Monthly Meeting for Business Minutes – October 2018

Committee Reports

   1.) Updates to the Handbook

      - Changes to Handbook suggested by Personal Aid, 9.21.2018

      - Religious Education Committee Updates

   2.) Peace and Social Concerns Request for authorization to access records

   3.) Peace and Social Concerns annual report

   4.) Finance And Stewardship Annual Report based on FY 18 Results

   5.) Ministry & Worship Annual Report

   6.) Hospitality Committee Annual Report

   7.) Memorial Minute for Elizabeth “Lib” Stoney Segal-Michael Cronin

Come Worship with First Day School in November!

Solidarity with the Jewish Community

Marriages Under Care of the Meeting (Request from Marriage & Family Relations Committee)

Upcoming Events

Thinking about Race

 

Friends Meeting of Washington
Order of Worship
Monthly Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business
14 Tenth Month 2018

Query for Worship Sharing:    
How do I act as a steward of God’s Creation and leave the planet in a better condition for future generations?

Welcome of Visitors

The Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business opened at 12:35 pm with 31 Friends present.  We welcomed new member, Mary Lou Schram. Young Friend, Megan, was our microphone runner.

Clerk’s Report, Tenth Month 2018

In Memoriam

• Susan Shaughnessy passed away on September 23.  Martha Solt and Dan Dozier are working on her memorial minute.
• Ann Brandt, mother of our member Kathy Brandt passed away last Saturday, October 6.

Upcoming Events (as of 10/14/18)

• 10/17: American Friends Service Committee DC Open House at the AFSC's DC office, 1822 R St. NW, near Dupont Circle, from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
• 10/21: Film showing of “Life in Occupied Palestine,” part of the Voices from the Holy Land film series 2018 (Decatur Place) at 12:30 pm.
• 10/21: A memorial service for Maurice Boyd will be held at FMW at 2:00 p.m.
• 10/20:  BYM Interim Meeting:  FMW is part of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, composed of 52 Quaker congregations in MD, DC, VA, and parts of PA.  Three times a year people from the Meetings gather for fellowship, committees, and a general business meeting. Baltimore Yearly Meeting is a wonderful opportunity to get to know Friends from our region, and be a part of important decision making. The 10th Month Interim Meeting will be hosted by Sandy Spring Friends Meeting, 17715 Meetinghouse Road in Sandy Spring, Saturday, October 20, beginning 10 am.  For more information go to www.bym-rsf.org.
• 11/18:  Mosaic Theatre’s production of “The Agitators,” will be held at 3:00 p.m., to be followed by a discussion of Quakers in America: their beliefs, role in the abolitionist movement and modern advocacy for civil rights.

FMW Community Highlights

• Our beloved Debby Churchman worked her last day at FMW on Friday, October 5.
• Barbara Briggs began as part-time Administrative Secretary on September 15. 
• A new, full-time Events and Rental Manager, Suzy Zusy will start on October 22.
• Check out Peace and Social Concerns new climate banner now hanging on FMW’s front fence—very timely given the U.N.’s International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report this week.

Renovation Update

• The Assembly Room is no longer a silent danger, and its transformation has begun!

Major Business

Marriage and Family Relations Committee- Debbie Churchman

• Update on the marriage of Danielle Green and Petra’Rahim Soloman.  The marriage, in August, was conducted in good order.

Membership Committee- Joe Izzo

• Second presentation of Barbara Briggs for Membership. Friends approved membership.
• Acceptance of Greyson Acquaviva for Sojourner Status at Cambridge Friends Meeting in Boston, where he attends college.

Sanctuary Task Force- Rebecca Harris

• The September craft & bake sale/auction was a great success. Together as a community, we raised over $4,600, all of which is donated to the Capital Area Immigrants Rights (CAIR) Coalition. The Coalition provides many services, such as “know your rights” trainings to immigrants in the DC area.  The Task Force expressed gratitude to the Meeting for participating- whether it was donating your goods or services for auction, or purchasing them!

Search Committee- Gene Throwe

• Friends approved the nomination of Virginia Avaneysan and Greg Robb to the Search Committee. The Search Committee recruits new members for the Nominations Committee, which is dedicated to asking meeting members and attenders to join in committee service.

Updates to Handbook-Beth Cogswell

• Handbook is asking all committees to review their committee descriptions and work to provide an updated understanding of the evolving work of each committee.  The goal is for most committees to have submitted drafts by December 2018.

Religious Education Committee Updates-Shannon Hughes

• Friends approved the proposed changes to the handbook regarding the RE committee description, see addendum.  RE committee is primarily focused on religious education for children and youth.  The RE committee has not actively provided support for Adult Religious Education, and there is a need for the Meeting to more actively address and coordinate Adult Religious Education. First Day school would like to help integrate families and children into the meeting more, and would like to consider how to make Meeting for Business more accessible to parents, such as to provide consistent child care.

• The Ministry and Worship Committee is taking on more coordination focus for Adult Religious Education.  Adult Education will be further discussed and defined.

Personal Aid Committee- Emilie Schmeidler

• Friends approved the proposed changes to the handbook.

Peace and Social Concerns Annual Report- Elaine Wilson

• Friends approved Meeting authorization to borrow FMW files from Friends - Historical Library at Swarthmore in order to complete our review of the meeting’s social justice work historically.
• Presentation of Annual Report.

Finance and Stewardship Committee Report- Bill Strein

• Friends approved the committee report, see addendum. Highlights are: Friend’s contributions slightly exceeded the amount projected. Building generated more than twice the gross income what was budgeted, largely because renovation started later than expected. Our former rental manager, Debbie Churchman, built a robust rentals income legacy for FMW, which will be paying off in the future, despite interruptions from the renovation project, which is expected and planned for.  However, the operating fund and capital campaign will continue to need our contributions to keep pace with all the evolving changes-- and the committee thanks the Meeting in advance

Ministry and Worship Committee Annual Report- Greg Robb

• Friends accepted the report.  The committee wants to encourage the Meeting to deepen silent worship at the 10:30am large meeting. They encourage everyone to read the pamphlet, “Four Doors to Meeting for Worship,” which they are making readily available to borrow, read & return. There will be more workshops on spiritual deepening. Friends thanked the committee for their work this year.

Hospitality Committee Annual Report- Susan Griffin

• Friends accepted the annual report.  Susan stressed that simplicity will be the core mantra during the renovation, due to the fact that the kitchen and gathering spaces will continually be evolving and sometimes unavailable.  Ad hoc volunteers and new committee members are welcome! Encouraging and supporting teens and tweens to engage is something the committee is further exploring.

Memorial Minute for Elizabeth “Lib” Stoney Segal- Written by Michael Cronin

• Friends approved the memorial minute, which was read by the the Clerk.

Friends APPROVED the minutes as improved.

The Meeting closed at 1:45 PM with approximately 20 persons in attendance to reconvene as Way opens on the next second Sunday of the Month, November 11th.
 

Adenda-COMMITTEE REPORTS

Updates to Handbook-Beth Cogswell

1. Changes to Handbook suggested by Personal Aid, 9.21.2018 (Emilie Schmeidler)

The Committee gives spiritual, personal, and practical assistance to members and attenders in need. It may call on others in the Meeting for help, bearing in mind that “All Meeting members are called to care for one another and for the Meeting” (Faith and Practice, III, B, 3, b, 1). It maintains contact with members and attenders who are ill, hospitalized, or in other special circumstances. It organizes sending of cards of celebration, condolence, or greeting on behalf of the meeting. It provides scholarships to members and attenders to attend workshops or conferences that lead to spiritual uplift to our community. It sponsors or co-sponsors workshops and events. It may form clearness committees when appropriate. It may also make referrals to appropriate social agencies or professionals. In all cases, interaction with this Committee is confidential.

The suggested text eliminates from the existing handbook the sentence:

In addition to this assistance in specific instances, the Committee maintains a list of professional mental health providers and other resources in the metropolitan Washington community for anyone who would like confidential referrals.

And inserts the sentences:

It organizes sending of cards of celebration, condolence or greeting on behalf of the meeting. It provides scholarships to members and attenders to attend workshops or conferences that lead to spiritual uplift to our community. It sponsors or co-sponsors workshops and events.

 

2. Religious Education Committee Updates-Shannon Hughes

We have discussed this at our recent meeting and reached the following conclusions:

We would like to update our member count from 12 to 6-8.  We currently only have 4 official members (and we will be losing 2 of those within the next 10 months!).  Having a few more would make it much easier to have a quorum for actually holding meetings each month, which is important given how much business our committee has to handle.

Obviously, recruiting needs to be a major priority for us.  We will be enthusiastically hosting a table at the committee fair!

We are removing specific mention of the Junior Meeting for Business since it has not been held for several years.  If it is revived, we see that as being the purview of the First Day School teachers for the Young Friends.  We are also removing mention of religious education for adults since that is not something we have handled in many years and the Ministry and Worship Committee seems better able to work on that need.  Therefore, our updated description:

"This Committee is responsible for the policies and activities of the First Day School, including selecting teachers and providing guidance regarding curriculum as well as care of any equipment used in its programs.  It is responsible for managing the staff positions of Youth Coordinator(s), as well as the nursery caregivers, including overseeing the hiring of assistants as necessary to provide care during worship and other Meeting events. The Clerk of the Committee is an ex officio member of the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Religious Education Committee."
 

Peace and Social Concerns Request for Meeting for Business Authorization: 

Peace and Social Concerns would like to request that several files from our Peace and Social Order committees be retrieved from where they are stored in the Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College. We apparently need meeting for business approval to make this request. Debby will review these files in an effort to create a timeline, showing the many different ways FMW has worked for peace and social justice over the years. We will return the files when we’re done with them.
 

Peace and Social Concerns Annual Report-Elaine Wilson

The committee has been very active over the past year, sponsoring many events and supporting several new projects.

The Peace and Social Concerns Newsletter which is spearheaded by Beth Cogswell has had 4 issues over the past 12 months.  They are all available as a link on the website through our committee web page.  Each newsletter highlights the work of a friend or friends on a particular issue.

Climate Change Banner—is now up on the fence or soon to be.  Reading:

            Keep Carbon in the Ground.
            How does your life help to protect God’s creation for future generations?

Getting this up on the fence coincides with the discussion in DC City council of a new Omnibus Clean Energy bill that several of the committee members are actively supporting.

Voices From the Holy Land.  We are sponsoring the showing of a film in this series focussing on the situation in Palestine and Israel.  The film, “Life In Occupied Palestine” will be shown in this room next week at 12:30 pm with a discussion to follow.

Asked Meeting for Worship for Business to pass a minute in support of the 2017 United Nations Nuclear Weapons Treaty, and asking the US government to sign and ratify the treaty.

This minute was developed by Multnomah Monthly Meeting in Oregon.  The minute was approved at September Business Meeting.

Supported the Grate Patrol’s effort to supply water to homeless DC residents over the summer with a donation to the Salvation Army for this purpose.

Sponsored and supported a small “pop up” forum with visiting Friend Amanda Thompson from Berkeley who was interning here in DC over the summer about the effect of drinking straws on our environment.  We sold bamboo straws to attenders at meeting to raise funds for her project to raise awareness about the scourge of plastic straws.

Supported and funded the new “Work Ready Project” proposed by Scott Breeze and implemented by him in concert with Catholic Charities, providing part of a safety kit for returning citizens who are beginning work in the Solar Construction Trades after graduation from a training program.  These kits will substantially improve their ability to get work as they cannot begin without the hard hat, goggles, vest and boots required on job sites.

Organized, and sponsored a Climate forum in April which focused on both the larger issue and what actions can be taken here locally.  Donated funds to Chesapeake Climate Action as an honorarium for the speaker.  This event was very well attended and many folks were energized by the discussion.

Sponsored Philadelphia based Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT) to hold a training session and dinner here at the Meeting before they were to lobby Congress.

In February hosted Dr. Scilla Ellworthy the director of Peace Direct, a UK based NGO which works internationally to support conflict resolution efforts in key hotspots.  She spoke eloquently about her new book,  The Business Plan for Peace, and a lively discussion followed.

In January we sponsored a concert by the a cappella group Windborne organized by friend and now committee member Chad Dobson, singing songs about labor rights and peace.

We helped with the organizing of housing for visiting friends at the Meetinghouse for March for Our Lives, on March 26 and many members of Meeting participated in the march.

I became Clerk in January but was substitute clerking for Mike Duvall in November and December of 2017.  One of the things I am trying to do is keep good agendas and minutes for our meetings so that all the requests for action and sponsorship that come before us can be addressed as thoughtfully as possible.

We are also developing a budget proposal for the next fiscal year well in advance to support our requests for financial support from the Meeting and to demonstrate the need for fundraising to support our events.

We have currently 10 members of which 7 are regular attenders at our meetings.

Finance And Stewardship Annual Report based on FY 18 Results

There is great news from last fiscal year. A number of donations arrived in the 11^th hour that significantly changed the year-end results.  At the end of Fifth Month, the mathematical computation based on our prior 4 years' donation history projected that we would end the year at approximately $177,300 of identified contributions. That would leave us $12,700 under budget.  Thanks to the generosity of a few Friends, we exceeded the budget slightly!

Not only did our donation income meet budgeted goals, the building revenue generated more than twice the amount budgeted.   In defense of the budget, construction had been expected so revenues were reduced. Nonetheless, nearly $250,000 was generated from monthly tenants and "events". 

That delay in construction also meant that there was no interest expense to pay on a construction loan or mortgage.

Helping make the year-end numbers even better, many operating expenses were less than budgeted. Personnel costs were lower than budgeted; it saved $50,000 compared to the budgeted outcome.

The only major categories that exceeded budget were:

1.   Property Rental Costs: While this was approximately $9,000 higher than budget, the revenue that was generated by that effort was more than $140,000 above budget.

2.   Apportionment was approximately $500 higher than we had budgeted.

3.   Misc. & Bank Fees were higher due to the credit card fees needed to receive capital campaign donations. These are paid for by the capital campaign from funds raised for that effort so there is revenue released to offset the additional cost.

The combination of income being higher than budget, delayed construction, and reduced spending made the year end picture far rosier than expected.  The budget projected a $202,000 deficit but the books (prior to the auditor's review) show that we ended the year with a surplus of over $83,700

During the year the renovation began so the investment in the property increased significantly. The renovation work cost over $350,000 in FY18; this was wholly paid for by funds already raised for the Capital Campaign. In addition to this work, other work happened that was not paid for or included in the renovation. This work totaled over $121,500. None of this work – nor over $10,000 in additional loan fees appear on the P&L report but they all happened.  It was a busy year!

In the end, the Meeting finished the year very healthy! The investment in your property increased by over $485,000, your designated funds went down – mostly due to spending of the Capital Campaign. (The Trustee's also spent some of the Murray Fund on the property.) But there was $389,000 left in the Capital Campaign Fund at year's end and the unrestricted reserves grew by well over $100,000.

Since the end of the fiscal year, the renovation has gotten into high gear which means cash flow management is required. The construction draws are significant. We have taken the first of the draws on the mortgage to manage the cash drain caused by renovation. This officially makes FMW's property "debt financed" which may have tax implications.

Although the FY 18 results were positive, the FY 19 results will not be as favorable due to the decrease in short- and long-term rental income, fixed operational costs including staff salaries and one-time start-up costs for advertising and associated expenses to increase demand for long- and short-term event rentals.  It is also worth noting that the operating costs do not include the renovation costs in FY 19.  Further, in FY 20 and beyond, the annual budget will include more than $200,000 in mortgage interest expenses.  In this regard, we will count on your continued financial support to both the operating budget and to the capital campaign.   Your contributions to these accounts will be very much appreciated.                                         

The F & S committee wishes to thank Laurie Wilner, Bookkeeper, for her excellent annual report from which this document is largely taken.

Ministry and Worship Committee Annual Report-Greg Robb

The Ministry and Worship Committee has had a good year..

We completed work on a new harassment policy and struggled with a disruptive Friend. We’ve worked on new ways to educate visitors about Quakers and started a new tradition of having silent retreats. We’ve worked to get younger friends more involved in the meeting. We have a group meeting discussion how to improve Pastoral Care at our meeting.

We have five members. The handbook says the committee should have 10. We hope to attract a few new members soon.

We have other new initiatives we’d like to get off the ground: an Inquirers weekend so that we can all learn more about Quaker practice and history and a new series of talks about how Friends balance their Quaker faith in today’s workplace.

The bad news is we’d like to assign everyone homework

We’d like to encourage Friends to read “Four Doors to Meeting for Worship” by William Taber. We feel it is a good way to get everyone to share a common vocabulary as we try to continue tp deepen the silence in our large 10:30 meeting.

We have purchased about 60 copies and we plan to put them on the contribution table. Friends are encouraged to take a copy home to read as long as they will bring them back for others to have a turn.

We hope to hold discussion groups and worship sharing and perhaps host a guest speaker related to the pamphlet.

By the end of 2019, we hope to add “Joys and Sorrows” at the end of the large 10:30 meeting. But we’d like to focus first on the silence of the meeting.

Last week, Ministry and Worship hosted a meeting of several similar committees - Personal Aid, Healing and Reconciliation and our Pastoral Care task force to talk about ways we could work together. We committed to do more this year to strengthen the FMW community. Stay tuned for some exciting innovations.

Hospitality Committee Annual Report-Susan Griffin

Hospitality Committee welcomes our Meeting members, attenders, and guests at the rise of Worship each First Day. We provide coffee and tea service, water and lemonade, serve the bounty provided by our community and do a spectacular cleanup.
Personnel—Kate Steger, lead and supported the committee throughout her tenure as co-clerk until this past summer when job responsibilities increased, including travel, resulting in a schedule too challenging to fulfill committee responsibilities.  We thank you and applaud your significant contribution!
Margo Greenlee and Kate coordinated Souper Sunday, recruiting soup chefs to ensure that those who attend Meeting for Business. That is now in Margo’s very capable hands with stellar support from Valerie Graf.
The lists below reflect shifts in personnel changes over the course of this year.

Active:

•           Pam Callard                                             
•           Kathy Lipp Farr
•           Valerie Graff
•           Margo Greenlee
•           Susan Griffin
•           Susan Nelson
•           Marylou Schram

Became inactive during this past year:

•           Greyson Aquiavia
•           Leonard Eousssa
•           Sarah Radomsky
•           Kate Steger

No demographics are provided on these lists (that is illegal) but I observe that the age of our group has shifted upward—including the remaining clerk.  I am the first to welcome contributions of a cohort of seasoned volunteers while being extremely grateful for our younger and more vigorous members who provide strength and energy for some of the heavy lifting required for setting up, washing, collecting, and putting away.
In a category all of their own:

Patty Murphy is our ready, willing, and very able Plan B who often serves as Plan A, responding readily to the committee’s entreaties for substitutes and offers her services on an ad hoc basis when it looks like we may need HELP.

Merry Pearlstein, another expert pitch hitter who serves regularly and checks-in with us to make sure enough hands are available.

Bill Strein, clerk emeritus, is providing leadership and service to the Meeting in other capacities but cannot resist the call to Hospitality from time to time.

Bruce Kellogg and GT Hunt perform an essential service by making sure that the early arrivals have coffee and cookies—many committee members attending 9:00 a.m. meetings are most appreciative!

The YAF’s offer their support for Souper Sunday when additional help is needed for cleaning up our more robust MfB Hospitality—YEY! We continue to enjoy the presence of First Day School Students who prepare cookies, for Grate Patrol.

An Elephant has entered the Assembly Room.  While we make our way through the transformation of the Assembly Room, the Hospitality Committee will be rotating our venue as needed and practicing Radical Simplicity.  While hospitality is a valuable and important aspect of our community, simplicity is also a Quaker testimony we can rely on to guide us towards harmony and good cheer during this transition. Coffee, tea, and water, with any simple offerings provided will be the New Normal until the new and beautiful Assembly Room welcomes us all—somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas??? We welcome ongoing discussion with other committees on how we might mitigate disruption while maintaining some modified hospitality.

This is the paragraph included in EVERY Hospitality report I have written: We need and would very much appreciate additional help.  Like everyone in our Meeting, we are called to responsibilities and travel that take us away from Sunday service. This means that members and supporters of the committee may work alone on Sunday or work more than one Sunday a month.  This is not optimal.

In order to be adequately staffed, we require two or three additional people who are available to be called upon to serve on an as-needed basis.  This would ensure that there are 4-hands available for every First Day.  Please consider joining our ministry of welcoming and community.