SA March 18, 2007

Sunday March 18^th, 2^nd Hour:  Friends will have an opportunity to learn about the Friends International Center in Ramallah established in 2005 in cooperation with the Ramallah Friends Meeting in Palestine.  As indicated in the Center’s vision statement it offers a ministry of hospitality; creates an atmosphere of care and respect in which positive, civic, and civil discourse can be pursued; and is a witness to hope and reconciliation in a region where despair and violence have too often reigned. In all this we seek to express the deepest values and highest aspirations of the Quaker faith. Adelphi Meeting has given financial support to the Center, and Alexander Barnes served as its first webmaster:   http://ramallah.quaker.org/   John Salzberg, a member of the Center’s Steering Committee and a member of Bethesda Friends Meeting will speak about the historical and spiritual basis for establishing the Center as well as the Center’s ongoing activities.  He will also be showing a DVD, Investment in Hope, in which Jean Zaru, Clerk of Ramallah Friends Meeting, and other members of the Steering Committee talk about the origins of Center.

JOYS AND CONCERNS:

JOYS:  Jim Siekmeier has landed his dream job teaching diplomatic history at West Virginia University in Morgantown .  Catherine and Jim will be moving to Morgantown at the end of July.   Leaving Adelphi is a great loss to Catherine and Jim, but they will continue to visit Adelphi often.

CONCERNS:  Please hold Stephanie Love in the light as she struggles to determine how best to deal with her loss of vision, in her one eye that can still see.

Please continue to hold Joan Clement’s mother, Ruth Petersen, in the Light as she continues recovery from her recent hip and knee replacement surgeries.

COMMUNICATIONS WITHIN THE COMMUNITY

Sunday March 18, 3:30 to 5 PM: Friends are invited to hear Richard Brady, upper school math teacher and Quaker, speak on ‘mindful parenting, including: being present, deep listening, and mindful speech.’ The place is Zartman Drawing room, Sidwell Friends School, Wisconsin Avenue campus Washington, D.C.   All are welcome to the Quaker Life Committee event. For more, contact Ray Lane (301) 270-6057.

Sunday, April 29, after Meeting: Save the Date! Peace and Social Concerns Committee and Adelphi Earthcare Witness are co-sponsoring a Northwest Branch “adopt a trail” clean-up, pot luck lunch and other activities at Adelphi Mill. Details to come soon

IMPORTANT, From Nominating Committee –

We wish to express our Thanks to all of the Adelphi members and attendees who put forth so much time and energy into the many tasks and responsibilities of the Adelphi Meeting community.  From planting flowers and making coffee, to maintaining the building, and tutoring schoolchildren, our small community accomplishes many good works—large and small.  We extend our special thanks to those of you who have recently stepped up to serve on committees for the first time, or who continue their committee work after many years of service.

Unfortunately, we have a grave concern that we feel led to bring to your attention.  Out of our 14 standing committees almost half (6) have too few members to fulfill their duties.  These six committees are responsible for much of the essential tasks necessary for the functioning of our community — such as overseeing meeting finances and maintaining the meeting’s property.  As many of you know, when any committee is under-strength , the existing members of the committee can feel heavily burdened as they struggle to fulfill their committee’s responsibilities on behalf of the meeting community.  This situation compromises the ability of the Meeting as a whole to function as well as we would wish it to.  We are bringing this concern to your attention for your thoughtful consideration.  This issue is so important to us that we are also bringing it to the Ministry and Worship committee.  We will be asking the Ministry and Worship committee to review the Meeting’s overall committee structure and distribution of responsibilities, in light of the difficulty we have had finding persons to serve in so many important areas.  For those of you who feel led to reconsider your commitment of service to the Meeting, the following committees are at less than full strength: Adult Religious Education, Finance, House and Grounds, Hospitality, Pastoral Care, Religious Education.   There is also a need for an Assistant Clerk, an Assistant Treasurer, a Recorder, a BYM Camping Contact, a BYM Correspondent, a BYM Representative, an FGC Contact, Strawberry Festival Coordinators and a representative for the William Penn House Board. If you wish to have more information about these opportunities for contributing to our community, members of Nominating Committee are available to  discuss them with you. Wendy Eck, Ann Marlow, Emory Baldwin, Shelly Grow, Karen O’Brien, Susan Richardson.

Communications Sub-Committee Announcement: Carol Beigel has resigned as Adelphi’s Recorder and “defacto secretary”. No one, including Carol, remembers how many years she has been serving Meeting in this way. We are deeply grateful to Carol for her tireless work, and we wish her well as she refocuses on family commitments. The “defacto secretary” and Recorder duties are being reassigned to other members of the Communications Sub-Committee and to the new Recorder when that position has been filled. If anyone has questions about issues of Adelphi communications, please contact Reuben Snipper at [email protected].

From Finance Committee:  We want to say a big Thanks! to everyone who is donating regularly to the Meeting.  Adelphi now has more regular financial contributors than ever before.  If you would like to know more about setting up automated payments from your bank account, ask either of our Treasurers (Melanie Gifford and Karen Cunnyngham). Tax donation letters are being sent out by our Treasurer.  If you made a contribution in 2006 and do not receive a donation letter acknowledging your donation, please contact Karen Cunnyngham.  If you did not get a donation acknowledgement letter, and the reason is that you DIDN’T make a contribution to the meeting in 2006, this is your chance to step up to the plate and put AFM on your list of charitable contributions.  So far our Fiscal Year 2007 has gotten off to a rocky start:  We have received just over $20,500 in income in our first quarter (Dec 2006 through Feb 2007), which falls significantly behind our $26,000 in year-to-date expenditures.  The Meeting needs your financial support, as well as your personal participation.  We are about $7,000 behind in our donations compared to last year at this time, and are asking each household to make the Meeting a giving priority.

Paid position for Adelphi Summer Program:  The Religious Education Committee is seeking recommendations/applications for someone to lead First Day Classes for Children in our 3 – 5 year-old program.  We need one adult to plan and facilitate weekly sessions for this group from June 24 through September 2, 2007.  The adult will be paid $15. per hour for two hours each week.  This could be an ideal position for a returning college student, a current teacher of this class, an interested parent or other meeting attender.  If you have been attending meeting for at least 6 months and are interested in this position, please contact a member of the RE committee:  Lynn Brown: 301-585-0007, [email protected], Joanna Axtmann: [email protected], Beth Anderson: [email protected], or Angela Toda: [email protected]

Warm, sensitive, spiritual, manly men ISO like-minded men for group activity.  Sound intriguing?  Then you might be interested in joining the Adelphi men’s group.  We meet twice a month for a time of sharing and mutual support.  See the Meeting newsletter for more info or call Glenn Riley at 301-565-4636.

AFM Camping Scholarships: BYM camping applications are due to BYM by February 1st or until the camp is full.   If a child in your family requires financial aid from AFM to offset the cost of camp, please contact Karen Cunnyngham, AFM Treasurer, at kcunnyngham@ verizon.net, by March 31st.

Spanish Conversation Club: This is an informal group and, as yet, has no structure. Perhaps we could meet once or twice a month to converse in Spanish.  Although  all ability levels would be welcome, perhaps some basic conversational skills would be good.  Two other people have expressed interest.  If this sounds amorphous and interesting enough for you, please contact Wendy at [email protected].

Eyes On The Prize.  Do you have stories of Friends involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, or know someone who does?  The Adult Religious Education Committee is planning a Second Hour on this topic and would like to hear from you.  Please contact Grant Schmick, [email protected], 301-890-8480.

For Sale: GHI Coop Townhouse with Quaker simplicity, 11-E Ridge Road, Greenbelt, MD. This three bedroom brick has remodeled kitchen w/ washer/dryer unit and microwave built-in. Refinished hardwood floors and original doors. Great location, short walk to the library, pool/fitness center, co-op market, and movie theatre. Call Phillip at 301-474-7416 to make appointment. $250,000

OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS

Film about AFSC Iran trip to be shown on PBS.  The PBS Program “NOW” sent a cinematographer to follow the recent religious delegation that traveled to Iran to open a dialogue with Iranian religious and political leaders, and will air a special program focused on their trip on PBS on Friday, March 23, at 9:30 pm.  The program will follow the experiences of MaryEllen McNish, general secretary of the American Friends Service Committee, and her colleagues in a delegation of 13 U.S. religious leaders as they travel to Iran as the first U.S. delegation to meet with an Iranian President in Iran since the Revolution of 1979.  We expect the coverage to be very interesting, and seek your assistance in letting Friends know of the upcoming nationwide broadcast on the PBS-TV program “NOW’.  Check your local TV listings for more details and to confirm the scheduled showing.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007, 12 Noon: Washington Interfaith Alliance for Middle East Peace and Friends of Sabeel – North America invite you to a presentation by Kathy Bergen, Program Coordinator, Friends International Center in Ramallah.  The topic will be “Life under Israeli Occupation in the West Bank ; Palestine : Challenges and Opportunities”

At:  Friends Committee on National Legislation , 245 2nd Street, E ,  Washington , DC   20002.  RSVP:  [email protected]    Since April 2006 Kathy Bergen has been living in Ramallah.  She has experienced first hand the challenges of the occupation, and witnessed the even greater challenges faced by Palestinians.  She has also witnessed and sought relief for those Palestinian U.S. citizens who have been denied entry, deported, or threatened with deportation from the West Bank .  She will present the basic elements of the occupation, the relevance of international law to the occupation, how the occupation affects Palestinians and Israelis, the role of the Friends International Center in Ramallah, and what Americans can do to press for a just peace for Palestinians and Israelis.

April 2, Entries are are due for “Healing the Chesapeake “.  Chears will be sponsoring an arts fundraiser on May 6 with the theme “Healing the Chesapeake “. We are inviting artists of all ages to
Submit artwork that celebrates the beauty of and/or expresses ways to heal our wonderful Chesapeake watershed from mountains, farm-lands and cities…to the bay…and from the states making up the Chesapeake Watershed (Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania , Virginia and West Virginia ). Chears will share the profits from art sold 50/50 with the artists.  Submissions are due: April 2, 2007. Submit entries to: CHEARS, 506 Elm Ave. Takoma Park, MD 20912. The Call for Entries, Registration form and Postcard Quilt entries for young artists are attached and call all be found on the Chears website – www.chears.org <http://www.chears.org/

May 19, 2007, Save the Date: Friends Wilderness Center near Harpers Ferry, WV holds its annual Open House that Saturday. Free.  Come for tours, hikes, yummy lunch, kids’ activities and meet people as interesting as you!  Bring a group or bring a sleeping bag and stay the night if you like in treehouse, yurt or your tent.  www.friendswilderness.org.