community companion
TRANSCRIPT
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Community Companion
Quaker House: 3960 Winding Way, Cincinnati, OH 45229-1950
(513) 861-4353 www.communityfriendsmeeting.com
Volume 18, Issue 5 May, 2012
Presiding Clerk:
Frank Huss Assistant Clerk:
Kate Anthony Recording Clerk:
Ken Bordwell Treasurer: Mary Anne Curtiss
Ministry and Counsel:
Eileen Bagus Erin Bagus (SA) Byron Branson Lisa Cayard Rachel Ernst Evie Hoffmann Frank Huss (ex officio) Tim Leonard Sunny Rhein (SA)
(SA) is special assignment
Newsletter:
Deborah Jordan Email: [email protected] Editor and photographer: Jean Crocker-Lakness Email: [email protected] Submissions for the June 2012 newsletter due by: Sunday, May 27, 2012
Calendar All events and meetings take place at the Meeting House unless otherwise noted.
Singing 9:45 am, Meeting for Worship 10 am Second Hour or Carry in Potluck @ 11:40 am
May 6 Carry-in Friends in Unity with Nature encourage Friends to use local and/or organic ingredients and label their dishes. Plant Sale 13 Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business 20 Second Hour - Worship sharing: What first attracted you to Quakerism? Why do you remain a Quaker today? 20 Miami Quarterly Meeting in Yellow Springs, OH (see p. 3 ) 27 Second Hour - Spiritual Journey with Eileen Bagus June 1 Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser (see p. 6 )
3 Pancake Breakfast at 8:45am and Outdoor Meeting for Worship (weather permitting, under the care of Friends in
Unity with Nature) Save the date: Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting gathers in Richmond IN. July 25 to 29, 2012. In This Issue:
Page 2 & 3 Summary of Minutes from Fourth Month 8, 2012
Page 3 Miami Quarterly Meeting Invitation and Information
Page 4 Pictures of David Fankhauser, Sam and Elizabeth, Artwork by Jennifer
Page 5 Quaker Presence at Victory of Life by Eileen Bagus
Page 6 Renewal, Easter Egg Dyeing, Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser
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Fifth Query from OVYM Book of Discipline, 1978 Do you examine thoroughly your behavior in regard to work, leisure, diet and the use of drugs, alcoholic beverages and tobacco, thus trying to avoid and to discourage practices that interfere with health, sensitivity or social responsibility? Remembering the parable of the talents, do you exercise fully those that God has given you? Do you endeavor to minister humbly and sensitively to the needs of others that they may attain their full potential?
Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business (Summary)
Fourth Month 8, 2012
1. Opening worship with 15 persons present.
2. Minutes of the Third Month: Item 8 a) was amended as follows: The Clerk has talked with Bill Cahalan, our representative to Miami Quarterly Meeting. He did attend in November and had asked another person to represent him in February. That person was unable to attend. APPROVED, as amended.
3. Items from The Clerk’s Table:
Quarterly meeting representative problem: It was clear that Bill Cahalan had fulfilled his duties and we discussed Byron's concern that we participate more in quarterly meetings.
4. Action Items: a. Priorities for FCNL from Peace and Social Concerns: The priority statement discusses campaign finance
reform, health care reform, children in poverty, and earthcare. The meeting APPROVED the document as is. b. The Clerk will talk to Tim Leonard, Clerk of Ministry and Counsel about who will convene the
Inreach Committee.
6. Pam Richard's membership is APPROVED. The welcoming Committee consists of Marjorie Isaacs, Eric Wolff, Jennifer Snow Wolff, and Kate Anthony. Marjorie will convene.
7. Treasurer’s Report: The bank balance/annual budget ratio is 10%. A $283 donation for a ping pong table has been made. We are one quarter of the way through the year with about one quarter of the budget done. ACCEPTED
8. Committee Reports:
a. Peace & Social Concerns: Marjorie McKelvey Isaacs reporting. P & SC will send in a minority report calling out the Citizens United decision as the #1 priority. They will encourage congress having a lame duck decision to deal with this issue.
b. Ministry & Counsel: Tim Leonard reported that most of the discussion concerned the Renewal.
c. House & Grounds: Eric Wolff reporting. There will be a work day on April 28. The sound equipment problem has been dealt with so that the door to the meeting room can be closed. We will be needing a new lawn mower. We are beginning to think about painting the meetinghouse and raising the $20,000 or $30,000 needed for that purpose.
d. FUN: Kate Anthony reported that they will be planning a 2nd hour in the spring. A work day has been scheduled for May 12. They are still researching solar panels. There will be a plant sale on May 6. The movie Green Fire will be shown on April 20.
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e. Community Committee: Mary Anne Curtiss reporting. The egg-dyeing party was a success. The committee is not meeting. f. Stewardship Committee: Marjorie McKelvey Isaacs reporting. They are asking for feedback from Friends, including young Friends as to whether we should utilize Pay Pal. They charge 2-3% per donation, but might facilitate giving by those who don't write checks. g. Web Clerk's Report: Eric Wolff reporting. Our website is communityfriendsmeeting.org, not .com h. Newsletter: Frank will be sure it is forwarded. There were problems.
9. Wider Quaker Bodies: The OVYM assessment for the fiscal year beginning in July will be $115/person- not a substantial change.
10. Announcements: Thanks to all who brought food for our sustenance. Closing Worship
Miami Quarterly Meeting (May 19th Invitation and May 20, 2012)
Yellow Springs Friends Meeting is offering overnight hospitality Saturday, May 19,2012 to anyone who would
like to arrive in Yellow Springs the night before Quarterly Meeting. Contact Heather Snediker-Morscheck at
614-214-4639 or [email protected] if you need accommodations.
There will be a Middle Youth and Teen overnight Saturday May 19,2012 at Yellow Springs Friends Meeting,
starting at 4:00 P.M. Please contact Carol Simmons for details. E-mail:ovymyouth.com or phone:937-767-
1023. The Teens are putting on a Coffee House/ Fundraiser at the Yellow Springs Meeting from 7:30 P.M.-
9:30 P.M. They are raising money for the summer service trip and a other trips. Any and all donations are
appreciated. The address is 515 President Street, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387
If you are traveling and would like to stop at the Wilmington College Heritage Center there is a Mirrors and
Windows exhibit, Reflections on the War in Afghanistan, a provocative art exhibit on the human cost of war
from American Friends Service Committee. Email [email protected] or call 937 382-6661. They might be
willing to open it Saturday afternoon if there was enough interest since they're usually closed on weekends.
Sunday Meet at Yellow Springs Friends Meeting: 515 President Street, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387
9:30 A.M.-Arrival and light refreshments
10:00 A.M.-10:40 A.M.- Sunday School for Adults and Children
10:40 A.M. -10:55 A.M.- Singing
11:00 A.M.- 12:00 P.M.- Meeting for Worship
12:00 P.M.- 12:15 P.M.- Introductions and Announcements
12:30 P.M.- 1:15 P.M.- Lunch ( Yellow Springs will provide main dishes and drinks.) Visiting Meeting
members and Attenders should bring salads or desserts.
1:30 P.M.-2:30 P.M.- Adult Program: State of Society Reports presented in a more interactive way. There will
be programs for Children, Middle Youth and Teens during the afternoon
2:45 P.M.- 4:00 P.M.- Business Meeting
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David Fankhauser after his Second Hour presentation March 25th. (photo by Elyce Benke)
" Freedom Rides" were bus trips taken
by black and white civil-rights advocates in the 1960s. They rode buses through the South to test federal
regulations that prohibited segregation in interstate public transportation. The Rides were met by multiple instances of mob violence. As a result, CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) called them off at the request of the Attorney General Bobby Kennedy because “somebody is going to be killed.” In May 1961, as a 19 year-old chemistry student at Ohio’s “black” Central State College, David Fankhauser answered the call from Diane Nash, Fisk University SNCC leader, who urgently pleaded for “fresh replacement troops” to resume the Rides. David was one of those. From hiding out in the home of Rev. Ralph Abernathy to ending up in a Maximum Security Unit (Death Row) with other Freedom Riders for “breach of peace,” David shared stories and pictures from the Freedom Rides, including asking us to consider today: “What would Martin do?” David Fankhauser’s family (the Brokaws), were active in Community Friends Meeting from the early 1950s to the late 1990s. They were known for their devotion to non-violent resistant social activism, including
participation in NAACP demonstrations which succeeded in desegregating Coney Island. David was one of the keynote speakers at this year’s annual Martin Luther King Day celebration.
Meet Elizabeth and Sam:
new attenders Photo by Cynthia Sibrel
Artwork by Jennifer Snow Wolff
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Quaker Presence at Victory of Light
Festival
For the first time in the twenty-year history of the
Victory of Light Festival, Community Friends
Meeting had a presence there for Quaker outreach.
The Victory of Light Festival is billed as
Cincinnati’s premier “Body, Mind, Spirit” festival.
It is held in Spring and Fall for a Saturday and
Sunday, most recently April 21 and 22. Average
attendance is 3,000 people over the weekend.
We started with rental of an eight foot booth
heralded by a new banner saying “The Quaker Way:
A Spiritual Path of Peace, Equality, Integrity/Truth,
Simplicity, Community and Earth Care.” [This
banner is stored in our Library and can be used for
other events.] Friendly volunteers who gave their
time to staff the booth included Evie Hoffmann,
Cynthia Sibrel, Pam Richards, Carol Walk, Erin
Bagus, Paulette Meier, and Eileen Bagus. We had
free literature about Friends, welcome brochures
from our Meeting, and contact information for the
three Cincinnati Meetings, plus pamphlets, books,
Quaker jewelry, music CD’s from Paulette Meier
and Jamie Fota, and Quaker t-shirts from our teens
all for sale.
Based on the number of welcome brochures from
our Meeting that we gave out, at least 145 people
stopped and visited at the booth. Many people
indicated a desire to visit the Meeting. Several
people from other states asked how to contact a
Meeting in their area—as far away as Wisconsin--,
and we put these in touch with the website
www.quakerfinder.org. Several people were
reminded that members of their families a
generation or two back had been Quakers, and our
presence stirred them to explore their roots.
In addition to the booth, we had a workshop, “The
Quaker Way: A Spiritual Path for Today” on the
program. In the workshop Eileen Bagus gave an
introduction to Friends and Paulette Meier sang
chants from her latest CD “Timeless Quaker
Wisdom.” Of the 25-30 people in attendance, some
individuals found Paulette’s singing so moving that
they started to cry and came to talk with us
afterwards.
Paulette Meier and Jamie Fota gave additional
Quaker musical presence by performing two hour-
long sets of their original music. We are grateful to
all who gave their time to volunteer at the Festival
events, to members of Meeting who came and
supported us, and to the Meeting for entrusting us
with financial support and blessings to try this novel
form of outreach. We who were there considered it
a great success.
Eileen Bagus
Traveling Friends
Rachel Ernst has just returned from attending the
Friends World Committee for Consultation World
Gathering in Kenya. She was one of three
representatives for Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting.
Jean Crocker Lakness is just returning from a
service trip to Haiti.
Mary Danzeisen will be visiting her former
renovated residence in Price Hill on Saturday, May
12th. There will be a potluck lunch from 12 to
1:30pm or so. She would welcome seeing Friends
from Community Meeting.
On the Light Side – Quaker Humor Q. How do Friends start a race?
A. Ready…..set…..go when the Spirit moves you!
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Thoughts after the renewal After the renewal, which I thought was quite exceptional, I was reflecting on the meaning for me and the meeting. I ran across this prayer poem of Rabindranath Tagore: "Be still, my heart, these great trees are prayers." ~ Tim Leonard
EGG-citing: Easter egg dyeing at Meeting with Community Committee
4th Annual Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser Friday, June 1, 2012, 6:00 pm
Why: Teen fundraiser to attend
OVYM Service Trip in June for a
Quaker Workcamp in DC
Who: All are welcome! Please come
and bring your neighbors!
Suggested donation $10/adult,
$5/child 10 and under
Where: Community Friends Meeting
3960 Winding Way
Cincinnati, Ohio 45229
RSVP appreciated
by May 30, 2012
Contact Dylan Cahalan
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (513) 251-2558
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