Care of our Meetinghouse

A great deal of work was done around the meetinghouse on third Sunday this month. There are a few jobs that require additional attention. If anyone is able to pitch in on any one of these, please contact Greg by replying to this message.

• grout cleaning in the bathrooms using a special cleaner, an electric drill and a rotating brush.
• blowing of leaves off the rocks against the building on the back side.
• pulling up of brambles on the west side of the lot.
• transplanting some of the pansies out front
• wet mopping the floor of the Meeting Room
• same in the foyer
• same in the Fellowship Room

Newsletter

Wendy and Greg are working together on the Newsletter now, formerly referred to as Announcements. We have established a new email address that will help us to both have access to the information you send. Please continue to use email for communications with us, but the new address is ConcordFriendsNewsletter [at] gmail [dot] com. Please begin using it right away. Greg will be the primary editor and Wendy will edit when Greg is unable.

NEYM Sessions and Pay-As-Led

Our meeting received this letter from New England Yearly Meeting

Dear Friends,

For the past eight years New England Quakers have shared in an experiment in faithfulness through the “Pay-As-Led” approach to fees for Annual Sessions, the once-a-year gathering of Friends from across our region. We asked, “Could one of the largest annual Quaker gatherings in North America really be run on the basis of faith?”

Thanks to Friends in your meeting and many others, the answer has been, “Yes!”

Here’s what we saw in 2019, the year before the pandemic, when we compared to years before:

• More Friends were attending Sessions from all around New England and beyond
• More Friends were giving to support the attendance of Friends in need of Equalization
• Participant fees and donations covered all the direct costs of Sessions each year, as well as contributing substantially to the costs of staff time and other indirect expenses

And then the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, demanding new ways of meeting for worship and fellowship. For the past two years the Yearly Meeting has supported local meetings throughout New England in responding to the challenge with networking, resource sharing, expanded online programs, and two years of online Sessions. Pay-as-Led fees and Equalization contributions expanded to many more programs, continuing to fill a need during extraordinary times.

Now, we are looking forward to in-person Sessions this summer! And Pay-As-Led can play a special role in this year of re-gathering—with the help of Friends and local meetings who are led and able to give.

This summer at Sessions we have been led to offer an especially warm welcome to young families, by inviting children and youth to attend at a suggested fee of $0. For many, the last two years of the pandemic have placed particular strain on children, youth, and families’ participation in Quaker activities. And for many families, this year will be a time of setting new routines and choosing how (or whether) to re-engage with Friends. Lifting this financial burden for families is especially important at this time when many families with younger children have experienced decreased income in response to the widespread Covid-exacerbated childcare shortage in our region. It is time to prioritize (re)engagement. As we look toward finally being able to gather at Castleton again, we are clear on the need for a bold investment in multigenerational community—and we hope to partner with many local meetings in offering Sessions this summer in a way that is as compelling and accessible to families and youth as possible.

We know that local Friends meetings, like Friends across New England, vary widely in financial means, in circumstances, and in participation in wider service. Whatever your meeting’s situation, we are grateful to share with you in lifting up the life and ministry of New England Quakers. Indeed, every meeting can help sustain the connections among Friends by spreading the word about the return to in-person Sessions, the opportunity of Pay-As-Led, and the special invitation to families with children and youth this summer.

To be transparent, we are sharing specific information from the most recent in-person Sessions in 2019 that we hope will be useful as your meeting discerns whether and how to provide Equalization funds for 2022 and 2023. Please know there is no expectation that your meeting’s giving will equal the total below—please don’t construe this as a “bill.”

In 2019, twenty-two local meetings gave a total of $15,971 for Equalization, and individual Friends gave $22,106 through Pay-as-Led. Together we enabled 288 Friends from 42 local meetings to be part of Sessions. Combining Pay-as-Led and Equalization donations with traditional Sessions fees, together we covered all the direct costs of Sessions along with most of the staff time needed to plan and support the conference. When Equalization and Pay-as-Led donations aren’t sufficient to cover all these costs, the yearly meeting subsidizes the event using donations from the general fund.

In 2019, fewer than 5 from your meeting attended Sessions. Those from your meeting who needed support benefitted from a total of $455.00 in Equalization. We are grateful for the meetings and individuals who supported the participation of many from our wider Quaker community with more limited resources.

We invite meetings who are led and are able to contribute to send checks payable to NEYM to 901 Pleasant Street, Worcester, MA 01602, noting “Equalization” in the memo field. If you have any further questions, or would like to contribute in another way, please contact Frederick Martin, Accounts Manager, at accountsmanager [at] neym [dot] org, or call the NEYM Office at 508-754-6760.

We hope to see you and Friends from your meeting at Annual Sessions in person (or virtually) in Castleton, Vermont, August 6–11, 2022!

In the Light,

Phil Veatch Fresh Pond (MA) Monthly Meeting Sessions Committee Clerk

Bob Murray Beacon Hill (MA) Monthly Meeting Yearly Meeting Treasurer

P.S. See the FAQ on Pay-As-Led here and a Friends Journal about the NEYM Pay-As-Led experience here.

News of Friends

Ruth Heath tells us that she has decided to run for State Representative in the Merrimack County District 4, a district comprised of the towns of Canterbury and Loudon. She will be busy campaigning up until election day in November.

Sunday Morning Study Group

The Sunday AM spiritual study group will have an irregular schedule during the summer, but hope to return to a regular schedule in the fall. To make it more accessible to those whose schedule is also different in the summer, we will have a study of individual passages or poems each time. That way if you miss one, you won't be discombobulated the next time. I will bring a poem to start us off. The first days will be: Fifth Sunday May 29, Second Sunday June 12  -  Sara Smith

Save the Date for Spring Party Sunday, June 19

The annual Spring Party will be held Sunday, June 19 about 12:30pm at the home of Lars Prilliman at Sanborn Mills Farm. After the rise of Meeting, we'll drive to the farm and begin with an outdoor potluck and then have the annual Spring Basket Hunt (complete with confetti eggs). There will be plenty of time for fellowship and learning about Lars' work at the farm. (More about that in future weeks). Sanborn Mills Farm is about 23 minutes from the Meetinghouse (according to Google Maps) in Loudon NH. Hope you all can come! Please RSVP to the religiouseducation [at] concordfriendsmeeting [dot] org so the children can prepare a paper basket for each attendee. More on Spring Baskets in future announcements!

Asylum Seekers Support Fund

We are launching a drive to raise money for our Asylum Seekers Support Fund and sending it to the wider community (Immigrant support groups, churches) as well. We would love to have as many people as possible contribute. Whether or not you can contribute, can you send it to five friends and tell them how or why you support this cause? That will be another way to build awareness and help the cause! See the poster here. Also, thanks to Kathi C's efforts, we will also have a page on our website to help this as well. Thanks to all who helped bring this forward.

Minutes

The draft minutes of the May Meeting for Worship for the Conduct of Business are available at https://www.concordfriendsmeeting.org/2022-05-08_CMM_Minutes

Are you wanting information from past announcements?

Visit this page on our web site: Past Announcements

Are you wanting to donate to Concord Monthly Meeting?

Visit this page on our web site for more information: Donations