Peace and Social Concerns Committee meeting of 5/19/14

Attending: Adele S, Pat H, Andy G, Susan C, Chris M, Diane C, Roger C, Dan G, George M. We missed Beth and spoke of her gratefully and lovingly.

Pat told of her visit to Vietnam in March and about the ongoing damage from Agent Orange there, and of efforts toward reconciliation, particularly between veterans on both sides of the war and in Peace Villages. Pat has created a presentation about the background of the war, the environmental and other ongoing damage, and the Peace Villages in the country.

Pat invites us to provide the space for this presentation, which could be open to people outside of our meeting, and the timing for the presentation is flexible. We agreed to host the event in the fall and to invite others to cosponsor it, for example Traprock and the Peace Pagoda. We will specify 45 minutes for Pat’s talk and 45 minutes for questions and discussion. Promotion: it should go in our newsletter and on the AFSC listserv at an appropriate time. A date should be set. A few of us should become a planning group which will be formed at our next meeting. Tasks include a newletter article, listserv notices, finding cosponsors, publicity within and beyond our meeting, and arrangements for the presentation. One uncertainty is about whether to schedule the event for the Champney Room, which has a limited capacity. Andy will convey our current decision to Pat.

We spent some time considering how to face difficulties while avoiding being overwhelmed and maintaining spiritual perspective.

Adele reminded us of Jeff’sNapolitano’s visit here on June 1. She attended the AFSC regional meeting which she said was very upbeat and positive. We were grateful for the connection she provides for us with the AFSC.

Dan offered to carry out the letter writing on June 8. Diane will do it in July.

CAP, the Costa Rican peace center, was approved by us but was not presented to the meeting for businesss in May and so it missed this financial budget year. We will wait for Beth to regain health and encourage her to make the meeting for business presentation, though it will be in next year’s budget.

George continues to carry the concern about diapers. A few people outside of our committee expressed interest though there has not been a formation of a planning group beyond our committee.

We considered the relation between our committee and the meeting at large. Would a survey be helpful to reveal the peace and social concerns of Mount Toby Friends? Talks in person at potluck? Sticky notes and a location to ost them? Something involving, like Source to Sea, or Habitat for Humanity, to give Friends a direct opportunity for service?

Andy will be nominated for Meeting Clerk, and he encouraged us to think about the next clerk of our committee for the term starting in September.

We discussed the listserv guidelines, but we were not equipped or informed enough to proceed, other than to expect Friends to review them, and possibly make suggestions for them, by our next meeting. Roger will put in a note to the newsletter inviting Friends to join the listserv. We are hopeful that the proposed communications committee will provide guidance about communications and will provide an easy way for all Friends to know about and use all the means of communication in the meeting.

As expected, Andy approached the Finance Committee to request a budget line for our FCNL representative’s travel. We await word about their response.

The meeting closed with a period of silence.