Minutes of December 19 Meeting for Business
Posted: under Minutes from Meeting for Business.
Bennington Friends Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business
December 19, 2021
Present: Timmy Bullock, clerk, Tim Newbold, Addie Newbold, Auberta Galusha, Juliet Wright, Priscilla Tracy, Gabriel Newbold, Thea Newbold, Amy Newbold, Gabrielle Isenbrand, and Alison Levie.
We gathered in the Senior Center for meeting for worship with attention to business again wearing masks for safety during the pandemic. The meeting opened with a period of worship during which the clerk read the following:
Dispatch business quickly,
and keep out of long debates and heats…
be swift to hear,
and slow to speak,
and let it be in the grace,
which seasons all words.
George Fox, 1690
The acting recording clerk read the minutes of our November 21, 2021 meeting for business for information.
2021-30. Timmy reported that Marsh Hudson Knapp expressed significant gratitude for the work the Meeting did to provide food for the December 12 community dinner. He was especially glad to work with the Newbold family children. He looks forward to having them as servers in the future. Appreciation was also expressed for the tremendous work of those who purchased and prepared food for 100 dinners.
2021-31 The meeting heard a report from the Newbold children about their work of discernment to distribute the $300 the meeting allocated to the First Day School for contributions to charities of their choice. Since only the Newbold children were involved this year, each child chose an organization for a $100 donation. Each of the children read the letter they wrote to the organization of their choice, describing the connection of their organization to Quaker beliefs and commitments. The letters are attached.
Meeting thanked the First Day class for their thoughtful and careful consideration of the needs of the world.
The Meeting treasurer will make the following donations on behalf of the children:
Bennington County Coalition for the Homeless $100
Meals on Wheels $100
Rain Forest Foundation $100
2021-32. Timmy reported on the status of the Sadat family, recent refugees from Afghanistan, who have been resettled in Bennington through the efforts of the Goodrich Foundation. They have arrived and are settling into a small house off South Stream Rd. The children have just been enrolled in school. They bought a van to carry a family of 9, shoes for everyone, and are spending about $80 a day for food. The organization is still trying to get a regular schedule and identify needs, so they have not yet identified ways for others to hook into the needs. Right now, money is the biggest need. At our last meeting for business, the meeting considered giving up to $10,000 to the Goodrich Foundation to help with this family’s resettlement. Meeting approved donating the full $10,000 and instructed the treasurer to send a check to the Peter M. Goodrich Memorial Foundation. A question was raised about individuals contributing more to the financial costs. We considered whether this might be done by collecting donations from Meeting people and sending them as a single check from the meeting. This would create some extra work for our treasurer, so we will consider it at our next Meeting for Business.
2021-33. In the absence of Michael, Timmy provided an update on plans for Martin Luther King Day commemorations on January 17, 2022. The plans are to bring 2 choirs from the Progressive Mt. Olive Southern Missionary Baptist Church of Albany NY to perform and provide an inspirational talk that evening at the Old Castle Theater in Bennington. It’s anticipated that the costs for this event will be $1,400. The meeting approved sending $300 as a Friendly Grant to the Bennington Peace and Justice Center for this purpose.
2021-34. Alison Levie reported on the progress in plans to offer the 7-week online Elements of Quakerism class, taught by Phil Fitz. The meeting reviewed the times offered by Phil and identified the evening and weekend times he offered to test with those in the meeting who might be interested. He is available January through March. We should at least cluster the first few meetings. If we need to take a break after that before continuing, we can arrange that.
The course includes some readings, many of which are short and available through on-line links that Phil provides. Phil also relies on six Pendle Hill pamphlets. For those who do not already own their own copies, the meeting agreed to purchase enough additional copies to supplement any copies we have in the Meeting Library so that all participants can have a copy. Berta will check our library for what we have. We may have multiple copies of some of them. As long as we have sufficient print copies, Phil will be able to post a link to them on-line for anyone who would prefer to read them on-line without breaking copyright rules. Alison will send the available dates to the email list, asking people to respond to her about their availability.
Meeting closed with a period of worship.
Alison Levie
Recording Clerk, pro tem
The three letters from the children to the charities are appended below.
Rainforest Foundation US
P.O. Box 26908
Brooklyn, NY 11202
December 19, 2021
Dear Rainforest foundation,
My name is Thea Newbold. I am 12 years old. I am part of a Quaker Meeting. Quakers are known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. We believe in six major values called tenants. The kids in our meeting use an acronym called S.P.I.C.E.S. The letters stand for Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship. Every year my meeting sets aside three hundred dollars to donate and let the kids in the meeting decide where to donate the money. The kids in the meeting choose three different organizations to donate one hundred dollars.
I chose yours because I wanted to help stop climate change. Climate change is a big problem, and we need people to stop it. When I was first thinking of where to donate the money I immediately thought of climate change. Climate change is the root of a lot of our problems. We have been seeing more forest fires in the western part of our country. Glaciers are melting and causing sea levels to rise. This is causing more drought in some areas and floods in others. People are losing their homes. When we burn fossil fuels it affects the air we breathe. Rainforests are the homes to many indgenous peoples and thousands of animal species. Twenty percent of the world’s oxygen is created by Amazon rainforests. This habitat is being cut down leaving animals without habitats and people without homes. The loss of the trees is a devastating blow to the world. It decreases the oxygen we need. Rainforests also absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which is a major factor in climate change.
What I like about your foundation is your fight to stop climate change, work to keep healthy rainforests, and support indiginous communities. This aligns with our values of community, equality, and stewardship. I hope our gift of one hundred dollars helps.
Sincerely,
Thea Newbold
Other kids in the meeting: Addie Newbold, Gabe Newbold
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Meals on Wheels of Bennington
124 Pleasant Street
Bennington, Vermont 05201
December 19, 2021
Dear Meal on Wheels of Bennington,
My name is Addie Newbold, and I’m twelve years old. I attend a Quaker meeting in Bennington, Vermont. I am writing this letter because my Quaker meeting gave $300 to my First-Day School. First Day School is where young Quakers learn about the beliefs and values of our faith. It’s the job of my First-Day School to look into organizations we thought were fundamental to our community and donate a portion of the three hundred dollars to them. I chose Meals on Wheels.
Quakers have six values we try to live by. These six are Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship (we abbreviate them as S.P.I.C.E.S). I like that you are doing so much for the Bennington community. You deliver food to senior citizens who otherwise would not be able to get food themselves, and you serve people who have disabilities. More than that, I also chose you because I helped harvest some vegetables every week this fall from the Hilland Hall Gardens in my school’s garden class. I know this food was used in the meals you prepared, so I feel very connected to your organization.
To wrap things up, you are such a vital part of the Bennington community, and I have no idea what we do without you. I hope my Quaker meeting’s donation of $100 helps somehow. Thank you for all of your work,
Sincerely,
Addie Newbold
Other kids in my meeting: Thea Newbold, Gabe Newbold
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Bennington County Coalition for the Homeless
966 Main Street
Bennington, VT, 05201
December 19, 2021
My name is Gabe Newbold.
I am nine years old. I am part of a Quaker meeting. We have three hundred dollars to donate to three different organizations. I choose yours because I would like to donate to homeless people. We are giving your organization one hundred dollars.
I think that your organization is important to society because people who are homeless in Bennington get access to food, shelter, and protect their basic rights. I don’t know how many homeless people there are in Bennington, but that does not mean that we can’t donate. I am donating to your organization because your organization represents S.P.I.C.E.S. Which is an acronym the kids in the meeting use to remember the values of Quakerism. I think that your organization represents community and equality. This is because you are working locally to help people in our community. You fight for the rights of homeless people and make sure that they stay safe in our community.
Sincerely,
Gabe Newbold
Other kids in the meeting: Thea Newbold, Addie Newbold
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Dec 22 2021