4th Month 2008 Calendar
6thSinging 10:15 AM
Meeting for Worship 10:30 AM
*Speaker at rise of Meeting
13th Singing 10:15 AM
Meeting for Worship 10:30 AM
*Meeting for Business (corporation)
20th Singing 10:15 AM
Meeting for Worship 10:30 AM
*Quaker Conversations during snack time
27thrd Singing 10:15 AM
Meeting for Worship 10:30 AM
Committee meeting schedule:
Overseers and Worship and Ministry 1st first
day 9:15 am.
Trustees and finance 3rd first day Noon
Property Committee 4th first day noon.
Buckingham Friendly Notes
Judy and Dave Kashoff taking sabbatical
As some of you know, we are taking a "sabbatical" from work – and a trip we have dreamed of for some time. We really do not know how long we'll be gone, but we hope for a year or two or more. We are planning frequent visits home (for a few weeks or months each time) so Dave can still see his patients and we both can visit with friends and family.
We would like to go to a few other continents and spend a period of time traveling by bicycle. We plan on doing volunteer work in countries we visit, either with Volunteers for Peace or by helping on organic farms through WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). Dave will also do volunteer dentistry wherever they will let him – current possibilities include a clinic in Brazil and Smiletrain (a world-wide cleft-palate repair organization). We plan on making connections with other Quaker communites whenever we can, and have joined SERVAS, an organization that connects hosts and travelers all over the world in an effort at peace-building.
I regret very much that the timing of our ability to take this trip interfered with my ability to do a full term as clerk at Buckingham. The last year has been rewarding – being an integral part of the Buckingham community has been wonderful, and I want to thank everyone for the support you've given me. Buckingham Meeting is a strong, vibrant faith community and the Meeting and Bucks Quarter have been, and will continue to be, an important and vital part of our lives. Our Quaker neighborhood is filled with people of many talents – all with an abiding love and respect for one another. You will all be with us every step we take and with every revolution of our wheels. We will keep you in our hearts and thoughts throughout our journey.
Dave thanks you all for allowing him to play the piano – he is really going to miss it and he hopes you'll let him play a hym or two when we're in town.
Our first stop is planned for Crete, Greece, in April, where we hope to finish the six day horse ride we planned last year. If there are no broken bones this time, we want to start cycling - maybe visit a few other Greek islands, maybe Turkey, and then cycle through Italy into Northern Europe.
We will miss everyone terribly, and we are already looking forward to our visits home. In the meantime, we plan on sending regular updates and photos – let us know if you're not on our email list but want to be: . Au revoir (see you again) and Hasta Luego (see you soon). Until then: Tan Bun (stay well, Suriname) andTaúnigigua bá búngua (take care, Garifuna). And of course: Shalom (peace).
Volunteers for Peace:
WWOOF:
SERVAS:
Smiletrain:
Called Meeting of the Corporation
There will be a “called” of the corporation on the second first day, April 13th for the approval of the new clerkship.
Gathering for Dave and Judy
Dear Friends,
In case you haven't heard, Judy and Dave Kashoff will be taking a "sabbatical sojourn," doing volunteer work as they travel about the world. My husband Robert, and I, are hosting a send-off celebration, "covered dishes welcome" event in our home on Friday, March 28th, beginning at 7:00PM. Come join us for music, good food, fireside chats and wonderful company as we give Judy and Dave a ,"Friendly send-off." 47 Strimples Mill Rd. Stockton, N.J. Home # (609) 397-6360 We are 18 minutes from Buckingham Monthly Meeting: East on 263, cross Delaware River, left on 29 (263 dead-ends on 29 in Stockton), three minutes, veer right onto 519. Go two and one-half miles, passing through Rosemont. Left on Strimples Mill Rd. go two minutes #47 on left.
We look forward to seeing you then!
In Loving Peace, Katherine and Robert
“Quaker Conversations”
New discussion format
Friends,
Worship and Ministry invite you to friendly informal discussions at rise of Meeting normallyeach third first 1st day during our social time.
This month on the 20th we will be discussing “Quaker vocabulary” (held over from last month). Please join us to become more familiar with our faith and each other.
Tim Philpot Speaker April 6th
At rise of Meeting Tim Philpot, a member of St Philip's Episcopal Church in New Hope and partner of Bob Fenton of Buckingham Friends Meeting will speak about his recent service trip to Honduras in January, 2008. Sponsored by Discovery Service Projects and International Aid, this project focused on rural villages in north of Honduras that lack clean drinking water and electricity. Tim will share some photos and discuss the economic conditions and health challenges of the region.
Passing
Tom Tippett's brother Matt passed away recently. Please hold him and his family in the light. If you would like to send condolences, Tom's address is: 882 W. Bridge Morrisville, PA19067
BuckinghamFriendsSchool News
April 11 7pm 25th Annual Buckingham Friends School Spring Auction - 215 794-7491
SUMMER ARTS CAMP at BFS
Summer is around the corner
and that means fun! Things are
gearing up for an all new
Summer Arts Camp experience.
The two session dates are (I) June 16th-27th and
(II) June 30th-July 11th. Check you calendars and
sign up soon as spaces are limited. Brochures will be sent home with lunchbox mail. Read more and
download a brochure. For any questions contact Sydney Fox or JeanPartridge at BFS.
Bucks Quarterly News
PEACE VIGILS & MEDITATIONS
Doylestown: Tuesdays at State & Main 6-7pm
Newtown: Mondays, 5-6pm Routes 332 & 413
Southampton Meeting: Mondays, 7:15pm
Quaker Faith, Witness,
Process…
What’s it all about?
The Quakerism A to Z workshop has returned...
yeah! It will be held on Sunday
April 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th atWrightstown Meeting, in the social hall.
This four session workshop is open to
everyone. The fee is $30. Please do not
stay away for lack of funds. If this is a concern for you, contact Holly Olson.Directions to Wrightstown Meeting: click on the Wrightstown Meeting link.Please register by March 29th. Holly Olson 215-860-9747
Childcare will be available for those
who pre-register by March 21st.
Thank you Wrightstown Friends for
sharing your wonderful space!
2nd ANNUAL BUCKS QUARTER GATHERING
FOR FUN & FELLOWSHIP
“Awesome party! Great music, food and Friends”
“It was a perfect day. I could relax and talk and my kids could play.”
~ Gathering 2007
We’ll be serving up food all day long; hamburgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers, sides, chips, bottled water and Peace Cake.
Come enjoy a totally-super-cool-awesomely-good-unstructured time with agreat big bunch of fun and funky Friends as we relax, listen and sing along with the music of Faith and Practice and Group W. We’ll also paint a huge mural;learn how to juggle, get our faces painted, and so much more.
Bring a friend!!
$10 per Adult ~ Children Free!!
Do not stay away for lack of funds.
You still need to register so we have a count for food
When: Sat. April 26 ~ Rain or Shine
Time: 11am to 5pm ish
Where: BuckinghamFriendsSchool
5684 Old York Road
Lahaska, PA18931
For More Information Contact::
Holly Olson, Coordinator
215-860-9747
215-453-7358
Send Payment by April 20th to:
Holly Olson
P.O. Box 4477 ~ GeorgeSchool
Newtown, PA18940
Make Checks Payable to Bucks Quarterly Meeting
______Number of Adults ______Number of children
______Number of Vegetarian Meals Required
NAME (S)
______
Iraq family news
SEEKING EMPLOYMENTOPPORTUNITY
The Al Azawee family arrived in Philadelphia late on Tues., March 11. The family members are Isaam (44), Nadia (39), Ahmed (10), Nabaa (8), Sarah (3).
Orientation with a caseworker from LCFS was held on Thurs., March 13, with many Refugee Committee members as well as the family in attendance. The Al Azawees stayed with a host family for 5 nights (Beth Taylor and Bob Happ). The Housing Committee worked to get them into their new home (3 bedroom townhouse in Lansdale with 6 mo. lease) and they moved in on Sun., March 16.
The Refugee Committee is broken down into 5 subsets: Housing, Education, Employment, Health, and Transportation. Here are some activities ongoing in
those committees: The health committee has taken Nabaa and Ahmed for the immunizations needed to enter school. The education committee will take them to visit their elementary school and to registration on Tuesday, 3/25. Issam met with the employment committee on 3/22. And the transportation committee has been an invaluable presence from the outset.
Scheduled for the family, in addition to the school trip on March 25, is a trip to the county assistance office on Thursday, March 27, and physicals at the county clinic on April 3, 4, and 7.
On a personal note, I and others have found the family to be delightful. Isaam has a good command of the English language and enjoys conversing. Nadia is learning English quickly and wants to know 'why' if you refuse an offering of food! The children are all charming. Ahmed knows to say 'baseball', 'hockey'. My personal experience with them has been really nice.
For a number of months, the Refugee Committee will be both counselors and coaches as Nadia and Issam move toward acculturation. I hope that we'll have opportunities for others in the 4 Meetings to get to know the Al Azawees after the intensity of the work needing to be done in these first few weeks settles down. They seem to enjoy company very much.
If you have any leads or ideas or questions on employment, please get in touch with me 215-297-5799 or . I'll see that your information gets passed on to the correct person.
Thank you to everyone who has helped in any way. Donations are still being accepted. Please write checks for the project to our treasurer who will send the money along to the Solebury treasurer. If you don't need your donation acknowledged, your donations can be sent directly to Solebury Meeting, 2680 Sugan Road, New Hope18938.
Elaine Fettig
Local events
PEACE VIGILS & MEDITATIONS
Doylestown: Tuesdays at State & Main 6-7pm
Newtown: Mondays, 5-6pm Routes 332 & 413
Southampton Meeting: Mondays, 7:15pm
Philadelphia Yearly News
LISTENING SESSIONS - THE FUTURE
OF THE ARCH STREET MEETINGHOUSE
On April 6 from 1-3pm at Richland Meeting in
Quakertown (PA) and April 20th from 1-3 at
Moorestown Meeting, the Arch Street Project
Group will hold listening sessions.
A task groupwas formed by Interim Meeting to consider the reportsproduced by several committees on the futureof the Arch Street Meetinghouse.
Part of the mandate charged to the Project Group isto gather input from across the Yearly Meeting onthe vision for the future of this ministry.
All members and attenders of Philadelphia Yearly
Meeting are encouraged to attend and share their
thoughts.
Letter to the Editor: Visit to West Bank Challenges Peacemakers
Returning to work at PYM following three weeks in Israel and Palestine with Christian Peacemaker Teams, I am grateful to find so much emphasis on engaging our Peace Testimony.
Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) was founded in 1986 out of a call “for Christians to devote the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war.” CPT brings together the three historic peace churches (Brethren, Mennonite and Quaker) and other denominations in the work and oversight of the organization. Peacemakers seek to reduce violence through their very presence in areas of prolonged conflict, when invited by local peace groups.
Inspired by nonviolent Palestinian and Israeli activists who are immersed in life-threatening conflict, I found myself deeply challenged about my own commitment to peace witness as a Friend.
CPT has an invaluable model of peacemaking through relationship building. Peacemakers instill hope and confidence in the work of local activists through their presence, and also seek to encourage compassion through their interactions with Israeli soldiers. I wonder how we as Friends might learn to employ this humble walk in our daily lives, seeking to greet and know our neighbors, to truly care about the lives of those around us. I look forward to hearing how other Friends manifest the Peace Testimony in their local communities as we share our stories at Yearly Meeting Sessions.
Sadie Forsythe
Putney Meeting (Vermont)
PYM Young Adult Friends Coordinator
Quaker Speak
Proceed as Way Opens
to undertake a service or course of action without prior clarity about all the details but with confidence that divine guidance will make these apparent and assure an appropriate outcome.
Clerk
the only officer of most meetings (as we have no clergy); the person charged with making and keeping the records of the meeting. The clerk's role is to serve—as an honoured servant of the meeting—and, whilst revered, is not an authoritarian position.
Buckingham Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
Minutes of Meeting for Worship for Business
Third Month, Ninth Day 2008
March 9, 2008
Draft
Meeting began at 12:20 pm with a reading given by Bethann Morgan followed by a period of silent worship. There were 14 members and 1 attender present.
Minutes from February’s Meeting for Business were approved as printed in the newsletter.
Overseers: Carla Davis Cunningham.
Timothy Taylor, a former member of Buckingham who now lives in Los Angeles, has requested membership in absentia. He sent a letter to the Meeting, which was read aloud. He also had a brief telephone interview. Friends discussed their ford memories of Tim and his parents. There was a discussion of whether there are unprogrammed Quaker meetings in Los Angeles. Can we encourage him to attend Quaker meetings in his part of the country? Tim’s membership was approved. Overseers will extend mentoring to him and encourage him to seek a local Quaker community. There is no membership status for children, but his son is considered a member as part of his family.
Worship and Ministry: Bethann Morgan
The revision of the Guide for Aiding an Attender… continues, including feedback from last month’s Meeting for Business. Work on the annual report to the Quarter has commenced. The report will be brought to the Meeting in April. The Quaker conversations series has been going well. Worship & Ministry and Overseers will continue to have joint committee meetings every other month. The report was accepted.
Property Committee: Joyce Rivas
The school has hired SSP (an environmentally conscious architecture firm), in conjunction with others, to create a long term master plan for the 44 acre campus. Issues to be covered include access, safety, growth, and better utilization of the space. The School wants to involve the Meeting in the process. School Board members, Peter Ray, and Chuck Baker, were mentioned as possible participants in focus groups, or there may be meetings open to the whole meeting community. The Meeting would like to have an equal input with the rest of the constituents and be involved from the beginning. We would like to ask the planners to come on the occasional Sunday as well. We will ask School Board to report to the Meeting more frequently and keep us informed of the progress.
A draft of the new Graveyard: Policy was distributed to those present. In keeping with Faith and Practice, the policy calls for gravestones to be simple, establishing this in writing to be a guideline going forward. There have been some other practices in the past but existing gravestones will not be changed. When it is approved, the policy will be distributed to all grave rights holders. Further developments, such as a cremation garden, will be addressed in future revisions. There was some discussion about the transfer clause and whether a plot could be sold back to the Meeting. A question was raised about the size of the plot given as a standard in the policy, but not all plots are standard size. More research will be done on size of existing plots. A statement regarding environmental impact will be added to section 9. The document was approved with gratitude to all the people who put in a great deal of time on the policy.
A new sign for the graveyard, explaining the policy for gravestones, was proposed.
[The report was accepted? CDC]
Social Concerns: Elaine Fettig
The Iraqi refugee family arrives on March 11th. They will stay at the Taylor/Happ farm when they first arrive. An apartment in Lansdale has been applied for (a townhome with 3 bedrooms, at a rent of $1299 + $50/month for a 6 month lease). Doylestown Friend Meeting Corporation will probably sign the lease. Other committees are working on employment, education, health, and transportation. The family will need to apply for Social Security cards right away to get government assistance. Some collected furniture has been stored and will be moved when the apartment has been leased. Elaine will get in touch with you if you offered something on the signup sheet that the family will need.
Recorder’s Report: Pam Caprio
Pam has still not received the requested forms from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting for the Recorder’s report.
Quarterly Meeting: Bethann Morgan
Friends are encouraged to attend Quarterly Meeting. Bethann will be there and would be happy to have company from Buckingham. Two items of interest from Quarterly Meeting were that Wakefield Meeting did a self-study, and that the 4th and Arch Street Meetinghouse: will be holding threshing sessions to consider what to do with that property. It is in the historical area of Philadelphia and offers outreach opportunities, but there have not been enough volunteers to keep it open regularly. The schedule of sessions will be in Quakerphernalia, or Friends can contact Alan Crosman from Newtown Meeting.