October 2020 Minutes
Posted: under Minutes from Meeting for Business.
Bennington Friends Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business
Conducted by Zoom
October 25, 2020
Present: Timmy Bullock, clerk, Auberta Galusha, Juliet Wright, Alison Levie, Lucie Mckee, Edward Cady, Priscilla Tracy, and Michael Wajda.
The meeting opened with a period of worship during which the clerk read the following 2011 quote from Vanessa Redgrave reflecting on her role in the Broadway performances of Driving Miss Daisy:
If you don’t listen, as Miss Daisy struggles to, you miss the nuances of what others are saying…I’ve certainly taken it as something I’ve worked on myself — listen, listen, listen, really listen. You think you are listening, but you really have to work on it.
The meeting has not held a meeting for business since April 2020 as we continue to isolate at home because of the coronavirus.
2020-13. Michael Wajda has been involved in a national project entitled Choose Democracy initiated and led largely by Quakers. Choose Democracy has been set up to offer nonviolent resistance training to thousands of people across the United States in case there is an illegal power grab by our current U.S. President during or after the upcoming presidential election.
Michael Wajda has brought to the meeting a request to sign a public statement entitled “Count Every Vote Vermont” that affirms a commitment to a full and fair election on November 3, as well as support for peaceful protests if there is a move to stop short of counting every vote anywhere across the country. Elected officials, organizations, churches, and unions throughout are being asked to sign on to the statement, which will be made public before November 3. The Count Every Vote Vermont statement reads:
COUNT EVERY VOTE! VERMONT
Given that the right of citizens to choose their own leaders is a bedrock principle of democracy and that fairly administered elections are the mechanism to achieve this ideal, we call upon our elected leaders and candidates for leadership positions to take the following pledge:
- to work to ensure equal and convenient access by all citizens to the right to vote;
- to insist on the counting of all lawful ballots in a timely, secure, and transparent manner;
- to refrain from declaring a final election result until all such ballots have been counted;
- to take all measures available to them to contest any declared results that do not include the counting of all lawful votes;
- to support the right of the people to demonstrate peaceably in favor of all votes being counted, both in Vermont and across the country;
- to insist on a peaceful transfer of power if a complete and legal vote count requires it.
We further call upon our leaders to make public this pledge and to encourage their peers across the nation to take the same pledge.
The meeting approved being a signer of the Count Every Vote statement and thanked Michael for his work on this effort.
2020-14. The meeting took up a consideration of our contributions for this coming fiscal year. Juliet Wright, our Treasurer, read the list of contributions totaling $3,800 as distributed in our 2020 meeting budget. After some discussion, we agreed to continue these same contributions for our 2021 budget. (See attached budget.)
Juliet reported that our checking account currently has a balance $20,424.91. She then read the list of special contributions totaling $4,000 donated earlier this year, which included $300 decided by the First Day School for distribution. These additional contributions are part of a decision by the meeting to spend down $20,000 over five years from its reserves. (See attached list)
We discussed these contributions for fiscal year 2021 and considered adding three organizations: Vermont Interfaith Action, Doctors without Borders, and the Vermont Food Bank, as well as increasing the amount allocated for First Day School decisions. In order to free up money for these possible changes we will share information by email following today’s meeting and make our final decision in November or December this year. We would like to keep the total amount at $4,000.
2020-15. Michael Wajda asked the meeting to enter into a process to consider a special $5,000 contribution to Woolman Hill that would be in addition to the contributions considered earlier. Woolman Hill is undertaking a major renovations project to the main conference center, which will include a two-story addition, handicap accessibility, and new options for private rooms and bathrooms. The cost for these improvements is approximately $700,000 and Woolman Hill has entered a campaign to raise the necessary funds. Michael has been helping with the fundraising effort that originally was to be part of a larger fundraising campaign, but the pandemic brought forward both the necessity and opportunity to begin renovations now while the conference center is largely closed. Woolman Hill has had great success with the fundraising so far and is approximately $100,000 short of its goal.
Michael has suggested that the meeting set up a time to hear more about the project from Margaret Cooley, Woolman Hill’s Executive Director, and that we then consider this special contribution to the renovations campaign. The meeting approved inviting Margaret to present via Zoom on some Sunday in the next couple of months.
The meeting closed with a period of worship.
Michael Wajda
Recording Clerk
Comments (0)
Oct 25 2020