Durham\nMonthly Meeting of Friends convened for the conduct of business on Sunday,\nOctober 20, 2019 with 10 people present. \nClerk Susan Rice opened the meeting by reading a quote from Eckhart\nTolle on Stillness and Wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. The September 15th<\/sup> minutes were approved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Ministry and Counsel: Martha Sheldon reported that\nMinistry and Counsel will have a retreat on November 2nd<\/sup> to discuss\na paid ministry position. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. It has been the intention of the meeting to have further\ndiscussion on outreach and how that might be developed, possibly with a stipend\nposition. Kristen Evans and Sukie Rice\nvolunteered to participate in an ad hoc group to discuss outreach. This was approved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Finance: \nSarah Sprogell sent the Finance Committee report:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Finance Committee convened on\nSept 18, 2019 at Norway Savings Bank in Brunswick to review our accounts and\nconsider making some changes. Treasurer\nKatherine Hildebrandt, Nancy Marstaller and Sarah Sprogell were present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They agreed to move both the Charity Account\nand the Bernice Douglas Account from savings accounts to money market\naccounts. This change allows our\ntreasurer to write up to 6 checks per month from each account. It increases the interest rate for the\nCharity Account from 0.03% to 0.1%; and increases the interest rate for the\nBernice Douglas Account from 0.03% to 0.2%. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n The committee considered moving the Woodbury\nFund from a savings account to an 18 month CD being offered at 2.15%. After bringing this suggestion to the Clerks\nCommittee and hearing their approval, we followed up with the bank to make this\nchange. We felt this was a good opportunity\nto increase the value of this account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The committee transferred a recently acquired\nCD to a new 18 month CD earning 2.15%. \nThis CD holds a reserve of $25,000 from our checking account. The original CD only earned 0.25% so they\nfelt this change was a good way to increase our earnings, despite paying a\nsmall transfer penalty of $30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The committee reviewed our 2 remaining CDs,\nThe Bailey Fund and the Cox Fund. Both\nare currently in 5 year CDs earning 0.95% and will renew in about 15\nmonths. The Bailey Fund is about $1909\nand currently the interest is designated (not restricted) for the support of\nthe minister. The Cox Fund is about\n$9338 and has no restrictions or designations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Finance Committee recommends\nthat they move the funds from both of these accounts into the Charity\nAccount. This could be done as they\nmature, or could be done earlier resulting in a penalty of about $150. Moving these funds would increase the Charity\nAccount from $5,227 to about $16,320.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. The meeting approved moving the Bailey Fund and the Cox\nfund into the Charity Account, at a time deemed appropriate by the Finance Committee\nfor the transfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6. Christian Education: Wendy Schlotterbeck reported for the\ncommittee. They decided to switch the time when children and youth join Meeting\nfor Worship on days we hold Sunday School on the first and third Sundays. In\nresponse to encouraging a less interrupted waiting worship and wanting the\nyounger friends to participate in some aspect of Meeting for Worship, Sunday\nSchool will be held from 10:30-11:15 and will join the larger meeting at 11:15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tess Hartford will be teaching the Godly Play class (ages 3-11)\nwith help from Ashley Marstaller. Wendy will be teaching the middle\/high school\nclass Quaker Affirmations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ashley Marstaller is interested in attending Godly Play training.\nCE will research when\/where a training is happening and provide funds for her\nto attend. They are also asking for other Durham Friends to consider attending\nGodly Play training, with the intention of possibly helping teach the Godly\nPlay class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n World Quaker Day was\ncelebrated at Durham Friends Meeting as Homecoming on Oct 6, 2019. Postcard\ninvitations were mailed out to members and attenders we hadn’t seen in a while.\nThe theme was “sustainability” and during the youth message, Wendy\nrecounted meeting Emma Mamani, a Bolivian Friend, at New England Yearly\nMeeting. Wendy showed the slideshow Quaker Bolivian youth made about the water\ncrisis in their country and how they are helping their community by\nconstructing simple water filters from sand and gravel. Several others brought\nmessages of gratefulness for clean water and the beauty of our state. After\nMeeting for Worship, most people lingered over an abundant meal including\nsoups, salads, cornbread, apple crisps, and ice cream! We were happy to have 7\nchildren in attendance; many shared lively reminiscing and conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wendy staffed the Young\nFriend\u2019s October retreat in Framingham, Mass. and plans to continue to\nstaff Young Friends retreats. She also plans to offer to staff Junior High\nYoung Friends retreats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wendy travelled to\nWashington, DC Oct 15 as a religious leader to lobby for The Clean Economy bill\nalong with 4 other religious leaders from other states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. Brown Lethem brought the Peace and Social Concerns\nCommittee report. They will be meeting on Monday, October 28th<\/sup>\nto discuss how to build on the climate crisis events they had this fall,\nincluding the possibility of adding additional solar panels to the Meeting\nHouse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They would like to recognize the\nenergy and thoughtfulness shared with us by the three youth, Lucia Daranyi,\nRiley Stevenson and Ellie Douglas at the \u201cyouth speak out \u201cin September. The\nbudgeted committee funds for 2019 are spent, so they ask the monthly meeting to\nfund a $100 donation to the Changemakers Program of which both Riley and Lucia\nare a part. This is a leadership development program that is run by the Maine\nEnvironmental Education Association. The committee would also like to purchase\n(for the library) the book, A Dangerous New World: Maine Voices on the\nClimate Crisis, <\/em>in which a poem\nby Ellie Douglas will be published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8. We approved\nsending a donation of $100.00 to the Changemakers program, and also purchase\nthe book, A Dangerous New World: Maine Voices\non the Climate Crisis <\/em>from the General Fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9. Nominating\nCommittee: Margaret Wentworth reported that they are nominating Katherine\n(Qat) Langelier to become the Newsletter Editor. Qat will be added to the Communication\nCommittee as an ex officio member; they also nominate Sukie Rice to serve on\nthe Communication Committee as an advisor to the new editor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10. We approved the\nnomination of Qat to become the Newsletter Editor and Sukie Rice to be a member\nof the Communication Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 11. Trustees: Kim Bolshaw reported that the septic\ntanks for both the meetinghouse and parsonage have been pumped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 12. We were\nreminded of the discussion which will take place on October 27th<\/sup>\nconcerning priorities and the use of our funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The meeting ended\nin gratitude for all and the Presence within. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dorothy Hinshaw,\nRecording Clerk <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends convened for the conduct of business on Sunday, October 20, 2019 with 10 people present. Clerk Susan Rice opened the meeting by reading a quote from Eckhart Tolle on Stillness and Wisdom. 1. The … Continue reading