June 2013 Newsletter

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Draft Budget

Draft Child Safety Policy

Personal Aid Committee Annual Report

Youth Programs Report

Upcoming Events

From the Vault

Random Happenings

 

 

FRIENDS MEETING OF WASHINGTON

MONTHLY MEETING FOR WORSHIP WITH A CONCERN FOR BUSINESS

May 12, 2013

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 are 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 duties.

            Membership in the Religious Society of Friends is a spiritual commitment. To become a member, we expect an applicant to have come experientially into general agreement with the Society’s principles of belief and testimonies as expressed in our Faith & Practice.

            Membership carries with it spiritual obligations. Each of us, as members, are 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. As members, we seek guidance from one another and the Meeting in discerning God’s will for ourselves. We pray for one another.

            The basic spiritual commitment of membership creates practical obligations. The vitality of each Monthly Meeting depends on its members’ investments of time, energy, and financial support. As Friends, we put practical meaning into our 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.

 

Queries

How can I actively support the meeting community?

How can I support the Clerk of Meeting and clerks of committees?

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

How does the meeting community nurture my spiritual growth and transformation?

In what ways does the Meeting make its needs clear to each of us?

 

Voices

As Quakers, we have no creed to recite, no confession to confess, no rituals to undergo that will reliably bring us into the fullness of membership. But we do have a rich and inspiring tradition; we have each other; and we have the Spirit of God which, we are promised, will “lead us into all things.” 

–Thomas Gates

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. –BritainYearly Meeting

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

Membership in a Quaker meeting is a spirit-led journey of coming to know ourselves as individual-in-community, a journey on which we experience meeting as a place of acceptance, a place of shared values, a place of transformation, and a place of obedience. –Thomas Gates

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

 

2013/5-1 Opening  The meeting opened with silent worship at 12:15 PM.  David Etheridge served as Presiding Clerk, and Hayden Wetzel as Recording Clerk.  The clerks read a Query from Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s draft Faith and Practice, and appropriate advices and other readings.  23 Friends and visitors were present, including Laurie Wilner, the Meeting’s bookkeeper.

 

2013/5-2 Youth Programs Coordinator Report  Windy Cooler, the Meeting’s Youth Programs Coordinator, reported that she has worked with Meeting committees to improve the First-Day School program, hired three new childcare workers, and plans to celebrate the conclusion of a successful year with a pot-luck picnic.  Meeting children will have materials to read over the summer.  Her report is attached.

 

2013/5-3  Spiritual State of the Meeting Report  In the absence of any members of the Ministry and Worship Committee, the Clerk presented the second draft of the annual Spiritual State of the Meeting report.  Several Friends stated a concern over the phrase “to the greatest degree possible” in the third paragraph.  After brief discussion the report was laid over for one month.

 

2013/5-4  FY 2014 Budget  Ed Hustead, of the Finance Committee, presented the first draft of the Meeting’s fiscal year 2014 budget (available here), and explained the significance of the figures for the current and upcoming year.  Friends are invited to contact the committee with questions or comments over the coming month.

 

2013/5-5  Revisions to the Child Safety Policy  Giovanni Sella, co-clerk of the Child Safety Committee,  presented the first draft of proposed changes to the Meeting’s Child Safety Policy, prepared after a series of open listening sessions and educational workshops, review of similar documents of other Quaker groups, and seasoning by the Property, Religious Education, and Personal Aid Committees.  The revisions tighten and clarify many aspects of the Meeting’s child safety policy.  Friends raised questions and suggestions, most particularly relating to policy toward persons considered unsuitable for work with our children.  Several new members have joined the committee.

 

2013/5-6  Committee and Other Nominations  Merry Pearlstein, of the Nominating Committee, presented the following nominations:

Ed Hustead as Financial Coordinator through 2013

Hayden Wetzel as co-clerk of Membership Committee through 2013

Thomas Goodhue to the Marriage and Family Relations Committee through 2015

Friends approved these nominations.

 

2013/5-7  Committee Resignation  Merry Pearlstein also presented the resignation of Tracy Hart from the Ministry and Worship Committee.  Friends accepted this resignation.

 

2013/4-8  Annual Report of the Personal Aid Committee  Janet Dinsmore, co-clerk of the Personal Aid Committee, presented the committee’s annual report (attached).  The work of the committee is confidential, and is aided by the experience of two members with professional medical backgrounds.  Help offered Friends ranges from clearness committees and practical assistance (such as transportation) to limited financial aid.  A regular delicate situation arises when the committee is led to approach a Friend to offer assistance rather than the Friend asking this of the committee.  In the last year the committee dealt with the issue of child sex offenders and established a support committee for one such Friend.  The committee asks Friends to fill out emergency contact forms.  Other efforts have included workshops and purchase of a defibrillator.  Friends thanked the committee for its work.

 

2013/5-9  Update from the Capital Improvement Task Force  Neal Froemming, co-clerk of the Capital Improvement Task Force, reported progress on renovation of the entire Meeting campus, which is in the design stage.  The renovation will bring improved accessibility and communications throughout the campus, a larger and more useable garden, and better drainage.  Adjustments have been made as necessary to the proposed rooflines and other places.  The plan envisions the rear garden separated into two large upper and lower spaces.  The Task Force invited comments from Friends.  The report is attached.

 

2013/5-10  Update from the Capital Campaign Committee  Grant Thompson, clerk of the Capital Campaign Committee, reported progress on plans to raise funds for the renovation.  The benefits of the overall renovation plan (buildings and grounds) will include near-universal accessibility, increased use of our garden, and improved rental space both in Quaker House and the garden.  The committee hopes to raise funds for the initial phase of the work from large donations, and unsolicited pledges have already reached $80,000.

 

2013/5-11 Minutes  Friends approved the minutes. 

 

2013/5-12 Closing  The meeting ended at 2 PM with 8 Friends present, with silent worship.

 

Personal Aid Committee

Annual Report May 2013

We must be concerned about the welfare of every member of the Meeting community. While Friends need to guard against prying or invasion of privacy, it is nevertheless essential that Meetings be aware of the spiritual and material needs of members of the community and express caring concern in appropriate ways. –Faith and Practice, BYM

Committee Members:  Pam Callard, Patty Murphy, Sara Satterthwaite, Ylene Larsen, Elisabeth Johnson, Steve Williams, Rachael Kidanne, Daryl Wagner, Daniella Fishbein, Jim Steen and Janet Dinsmore, co-clerks

The Personal Aid Committee meets monthly to review new or ongoing needs of FMW community members who have sought the Committee’s help or been referred by others, plan special assistance/public awareness projects, and address concerns brought to our attention.  Its deliberations are confidential, and we strive to maintain the privacy of Friends while responding to their needs.  It appears that no annual report was submitted in 2012 so this year’s will cover both years.

The Committee is blessed with a core of experienced members including two medical professionals (Ylene Larsen, MD, and Rachel Kiddane, RN), ready assistance from past clerk Merry Pearlstein, and ongoing substantial help from Marcia Reecer, who serves as an unofficial committee member.  We also depend heavily on individuals outside the Committee for responding to emerging needs and continually seek more resources we can call upon.   The past year has seen an increasing demand for Personal Aid services or participation.  It is no exaggeration to say we are stretched.

The Committee attempts to meet its responsibility for “caring concern” by providing practical assistance designed primarily to meet short-term needs of member and attenders such as shopping assistance, meal deliveries, transportation, cleaning/moving help, compassionate support, or limited financial assistance.  We listen, identify expert resources, visit, make telephone calls, track down absent friends and family, coordinate clearness committees, and serve on special support groups when necessary. We also send cards, sometimes flowers, and struggle to find ways to meet needs of individuals suffering chronic, long-term infirmities or substantial material needs.

One of the most challenging situations for the Personal Aid Committee occurs when an individual connected with the Meeting appears to lack emotional or physical resources to cope yet refuses assistance.  Aside from considering discreet ways the Committee might be of assistance—possibly by locating a friend who can intervene—we can sometimes do no more than hold individuals in the Light and keep searching for way to open. 

A related challenge is the reluctance of some community members to seek aid, fearing public knowledge of their personal circumstances.  We urge members and attenders to trust the Committee’s commitment to privacy and repeat our pledge to hold deliberations in confidence.

In 2012, the Committee faced a new challenge when Tallahassee Friends Meeting asked us to welcome a convicted sex offender who had become a convinced Friend while serving his sentence in a Federal prison in Florida.  The Committee also received letters from the ex-offender and was in unity on the need to welcome him as well as confer as quickly as possible with relevant Committees and the community regarding his Meeting attendance. Following his arrival, the Committee met with the Healing and Reconciliation Committee and the individual to discern how to proceed.   Immediate results included:  a letter to FMW’s entire mailing list in order to contact as many people as possible simultaneously and avoid rumors; formation of a support group which continues to meet twice monthly with the individual; numerous meetings and hearing sessions with concerned Meeting members/attenders; and agreement on a system of escorts to accompany the individual on Sunday mornings.

Personal Aid members have been heavily involved in the myriad activities occurring in the wake of the ex-offender’s arrival including:  drafting and reviewing escort and other guidelines related to his presence at FMW; meetings with concerned parents and others, serving on his clearness/support group, making presentations to small and large groups including Business Meeting and a special forum sponsored by William Penn House, providing an array of practical assistance to the individual; identifying resources; and interacting with other FMW members/attenders who have since been discovered to have a criminal history of child sex abuse.  The process has been informative and illustrative of the best of Quaker practice, but it has also been painful and discouraging at times.  Meeting agreement on a set of guidelines governing our welcome of individuals with a criminal history is still pending.  The Personal Aid Committee has remained in unity throughout the process.

Special Activities

1. In 2011, we asked the FMW community to renew or fill out for the first time a confidential emergency form providing contact information in the case of an incapacitating event or death. We again ask you to fill out the form, which follws this report.  Copies are also available in the information rack in the Meeting House hall and Quaker House.
2. In 2012, the Committee held a successful half-day “End of Life Workshop” for some 30 individuals.  It included information on preparing wills, financial/health power of attorney documents, and living will requests and offered a list of local attorneys whom participants might wish to contact for post-Workshop assistance. 
3. We recently purchased a defibrillator (AED) for emergency use should someone suffer a cardiac arrest on the property. Ylene and Rachel have let several training sessions on its use and we will hold more.  Members can be assured it is easy to use on adults and children.  It is located on the back wall of the Assembly Room, left of the hallway to the Children’s Library.  Lacking “Do Not Resuscitate” orders for individuals, Personal Aid assumes the majority of community members welcome efforts to sustain life.
4. Planning for a CPR workshop is underway.  We expect to hold at least one session this year.
5. Personal Aid Committee sets aside time hold individuals in the Light. Please let us know whom you would like us to remember when we meet.

6.     Several years ago the Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business approved a Finance and Stewardship Committee’s proposal for a small scholarship fund to help members and attenders attend Quaker gatherings/activities that would enrich the spiritual life of individuals and contribute to the Meeting’s corporate life.  The Meeting for Business assigned implementation of the fund to the Personal Aid Committee.  Since that time, the Committee has approved occasional requests for assistance. 

7.     Personal Aid administers Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s provision of three free certificates for first-time attenders at yearly meeting.  Application procedures recently appeared on the listserv or you can contact Personal Aid directly.

8.     The Committee’s effectiveness relies to a great extent on the availability of others when specific needs arise.  Since we call on people we know, this means a few generous, hard-working individuals bear too heavy a burden.  We need more volunteers to help with such occasional needs as:  transporting members to Meeting, making and delivering meals, taking someone to the hospital, or phoning an isolated Friend.  Please let us know if you can help provide this type of assistance.

THANK YOU, AGAIN, BOB MEEHAN

For years the sales of Bob Meehan’s Treasure Bread have enriched the Personal Aid budget. This resource has enabled gifts to individuals in critical need of emergency funds, help with travel to Quaker gatherings, and numerous other useful expenditures on behalf of individuals seeking help.  We are hugely grateful to Bob for his longstanding and significant contributions to the welfare of our community.

Jim Steen and Janet Dinsmore, Co-clerks

 

Youth Programs Report

In April of 2013 FDS continued its mission of building upon the successes of past years and contributing to greater cohesiveness in the FMW community. We:

• Worked with committees, including Property, Religious Education, Ministry and Worship, Child Safety and Finance and Stewardship to vision a future for multi-age use of spaces, plan and host events including a planning session for FDS in the Spring and a Family Fun Day, draft a new Child Safety policy, and look forward to new ways to increase stewardship of our Meeting's resources.
• Hired three new workers for the Meeting's nursery
• Enacted decisions made by the participants of our planning session, including ideas to increase intergenerational connection and work inside the classroom around the theme of "spiritual journeys."
• Continued volunteer recruitment. FDS again involved well over 20 individual volunteers in our weekly work, including four new teachers. On an average week over seven of us will volunteer for this program in some way.

FDS is coming to an end for this school year. Our last day of programmed activities will be the 19th of May 2013, to coincide with Family Fun Day, and we will pick back up again the weekend before Labor Day weekend, celebrating again, with a party to honor the work we all do with and around this program and for our Meeting. Over the summer children will be given journals and activities will be sent to their parents to include in them; on Sundays those of us attending summer FDS will share what we have done since we were last together. The theme, in keeping with the will of our last planning session, and as many of us physically travel part or all of the summer, will be spiritual journeys. Our next planning session will be in August, at a date left to be decided. 

FDS is also looking forward to, this Summer, digging deeply through the administrative to-do list and deepening our work with FMW committees to increase the shared physical use of our property, attend to the organization of materials, plan curriculum, classroom materials, and a welcome brochure for families for the Fall, clarify and work to increase communication around safety and other issues facing families, and aid in the financial stability of our Meeting.

(this ends the Minutes & Reports for May 2013)

 

Upcoming Events, June 2013

Come to S.O.M.E. on Saturday, June 1 at 6:15 AM and be prepared to flip pancakes and help prepare breakfast for our vulnerable neighbors. The kitchen is at 70 “0” St. NW, adjacent to a parking lot. For more information and to sign up, contact Betsy Bramon at betsy.bramon@gmail.com

There will be a Friends Service Weekend starting Saturday, June 1 at Opequon Quaker Camp. Individuals and families are invited for a day or for the weekend. There are plenty of work projects to do, but you can also explore, play in the creek or enjoy a walk in one of the most precious places on earth! Enjoy meaningful and satisfying work – there’s something to do at your skill level. We will enjoy meals together and even spend some time around a camp fire in the evening. Come and give the gift of your time and find yourself rejuvenated. For information, check the BYM Camp website, or contact David Hunter, Camp Property Manager. (301-774-7663 or davidhunter@bym-rsf.org)

A Meeting for Singing will be held at 10:00 AM on Sunday, June 2 and every first First Day for the rest of the year. Join in singing chants, hymns and songs of praise and longing. All voices and ages welcome; no paper training required.

The Grate Patrol packs and delivers 120 bag lunches and soup to people living on the street on Wednesday, June 5.  Soup or chili is made in the afternoon.  At 5:30 PM we start making sandwiches and packing the lunch bags.  At 7 PM, we load the van and one or two people go out on delivery for about an hour.  You’re welcome to help out with any or all of these things.  Call Steve Brooks 240-328-5439 or email sbrooks@uab.edu for more information. 

You are warmly invited to participate in the FMW Work Day on Saturday, June 8 from 9:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. Come and clean, prep, fix, and improve your Meetinghouse. There will be pizza! All skill sets welcome.

There will be a Vigil to Protest Drone Warfareon Saturday, June 8 at the Main Gate of the Central Intelligence Agency beginning at 10:00 am. “War is not the Answer”, “Drones are Evil”, and “Drones kill Babies, too” are just some of the signs Quakers have been carrying. Please join us at the Vigil, and for light refreshments at the Langley Hill Meeting House afterwards. For more information, contact Malachy Kilbride (malachykilbride@yahoo.com) We urge Friends to organize carpools.

You have another opportunity to hear Susan Sachs Goldman discuss her book, Friends in Deed, about the history of Friends and social justice, on Saturday, June 8 at 1:00 PM at Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave NW  Washington, DC. Two copies of this book are available in the FMW bookstore.

Volunteers are needed for Quaker outreach at Capital Pride Street Festival on June 9. This annual celebration is a community event to celebrate and support our diverse LGBTA communities. Our Quaker table will provide an opportunity for local Meetings to reach out to new community members and help make the Religious Society of Friends a welcoming place for all. The Pride Festival is DC’s largest annual one-day event, with over 150,000 visitors, three stages, food, drinks, art and a family area. Please consider attending the festival and spending 2 hours at the Quaker table, volunteers are needed from noon to 7pm. Youth are welcome to accompany adults at the table. Send any materials for outreach, such as information about your Meetinghouse, times of worship, youth programs and other Quaker activities, to the William Penn House at 515 E Capitol St SE with a note that it is for the Pride Festival. Email Gene Throwe at gthrowe@gmail.com or call (703) 405-9003 to volunteer and for more information.

Come to the monthly Meeting for Worship and Potluck on Tuesday, June 11. Worship begins at 6:30 PM; potluck at 7:00 PM. All are welcome.

You are invited to the 2013 Global Peace Index Release on Tuesday, June 11 from 1:00 to 2:30 PM at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1800 K St. NW, Washington, DC. The Global Peace Index (GPI) is the first-ever analysis to methodically rank countries on their peacefulness and identify potential determinants of peace. For more information, contact Michelle Breslauer, mbreslauer@economicsandpeace.org or (646) 963-2160

The sixth month Interim Meeting will be held Saturday, June 15 from 10:00 A.M. to 7:00 PM at FriendsCommunity School in College Park, Maryland. For more information, contact Meg Meyer, Interim Meeting Clerk, imclerk@bym-rsf.org

There will be a workshop on Poetry in Nature at the Friends Wilderness Center on Saturday, June 15 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. This will be led by Janey Harrison and will take full advantage of the lovely surroundings at FWC to enhance the wonder and beauty of the poetry selections that Janet will weave into the program. Contact Sheila Bach (304-728-4820, snbach@earthlink.net) for reservations and directions.

Meetup with Friends for Networking and Brunch onSunday, June 16 from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM atLangley Hill Friends Meeting in McLean, VA. New graduates and interns in the DC Metro area are invited to a Meetup brunch hosted by Langley Hill Friends Meeting. It’s a tough job market and we want to help you get connected in this area, where who you know is so important to career advancement. We’d like to share our vast network of professional contacts both here in the DC area and beyond with you to help you as you start on your professional career. This is the only networking event you’ll ever attend where casual clothes and sandals are the dress code norms! Bring a friend if you want, just join us, tell us what contacts could help you professionally and we’ll see if we can help you make the connections you need over a Sunday brunch buffet. The meetup starts after 10:00 am Meeting for Worship with introductions starting at approximately 11am. Find more information on our Facebook page and RSVP to LangleyHillEvents@gmail.com and indicate if you need a ride from nearby Metro Stations at approximately 9:30. Contact Information: langleyhillevents@gmail.com

The Friends Association for Higher Education invites Friends who are faculty and administrators in higher education, young adult Friends contemplating a career in higher education, and others interested in advancing Friends’ testimonies in higher education to join us at a conference at Malone University in Canton, Ohio starting Thursday, June 20. The theme for this year is Holistic Education: To What End? and includes a stimulating schedule of plenary speakers and sessions, as well as opportunities to meet new colleagues and friends in higher education. Full details, including registration information, is at www.cvent.com/d/tcqs71/1Q.

Are you longing for more quiet opportunities to worship and share with other Friends? Would you enjoy taking part in a radically unprogrammed retreat with Friends from a variety of theological backgrounds for a week or just a few days? Come to Quaker Spring on June 21 – 26 in Deerfield, MA. Friends of all branches are welcome, and costs are low. For more information and registration, see their website. (www.quakerspring.org)

Eureka! There is another fun filled fibre fiasco,onSunday, June 23 in the North Room atnoon.  Please join other fab fibre friends as we knit, crochet, quilt, tat, mend and sew together.

From the Vault

Random Happenings

One of the things I love about this job is to see how much FMW serves as a second home to Friends. People stop by to charge their phone or use the restroom, to change their clothes at the end of a work day or to pick up or pass on an item for another Friend. Some Friends come here to take a deep breath and get a little silence midday. It’s like a Recombobulation Area. Maybe we should add it to our sign.

A couple from Ohio who were staying at a nearby B&B stopped by with questions. They didn’t know about Quakers, but had heard of Shakers, were we related (yes). They asked about Quakers and sex (Yes!), Quakers and baptism (no), Quakers and electricity (yes), Quakers and war (no). Then they launched into the topic of war and American Empire and what are we thinking, anyway, with this whole Syria thing? So wonderful to hear! They took a War Is Not the Answer bumper sticker, and went off to visit the National Cathedral.

FMWhas entered into a relationship with Fluent City, a NYC-based firm which now offers language classes at our Meeting-house. If you’re here in the evening during the week, you may see their (mostly young, mostly hip) students dashing off to their classrooms. The FOPs report that the group is quiet, fun, and self-sufficient. They are using the rectangular tables stored in the North Room; I mention this because we’re trying to keep those tables accessible so the teachers can do a quick set-up before the 6:30 pm classes. If you’re involved in cleaning up for an event, I’d be grateful if you put tables away with a view toward keeping the rectangular tables in an easy-to-access area.

Speaking of putting things away . . . I discovered to my horror on Meeting for Business day that the mics had gone missing. They weren’t in their drawer. They weren’t tucked into the pocket on the speaker system cover. They weren’t in the handy bag o’cords next to the speakers. They weren’t downstairs on the video cart. I looked, Steve Brooks looked, Neil Froemming looked, we all looked. No mics.

The next day, I wrote a diplomatically phrased email to all of the organizations who may have used these mics over the previous month which said, basically, Hey, where are our mics? They all assured me that they hadn’t taken them, knew nothing about it, had put them away where they belonged, yada yada. Then alert Bookkeeper Laurie Wilner looked in The Other Drawer in the Meetingroom. And found, yes, the mics. Oops. Neil blames himself—he’d told us both not to bother looking in that drawer. Steve and I blame ourselves—we’d obeyed Neil (an uncommon experience). Never again!

Special thanks this month to Friends too numerous to mention who brought food, crafts, grills, games and their whole selves to the Family Fun Day party—especially Greyson Acquiviva for manning the grill; to Mary Campbell, Bill Strein and Emilie Schmeidler for doing a phenomenal amount of clean-up after said party; to FMW member Joanne Kumekawa for visiting us from Port Townsend, OR and talking about her journey to Tibetan Buddhism; to Virginia Avanesyan and Tracy Hart for organizing the blow-out Catoctin weekend; to Michael Cronin for convening the Inquirer’s Class despite his pneumonia; to Lelac Almagor for encouraging us to do a monthly meeting for singing; to Liz Paxton Pomerleau and Shannon Zimmerman for agreeing to co-convene the Young Adult Friends; and to the alert Jack Travers of the Peace Tax Fund, who noticed a flooding toilet late on a Friday afternoon and had the presence of mind to turn it off and tell us about it before it turned into a big fat Quaker House weekend flood. Grateful for you all, Friends.

Also, a sad sad goodbye to Zephyr Williams, who is going home and (eventually) to graduate school, and to Gerri Williamsand Ray Allard, who are moving to Duluth, MN. Hopeful about your futures, but missing you already. Here’s the Pendle Hill goodbye song:

May the long time sun shine upon you,

All love surround you,

And the pure Light within you

Guide you all the way home.

- Debby