2011 ADVANCE REPORTS New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends Prepared for Summer Sessions July 17–23, 2011, Silver Bay, N.Y. Please use the documents of this book throughout the week in preparation for business sessions, committee meetings, and interest groups sponsored by committees or affiliated organi- zations. THIS COPY BELONGS TO . i NEW YORK YEARLY MEETING Treasurer’s Accounts ............................................................. 77 ADVANCE REPORTS Trustees, Lindley Murray Fund .................................................. 83 Trustees, Yearly Meeting .............................................................. 84 The documents of this publication were printed in advance of Nurture Section the 2010–2011 Yearbook for consideration at sessions of NYYM. Please note that the budgets and expenditures of many commit- Nurture Coordinating Committee ........................................... 87 tees may be obtained through reference to the Treasurer’s Report. Committee on Aging Concerns ................................................. 89 Committees having their own treasurers submitted financial Friends General Conference representatives ........................... 90 reports. All financial reports are for the 2010 calendar year. Friends United Meeting representatives ..................................... 92 FWCC Committee & FWCC representatives ............................ 93 Yearly Meeting Sessions Junior Yearly Meeting Committee .............................................. 94 Fall 2010 ....................................................................................... 1 Oakwood Friends School .............................................................. 95 Spring 2011 ................................................................................... 25 Elsie K. Powell House Inc. .......................................................... 97 Young Adult Concerns Committee ............................................ 99 Reports of Yearly Meeting Committees, Resource People, Young Friends in Residence Committee ............................... 100 and Representatives to Affiliated Groups Youth Committee ................................................................... 102 Ministry Section Witness Section Meetings for Discernment ........................................................... 50 Witness Coordinating Committee ............................................. 103 Ministry Coordinating Committee ............................................ 51 Alternatives to Violence Project, Inc. ....................................... 106 State of the Society Report ......................................................... 52 American Friends Service Committee ................................... 110 Spiritual Nurture Working Group ....................................... 55 Barrington Dunbar Fund for Black Development .................. 112 Task Group on Racism in NYYM ................................................... 56 Friends Committee for Black Concerns .................................... 113 Advancement Committee ...................................................... 57 Bolivian Quaker Education Fund ................................................ 114 Conflict Transformation Committee ....................................... 59 Committee on Conscientious Objection to Paying for War ..... 116 Epistle Committee .................................................................. 59 Earthcare Working Group ...................................................... 116 Ministry and Pastoral Care Committee ............................................ 59 Friends Committee on National Legislation representatives .... 117 Committee to Revise Faith and Practice .......................................... 61 Friends Peace Teams representatives ....................................... 119 State of the Society Committee ....................................................... 61 Indian Affairs Committee ........................................................ 120 Committee on Sufferings ....................................................... 61 National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund & Traveling Friends Advisory Group .............................................. 62 Peace Tax Foundation ........................................................... 123 National Religious Campaign against Torture ................... 123 Committee on Worship at Yearly Meeting Sessions ...................... 63 New Jersey Council of Churches ............................................. 123 General Services Section New York State Council of Churches Chaplaincy .................. 123 General Services Coordinating Committee .................................. 64 New York State Council of Churches Collegium ..................... 124 Audit Committee ............................................................... 65 Peace Concerns coordinator ................................................ 124 Communications Committee ................................................. 65 Prisons Committee ................................................................... 125 Financial Services Committee .................................................... 66 Committee for Right Sharing of World Resources Committee on the Expenditure of the H.H. Mosher Fund ......... 67 resource person .................................................................... 126 General Secretary’s Report ..................................................... 68 Rural and Migrant Ministry .................................................... 128 Nominating Committee ........................................................ 71 Torture Awareness Working Group ................................... 130 Personnel Committee .............................................................. 72 William Penn House ............................................................. 131 Yearly Meeting Staff ................................................................ 72 Committee on World Ministries ........................................... 133 Records Committee .....................................................................76 Liaison Committee ................................................................ 134 Sessions Committee ................................................................ 76 ii iii New York Yearly Meeting Fall Sessions November 12–14, 2010 Flushing Meetinghouse, Flushing, New York Saturday, November 13, 2010, 10:00 a.m. Heather M. Cook, Clerk Margaret Obermayer, Acting Assistant Clerk & Reading Clerk Roger Dreisbach-Williams, Recording Clerk 2010-11-01. The meeting remained gathered following morn- ing open worship. Out of the silence, Clerk Heather M. Cook (Chatham-Summit) greeted Friends with prayer, asking Friends to open our hearts, listen in humility, act with cour- age, and deepen in faithfulness. She invited Friends to practice self-discipline when discerning whether to speak to the mat- ters coming forward. She introduced those at the clerks’ table and reviewed the agenda. 2010-11-02. The reading clerk called the roll, asking Friends to rise by regional meeting. All regions were represented. 2010-11-03. Andy von Salis (Brooklyn), of the host commit- tee of New York Quarterly Meeting (NYQM), welcomed us and brought greetings from the clerks of the quarterly meeting who could not be with us. This is the first time that NYQM has host- ed Yearly Meeting at the Flushing meetinghouse, the site of the first session of New York Yearly Meeting in 1696. 2010-11-04. Portions of the 2010 epistle of Intermountain Yearly Meeting were read. They sought the meaning of service in these challenging times: Is service different in the twenty- first century? Are the tools different? Are they, as a Meeting, called to engage in service? What are the gifts and challenges of giving, and of receiving? They also approved minutes on im- migration and the use of military force after years of heartfelt threshing and waiting for the Spirit’s leading. 2010-11-05. The Clerk reported on an American Friends Ser- vice Committee (AFSC)/New York Yearly Meeting (NYYM) joint statement “A Call to Understanding and Peace,” issued in August in response to the proposed Islamic Center in Lower Manhattan. It was sent by AFSC to the White House in Sep- tember, in response to a request for statements on the pro- posed mass burning of the Qur’an in Florida. The statement is 1 attached and is posted on the Yearly Meeting Web site. support committee, provided background information on the travel minute for on-going work with the Alternatives to Vio- 2010-11-06. General Secretary Christopher Sammond (Bulls lence Project in Latin America. The Clerk was directed to en- Head-Oswego, sojourning at Poplar Ridge) presented his re- dorse the travel minute. port: Funding for the Young Adult Friends Field Secretary po- sition is not yet in place. We are clear that this work we are 2010-11-13. The minutes of the morning session were ap- called to do and we need to support it. proved. 2010-11-07. Clerk of Sessions Committee, John Cooley (Cen- 2010-11-14. Following the reading of the announcements and tral Finger Lakes), presented their report on 2010 Summer a period of open worship we closed for lunch to resume our Sessions. Attendance: 574 (620 in 2009), including 127 Junior prayers for discernment at 3:45 p.m. Yearly Meeting participants. Over $13,000 was raised to sup- port Friends’ attendance at Yearly Meeting Sessions, and more than 80 of us received assistance. Suggestions for themes and Flushing High School,