Westport Friends Meeting

August 2006 Newsletter

“If you want to travel fast,
go and travel alone.
If you want to travel far,
take your community with you.”
- African Proverb

• Clerk: Buddy Baker-Smith, 508-997-0940


• Ministry and Counsel Clerk: Steven Correia, 508-999-3798

• 5-10 NEYM Sessions at Bryant University, Smithfield, RI


• 10 Summer Conversation Series. (See next page)


• 15 Market Ministries. See Barbara Wicks for details.


• 16 Religious Ed Committee, 6:00 PM in Community House Living Room.


• 23 Nominating Committee, 9:00 AM in Community House Living Room.


• 24 Summer Conversation Series. (See next page)

Dates to Save:

• First Day School begins on Sept 10th with Cookout following worship.


• Also Sept 10th: Welcoming for our new Friends In Residence David Sutton and Emily Hoeffel at rise of meeting for worship.

• 4 Eliza Miley
• 12 Leigh-Anne Rebello
• 18 Chris Rinier
• 20 Frankie Kirkaldy
• 30 Amy Lee-Vieira

Monthly Meeting was held on July 16th and presided by Buddy Baker-Smith, Clerk.
Minutes of a Called Meeting, held July 9th were read and approved. The called meeting, which was clerked by Betty Ann Lee, was convened to consider the recommendation of the Friends In Residence Search Committee. Following discussion, Friends present at the Called Meeting were in unity with the Search Committee’s recommendation and approved the hiring of David Sutton and Emily Hoeffel as our new Friends In Residence.

Monthly Meeting for Business reserved September 10th to welcome David Sutton and Emily Hoeffel as our new Friends In Residence. Deana Chase and Barbara Wicks will organize the potluck.

The Clerk read a letter from the Book Fair Committee thanking all meeting members, attenders and local residents for their work on this year’s Book Fair. (See their report on next page.)

Reminder: Mail to our meeting should be addressed to: Westport Monthly Meeting of Friends, PO Box 3707, Westport, MA 02790.

Ministry and Counsel: Steven Correia, Clerk, reported that the committee had not met yet in July. Steve announced that NEYM’s Ministry and Counsel Committee will use our meetinghouse to hold a called meeting on Saturday, July 29. Deana Chase will coordinate coffee, pastries and light refreshments for Yearly Meeting Friends attending this meeting.

Finance Committee: Greg Marsello, Clerk, reported that Finance Committee would meet next on July 23rd at 8:30 AM. Please note that the committee does not plan to meet in August.

Treasurer’s Report: Deana Chase, Treasurer, reported that our offerings are down by nearly $3,000 from the previous year. However, the Treasurer reported that our meeting continues to be on sound financial footing. Our recently completed Book Fair was, financially, our most successful ever. (See Book Fair Committee Report)

Property Committee: Reported by Ruth Howland; the committee did a walk-through of the Residence and identified a number of repairs and maintenance needs that need to be completed prior to the arrival of our new Friends In Residence. A contractor will begin roof repairs as well.

Regarding our newly appointed Friends In Residence (FIR), the Committee requested that they also function as the liaison to the FIR rather than setting up a separate committee. If this arrangement proves ineffective then Meeting can appoint a free-standing liaison support committee. Following discussion, Friends approved and minuted this new arrangement.

Following Property Committee’s recommendation, Meeting approved the use of the Community House and Grounds by the Manton Avenue Children’s Theatre Project for three days in early August.

Book Fair Committee: Deana Chase provided a brief history of the Book Fair. The committee estimated that 24,000 books were sorted, priced and presented to the public for sale. This year we grossed approximately $16,100, with $1,400 in expenses.

Religious Ed Committee: (Not reported at Monthly Meeting, but submitted to editor) Betty Ann Lee, Clerk, reports that a subcommittee of Religious Ed is working on First Day School curriculum and spreading the word about our Meeting’s religious education and child care for our children. First Day School will begin again on September 10th followed by a cookout for all. Please speak with Betty Ann for details. Religious Ed will meet next on August 16th at 6:00 PM in the Community House.

Peace and Social Concerns Committee: The Committee did not meet. Deana Chase reported that Noah Merrill has resigned from the Southeastern Region of AFSC.

Nominating Committee: The Clerk reported the committee has not met, but plans to meet soon. However, the committees delay in meeting will also delay our nominating process. After a period of discussion, Friends approved a minute requesting that committee members who were scheduled to roll off this year remain until the nominating process is completed in September.

Business Meeting agreed to give itself a break and not meet in August! J

Deana Chase informed Friends at Business Meeting that she will be the temporary NEYM Field Secretary while Jonathan Vogel-Borne is on sabbatical. This is a service to the Yearly Meeting which Deana has fulfilled before. The duties will also require her to travel and to occasionally be away from some of the affairs of our own Meeting.

Greg Foley-Marsello announced that he and Melinda will be organizing home potlucks, similar to “friendly-eights.” Friends interested in participating should contact Greg or Melinda.

Kevin Lee, Newsletter editor, wishes to thank Alice Mercer-Medeiros and Joe Bossom for offering to assist with mailing out Newsletters each month.

The “Summer Conversations” Series, sponsored by Allen’s Neck Friends Meeting, continues (and concludes) this month.

Thursday, August 10
Dr. Ali Chaundry, co-founder of the Center for Understanding Islam; TOPIC: Moderate Muslims in America, Fighting a True Jihad.

Thursday, August 24
Andrea Rugh, PhD: Mideast Studies Scholar; TOPIC: Dilemmas for Arabs in Realizing Democracy.

The program is held at the Apponegansett Meetinghouse, 850 Russell’s Mills Road, South Dartmouth at 7:00 PM.

Please send items for Newsletter to Kevin Lee. kevin@jymretreats.org. 508-994-1638

Posted by Greg Stone at August 26, 2006 11:47 AM