| November 2016 Announcements
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| Locations and Dates for Third and Sixth Month Interim Meeting Sessions!
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| At the time of printing, the locations and dates for the March and June sessions of Interim Meeting had not been finalized. We are happy to announce that dates and locations have now been settled. Please mark your calendars for:
Richmond Friends Meeting March 18, 2017 Gunpowder Friends Meeting and Broadmead Retirement Community June 17, 2017
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| November 19 – STRIDE Square Dance Lovely Lane United Methodist Church (Baltimore, MD) Come join us for a night of dancing, music, and fun, while supporting genuine diversity at Baltimore Yearly Meeting summer camps! The square dance will be called and played by Slim Harrison and Thomas Jolin, members of "the Barnstormers." The dance will begin at 7:00pm and goes until 10:00. Sliding scale contribution: $7 - $20. Popcorn and snacks from Wilde Thyme Catering will be sold throughout the evening! Wear your SQUARE dancing shoes! *Additional donations welcome, all proceeds go to camper scholarship. Stay tuned for pre-sold tickets at local Quaker meetings and area businesses.* 100% of proceeds will go to pay tuition for a group of Baltimore youth between the ages of 9 and 14 to attend an outdoor residential summer camp for two weeks. Opequon Quaker Camp is a residential program where young people engage in hiking, canoeing, rock-climbing, swimming, sports, arts, and team-building. We are committed to ensuring that young people from all racial, geographical, and economic backgrounds have the opportunity to benefit from such an environment. In addition, we feel strongly that the young people we sponsor contribute much to the communities they are a part of and that all campers benefit from the presence of these youth at the camp. In addition to providing 80% of tuition to these families, we also provide transportation, gear, orientation, and other family support. To create a continuous experience, we commit to supporting each youth for all years he or she is age-eligible to attend. Furthermore, we provide training for staff at the camp to ensure they are prepared to support campers of all backgrounds. Though the camp is run by a Quaker Meeting, young people of all faiths (or none) are welcome and supported to bring and share their own wisdom and culture. Please invite your friends, family, and any youth you know who would be interested! If you have any questions, please contact Giovanna Selvaggio at giovannaxselvaggio@gmail.com or Kiah Gibian at kiahgibian@gmail.com.
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| Catoctin Bathhouse Update: On September 5, some 120 volunteers gathered at Catoctin for the Day of Destruction. The task was to de-construct the 56-year-old bath houses that have served us well. It was an exciting day with lots of fellowship, food and hard work. Friends gathered, ready to contribute to this long overdue project. After a delicious and hardy lunch of constructed tacos we headed to the site. With hardhats and sledgehammers at hand we set out to work. Within a short period of time the first wall came down, followed by the remaining three. Many hands make light work rang true on this day. The day ended with a delicious celebration building sundaes. As many are aware the original estimated figure for construction of the Catoctin bathhouse was considerably lower than what the actual cost will likely be. Our new figure for constructing the bathhouse at Catoctin is $797,367.00. This revised and assuredly more accurate figure on the bathhouse project does not include the value engineering currently under consideration to reduce the cost. This figure does include several contingencies for additional unexpected expenses (an example that was given was the discovery of a large boulder when excavating for the partial basement) that may or may not occur. As we proceed we will continue to update you on our progress. To learn more about the Catoctin Bathhouse project click here. The cost is higher but the obvious need still remains. We have the opportunity to construct an environmentally responsible and sustainable bathhouse We will proceed and work diligently to assure that camp at Catoctin will continue as it has for the last 59 summers. Help us to make this new bathhouse a reality for our campers and our community. To donate today click here.
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| Baltimore Yearly Meeting Minute to Support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Regarding the Dakota Access Pipeline Minute The Baltimore Yearly Meeting supports the sovereign government and people of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe as they wage a nonviolent, legal battle against those who would endanger their heritage and their future natural resources. The wise leaders and their supporters are strong in spirit and wisdom, in patience and in vision. The Lakota and Dakota people, with their allies, have inspired unity among Native nations and others in their quest to save their lands and people from harm. They are waging this moral and legal struggle not for themselves, but for future generations. The Baltimore Yearly Meeting joins the Standing Rock Tribe and its allies in seeking full tribal consultation on a government-to-government basis, as is legally required by treaty and law on any and all matters that relate to or may affect their lands, people, or traditional homelands. We urge the President and the federal executive branch agencies to honor the Federal Trust Responsibility to the indigenous people of our country and to immediately act to preserve the burials, lands, and resources of the Standing Rock nation now and in the future. We are encouraged by the decision by the United States Departments of the Interior, Justice, and Army to suspend pipeline construction near Lake Oahe. However, this is a suspension not a revocation, so there is no guarantee that construction will not resume. We must continue to show our support in words and deeds until the matter is justly settled. Treaty rights and preservation of indigenous sacred sites must be honored for the Standing Rock Tribe and all Native nations. May we all learn to make wise decisions to benefit future generations. In the words of the Lakota, Mitakuye Oyasin—We Are All Related. This Minute was approved by the Baltimore Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) on October 15, 2016. It was brought to the Meeting by the Indian Affairs Committee, which has been in existence since 1795.
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| Clarifying Our Faith and Practice Revision Process Friends are invited to participate in helping to clarify our Faith and Practice Revision Process and can do so in a variety of ways. At Interim Meeting on 10/15/2016, we approved creation of an ad hoc Faith and Practice Process Clarification Committee. Friends could serve as members of that committee or are welcome to attend committee meetings. We also anticipate that at least one listening session will be held, possibly on 12/3/2016. Friends could also submit comments to the committee. Meetings could invite members of the committee to visit to discuss it.
- To submit comments, volunteer to serve on the committee, be notified of committee meetings, or request a visit to your Meeting, send an email to fandp@bym-rsf.org, which will go to all members of the committee as they are added.
- For details on the charge of the new committee and relevant background and for updates on the work of that committee as they become available, see www.bym-rsf.org/what_we_do/committees/fandpclarity/home.html.
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| FFAD Minute Regarding State Sanctioned Violence Thinking about Race (November 2016)
“The Fellowship of Friends of African Descent [FFAD] is a 25 year old Quaker organization that supports the spiritual nurture of Quakers of African descent and provides opportunities for sharing our concerns. …. ..... “The problems of racism, militarism and violence that we face are rooted in the deeper, less recognized sicknesses of materialism and greed. From the slave trade and plantation economics of the American south to the terroristic subjugation of Jim Crow to the modern-day profits of miseducation and mass incarceration, racial stereotypes have been used to mask and justify the exploitation and denial of economic human rights to people of African descent. As a result, these communities are under-resourced, as is evidenced by the lack of jobs, healthcare, quality education and decent housing. In the absence of real opportunities for employment and economic self-sufficiency underground economies rise up in our communities to fill the gap. People in these economies are criminalized and prosecuted even though they are only seeking to provide enough resources to support their families. We realize that we cannot have a meaningful conversation about ending racial oppression without also addressing classism, joblessness and wealth inequality. “In response to these realities, we, as Quakers and as people of African descent call for the following:- PEACEFORCE
- PEACE CENTERS
- COMMUNITY TRAINING
- DISARMAMENT”
You may read the details of these four items and the full minute at www.fofad.org/2016-gathering.html. Click the “Minute Regarding State-Sanctioned Violence” link on that page. This column is prepared by the BYM Working Group on Racism (WGR) and sent to the designated liaisons at each Monthly and Preparative Meeting for publication in their newsletter or other means of dissemination. The WGR meets most months on the third Saturday from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, at various Meetings. If you would like to attend, on a regular or a drop-in basis, contact clerk David Etheridge.
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