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Minutes of Peace and Social Concerns Meetings
April 6, 2008
April 27, 2008
May 25, 2008
June 29, 2008
July 27, 2008
August 31, 2008
September 28, 2008
October 26, 2008

Minutes - Peace and Social Concerns Meeting
July 27, 2008

present were: Kate Murphey, Ken Magee, Faith Marsalli, and Shari and Bill Burke

First on the agenda was a discussion about the upcoming Peace Supper, which will be held on September 19th from 6:30-8:30. Carol Imani will discuss prison issues. We decided that we would provide a simple supper of soup and bread and we will ask people to sign up in early September to bring one of these items. We will submit a blurb about the event to the Herald and News for inclusion on the Faith page around the time of the event and we will also try to get flyers made and put up. We can also send email notices to groups like the Peace Forum for distribution on their email lists. Shari has agreed to contact Carol to get a title and a blurb about her talk.

Next, we finalized plans for the Book Sale, which will be held outside the meetinghouse on August 9th from 10-2. We will ask people to get their books to the church by Sunday, August 2nd, which will allow time for sorting. We will need only a few volunteers for this event. Shari will be there before and during the sale and Kate and Ken thought they might be able to be there for part of the time. All proceeds will go into the kaimosi University scholarship fund.

Quaker Bakers was a success once again with $137 being raised in July. There was a great sign, but ideas were needed for how to hang it more attractively. Bill suggested punching holes in the fabric and hanging it from suction cups with hooks, so the 3rd Thursday people will try that. As far as we know, August will be the final 3rd Thursday for 2008. We were too late to get another table to sell seed money project items, so there was a table next to the Quaker Baker table for that. In addition, The Stauntons have agreed to display any seed money items at their table at the Farmer's Market.

The petition against torture that has been out on the front table will be mailed in. At the Northwest Yearly Meeting, there was support for a Minute on Torture in spirit, but they wanted to be able to add something positive-to say what they were in favor of, rather than only what they were against. They did not have enough time to do this, so a group has been appointed to work on that and get a final document. It was decided that at the next Meeting for Business and Worship, we will bring up a couple of related issues for the group to discuss. First, does this church want to join the National Religious Coalition Against Torture? Second, do we as a church community want to officially support the legislation against torture as laid out in previous bulletin inserts and on the petition?

Food issues were discussed next. The cereal collected throughout July will be boxed up and the Food Bank will be contacted. We will begin collecting canned fruit beginning next Sunday and this will continue throughout August. Faith will look into the best way to get fresh produce to those that need it. It may be that neighborhood food pantries are an option along with the food bank. We talked about the potential for helping the Sprague River meeting as they provide a community dinner once a week and will begin doing breakfast twice a week. Kate will contact Tim Henry and report to the Meeting for Business and Worship.

The garden is doing well. Things are growing and the meditation garden is shaping up. There are prayer flags in the meditation garden and we talked about possible ways to expand the prayer flag idea to involve the larger community. We would not be copying the Buddhist tradition exactly, but rather taking the idea as it has historically been expressed and interpreting it in our own way. Ken will talk to some people he knows in the area to see what they think about the idea and to ask if they know people who would like to participate. We will talk to Ministry and Care about the possibility of them working with Peace and Social Concerns on this project.

That's all for this month! Any comments, questions or ideas can be sent to
shariannburke@gmail.com

 

Food collected for the July Food Drive
August food drive will be for canned fruit