Omaha Friends Meeting

Meeting for Business

18 February 2007

and 25 February

Present: Debbie, Ginny, Claire, Carol, Frank, Marshall, Lynda, and Curtis

Minutes  from January 20^th were read and approved.

Query:  Query 2 will be shared at a later time.

Calendar:

                   First Day:

Febr 25   -  Called Meeting for Business inviting the    

                                                youth to join us for the part that involves

                                                them.

                             March 4   - Jan Luchini – Scattergood Friends

                                                School      

                             March 11 - Jim & Ginger Kenney - FCNL                                                March 18 - Business Meeting

                             March 25 - Envisioning Quaker community

                                                discussion

                             April 1     -  Query 3

                             April 15   -  Query 4

                             April 22   -  Business Meeting

                   Other:

Febr. 24  - OTOC leadership retreat

March 24  -  potluck at Ginny's 6 PM

April 14 & 15  -  Midyear Meeting at Bear Creek

                   Meeting, near Earlham, Iowa

April 15   -  Peace Expo at UNO

June 1    -   Ananda's & Jeff's wedding

                             July 26-31-  Yearly Meeting at Scattergood Friends                                                   School near West Branch, Iowa

Peace and Social Concerns Committee Report:

There was no report from the committee this month. 

It was decided to ask the Kenney’s workshop to be on the topic of lobbying.

The committee will report on the rationale of supporting OTOC at a later time.

Ministry and Oversight Committee report:

            There was no report from the committee this month.

Finance Committee report:

Ginny reported that she has received suggestions from the attorney Mike O’Bradovich about our articles of incorporation and bylaws. She will follow up with him to see whether the changes he suggests to the articles of incorporation are necessary in light of the fact that they had already been accepted by the state and that it would cost money to amend them.  Ginny’s understanding is that Mike does not see any need to change the by-laws, but will confirm that.

Treasurer's report:

It was reported that our quarterly payment to Iowa Yearly Meeting is scheduled for March and that funds are needed to cover this payment and other smaller payments that have been approved.

Religious Education:

The Religious Education Committee met and submitted the following report which was read and accepted. 

The committee met in January. Bible study continues to be of interest to the youth. The youth expressed interest in having more social activities together, and we also discussed ideas for outings. We may ask adults in the Meeting to discuss their work and its relationship to their faith and values during First Day School.

Debbie volunteered to take the youth for a social outing on a day other than Sunday. She and Curtis will make arrangements.

The meeting held a discussion on January 13^th about our youth and how they can be more involved with Quakerism.  From that discussion came three proposals for Meeting for Business, which were reported in last month’s minutes.  The proposals were read aloud and discussed by the adults present.

All these proposals have in common the question of  who should supervise the youth during second hour. It was pointed out that the youth like to be unsupervised at that time.  It was agreed that adults would sign up for a month or two at a time, to check  the youth occasionally (at least once each week) during Second Hour to see that the youth have what they need and are abiding by the following guidelines.  A second adult would sign up as a backup and would become the first adult during the next month.

-         not using computers unless they are needed; using them appropriately if they are needed

-         watch appropriate videos and  playing appropriate games (check with an adult—who may decide the movie needs to be previewed if it is questionable)

-         being kind to one another

-         include everyone in the activity

-         clean up afterwards

-         have diverse activities and let everyone help decide what to do

For the first month, Frank and Debbie agreed to be the first and second adults respectively.

Curtis plans to ask the youth during first hour what they plan for second hour. 

Frank will talk with the youth about his work during the last Sunday in March.

The three proposals were:

·        The first involved the youth occasionally watching movies during Second Hour that have been approved previously by the Religious Education Committee.  The meeting approved this proposal.

·        The second involved the youth answering the queries.  The meeting will continue to work with the youth on their responses to the Iowa Yearly Meeting queries.  If the youth do not see value in these queries, or don’t feel that a particular query relates to them, the Meeting is open to the possibility of youth writing and answering their own queries provided they are related to faith and practice.  The Religious Education and Ministry and Oversight Committees will work together on discerning this and assisting the youth with their query discussions.

·        The third involved the youth request to be allowed to play video games. We question what kids are practicing when they use their time to play video games.  We don’t see video games as including everyone or building community, and we don’t like their reliance on complicated and expensive technology. However, we are willing to have the youth try to answer these concerns. If they can propose a video game that meets the guidelines outlined above, then some adults, such as Ginny, Pam, or Claire, are willing to learn the game.

Building and Grounds:

          There was no report from the committee this month.