REPRESENTATIVE MEETING
Raritan Valley Community College, New Jersey
December 8-9, 2001
1. Friends settled into a deep silence in which the presence near at hand of the Spirit of God was felt.
2. Barbara Roe welcomed Friends to Raritan Valley Community College on behalf of Shrewsbury and Plainfield Half-Yearly Meeting.
3. The reading clerk read the roll of the Yearly Meeting and Friends rose in response as their meetings were called. 133 Friends including 57 named Representatives were in attendance.
4. Anita Paul, member of Schenectady Monthly Meeting and clerk of Witness Coordinating Committee, introduced the business of the Witness Section.
5. Rosa Packard of Purchase Meeting introduced Mary Lord, who is a member of Baltimore Yearly Meeting and is currently coordinator of the American Friends Service Committee's No More Victims Campaign. Mary Lord spoke to Friends, out of the silence, about the spiritual basis of Friends' Peace Testimony.
6. Carolyn Keys of Montclair Monthly Meeting spoke to Friends about her work and her experiences in Burundi, where she has been working with the Friends Peace Teams African Great Lakes Initiative to establish a trauma, healing and reconciliation center.
7. Anita Paul announced that Friends who wish to contribute in support of gasoline expenses for the work in Burundi can send those contributions to Montclair Monthly Meeting.
8. Ernestine Buscemi of Morningside Monthly Meeting spoke to Friends about her experiences in South Africa. She visited Friends' meetings in Johannesburg, Durban, and Capetown, and attended both the NGO forum and the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance held in Durban, South Africa, August 26 through September 7, 2001.
9. Anita Paul presented a request from the Witness Coordinating Committee that a second representative be named to Friends' Peace Teams Coordinating Committee. Friends approved. The Nominating Committee will nominate a Friend for this service.
10. Stanley Zarowin, member of Brooklyn Meeting and clerk of the Financial Services Committee presented the New York Yearly Meeting proposed 2002 operating budget. The budget total is $431,474 – up by 7.1% from the 2001 budget. After some discussion, further consideration of the budget was held over for the Sunday session of Representative Meeting.
11. The recording clerk read the minutes of today's session and Friends approved.
12. The meeting closed with a period of silent worship.
Linda B. Chidsey, Clerk
Dean Hoover, Assistant Clerk
Lee Haring, Recording Clerk
Rima Segal, Reading Clerk
13. Rima Segal, Reading Clerk, read the Epistle from Britain Yearly Meeting (28 July-4 August 2001). Britain Friends have been challenged to respond to a sense of urgency among young Friends, a need to help attenders come into membership, and issues of racism and environmental exploitation. The epistle reminded all Friends, "God has no hands but ours; let us not sit on them."
14. The following nominations from the Nominating Committee were approved.
15. Harold Risler presented the report of Treasurer Mary Williams, and copies were distributed. He pointed out that each month, current receipts and charges are posted on the Yearly Meeting web site for the use of committees. After some questions were answered, Friends received the report.
16. For the Nurture section, Sarah Faith Dickinson requested $10,000 over the next three years which would be conveyed to Friends General Conference for its capital campaign "Nurturing Quakerism." Friends in discussion raised several budgeting issues. The request was not approved in this form. Friends will consider, through the Nurture Section and Financial Services Committee, how New York Yearly Meeting could support campaigns of this kind.
17. Stanley Zarowin, clerk of the Financial Services Committee, reopened discussion of the budget for 2002, answering several questions raised yesterday. Recognizing that it may not be perfect, Friends approved the budget for 2001 totaling $429,474. Friends approve the proportional shares.
18. Helen Garay Toppins, administrative secretary of the Yearly Meeting, reported on the difficulties caused at the Yearly Meeting office by the events of September 11. Staff were completely dedicated to their work during this tormented time and are now getting it back on track. She asked for Friends to continue their support of the staff.
19. Anita Paul brought forward the Sharing Fund goals for 2002. Friends received the goals as presented.
20. Jane Berger, clerk of the Advancement Committee, reported that on September 20, representatives of three New York-based Quaker organizations—the Quaker United Nations Office, American Friends Service Committee, and New York Yearly Meeting—met at Fifteenth Street to discuss a joint response to the events of September 11 and their aftermath. Among the more than twenty persons in attendance were the clerks of several Yearly Meeting committees and the clerk of the Yearly Meeting. One outcome of the meeting was the decision to establish a joint web site to respond to the needs of people who had been looking to Quakers for a response to September 11. The site—www.QuakerResponse.org—is both a source of information for Friends and an outreach tool.
She also reported a request from Hudson Monthly Meeting for funds to repair a leaking roof. Friends approved allocating $1,200 from the Lockport-Brinkerhoff Funds to Hudson Friends.
21. Kathleen Lawson announced that proposals for study groups and interest groups at Yearly Meeting must be given to the coordinating committees by January 30.
22. The recording clerk read back the minutes of the session, and they were approved with corrections.
23. The Clerk expressed the gratitude of Friends for the arrangements and hospitality extended to them for this Representative Meeting.
24. The meeting closed with a period of silent worship.