAMC). She is Healing Works’ founder and Clinical Director. She earned her Acupuncture Master’s Degree from TAI Sophia Institute in 1990 and completed Somatic Experiencing training in 2007. Alain is a member of Adelphi Friends Meeting.

Summer Camp and Scholarships

       As we live in warm sweaters and never leave home without gloves, it is hard to believe that summer is around the corner. But, now is the time to make plans for summer camp. There are several local Quaker camps that provide summer Quaker camping experiences for our children, including Catoctin, Opequon, Shiloh, Teen Adventure, Summer at Sandy Spring, and Sidwell Friends School Camps. Now is the time to make plans, and if a scholarship is needed, applications can be accepted until rise of Meeting, Sunday, March 6. For more information about summer camps contact Kathy or Robb Lipp-Farr. For scholarship information contact Tracy Hart, the Clerk of Religious Education by email. Scholarships are available to any child of an active FMW member or attender and they are not “needs-based”. When applying, please include: the parents’ name; names of child(ren) going to camp, what camp they are going to, and all appropriate contact information. (Email address, phone numbers, etc). Due to the demand for these scholarships, RE welcomes anonymous donations, which have been so open-heartedly been donated in the past. 

FMW’s Senior Center

   Program of slides or talks are held on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month in the Decatur Place Room at 1:30 pm. On Wednesday,March 9, Carol Coffee will present a slide show on Austria and Hungary. On Wednesday, March 23, Maurice Boyd will present a talk on The Music of Frank Warren, who wrote music for Hollywood musicals such as The Harvey Girls.

Quakers and Slavery

   Betsy Cazden will speak at FMW on Sunday, March 20, 2011 on Quakers and Slavery in the Northeast United States in the Meeting Room at the rise of Meeting. After her talk, a reception will be held for her in the Assembly Room. This event is being sponsored by the Ministry and Worship Committee.

Interim Meeting

   All Friends are invited to join the Baltimore Yearly Meeting (BYM) at Langley Hill Friends Meeting on March 26, 2011. At Interim Meeting all BYM committees meet and the business of the Yearly Meeting is conducted. For Friends that have never attended an Interim Meeting, this is an excellent way to understand the “greater Quaker” community. Coffee, hospitality, and registration starts at 10:00 a.m. and Committee meetings start at 10:30 a.m.  Both lunch and dinner are provided. For more information or to make a reservation contact Baltimore Yearly Meeting. Langley Hill Friends Meeting is located at 6410 Georgetown Pike, McLean, Virginia.

Living Our Queries

   Please join Friends as we discover how the monthly queries, advices and voices connect with our daily spiritual experiences. The group meets the fourth Sunday of each month at 9:15 a.m. in the Quaker House Living Room. Participating in this monthly discussion can lead both long time Friends to a “deeper understanding” of the queries, and help newcomers better understand Quakers, our practices, our beliefs and our spiritual lives. The next session of Living Our Queries, is on Sunday, March 27, and the queries to be discussed are “Meeting for Business”.

School for Friends Simple Meal

   A simple meal prepared by the School for Friends will be served to all following the rise of Meeting for Worship on Sunday, March 27. The School hosts a simple meal at FMW once a year to thank the Meeting and to present the program and activities of this nationally accredited pre-school. The School has adopted “the Creative Curriculum”, a play based, interactive curriculum for toddlers and pre-schoolers. Everyone is invited to lunch and to learn more about the School.

Inquirers Class

   Mark your calendar- the spring Inquirers Class is scheduled to begin on Monday, April 11. The class is a great way for newcomers to learn more about Quakers, our history and our “peculiar ways”. Friends who have “been around awhile” are also welcome. The class will meet at 7:30 p.m. for five consecutive Mondays. Attendance at every class session is not mandatory. For more information contact either the FMW Office (202) 483-3310 or Michael Cronin.

 

 

Announcements

 

FriendsWilderness Center

   The Friends Wilderness Center in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia is hosting two events in March, 2011. The first event is Winter Stargazing which is scheduled for Saturday evening, March 5. Learn about the winter constellation and planets with Kevin Boles of the Morgan Count Observatory. Kevin will have an 8” reflector telescope and star charts to help guide us on this interstellar journey. Winter skies showcase the planet Jupiter and its moons. With clear skies, the Great Orion Nebula, the Perseus double cluster and the Andromeda galaxy will be visible. Bring a lawn chair, binoculars, and a blanket. Dinner will be served at 6:00 p.m. and star gazing will begin at 7:00 p.m. This event is limited to 30 people, so contact Sheila Bach at (304)728-4820 to make a reservation.

   On Saturday, March 19, 2011 the Center is hosting a day long workshop on Styles of Meditation based on the book How to Meditate by Lawrence LeShan. This event starts at 10:00 a.m. and lunch will be provided (for $7.00). This is a repeat of the same event held in July and November, 2010. The event will be held in Niles Cabin and will be presented by Michael Moore, a Quaker with a Masters Degree from Chicago Theological Seminary and a former Methodist Pastor. For more information contact Sheila Bach at (304)728-4820.

 

 

From the Vault: 1937 Poverty Study

A monthly series of edited extracts from the historical material of the Friends Meeting of Washington.

"Relief Need in the District of Columbia — As shown by a study
of 661 families of employables to whom relief was denied"

February 1937

A few notes from the experience of The Friends may help you to visualize the problems that greet us when we enter the miserable homes of the employable poor who cannot get work nor relief.

Case 2: A housepainter found himself out of work in the fall and could not get work at the WPA or elsewhere.  His savings amounted to $50.  He paid $8 a week for two unfurnished rooms.  The day came when there was no fuel, then no food, then the inevitable -- eviction for lack of rent.  This family applied for relief but was not eligible -- the man was employable.  So they applied to the Community Chest, which gave them $10 -- this money had been donated as a Christmas gift -- that was ll that could be done.  So with $10, homeless, this little family left the organization to face the winter.  I wonder what they drifted into?

[A complete copy of this unique report, prepared by members of our Meeting as part of a campaign to increase relief payments in the District -- about 35 pages of statistics, argument and case studies as above -- has been given to the Washingtoniana Division of the city library.]

File: COMMITTEES: Philanthropic/DC Poverty Study 1937                                                                                                                                                Hayden Wetzel, Meeting Historian