Miami Quarter
Religious Society of Friends
Meeting For Worship with Attention to Business
Fifth Month, 16th Day, 2021
Via Zoom
Hosted By Lexington Friends, Lexington Kentucky
Presiding clerk: Peter Hardy
No recording clerk was named
Attendees: Wilhelmina Branson, Paul Buckly, Nikki Coffey Tousley, Veronica Frost, Dale Hayes, Bruce Heckman, Anne Hutchison, Deborah Jordan, Melissa LeVine, Connie McNealy, Richard Mitchell, Betsy Neale, Princess Neilson, Don Ruchnagel, Jennifer Snow Wolff, Steve Stone, Barry Zalph
Since no recording clerk was available the clerk first asked Friends if they would mind if the meeting, since it was occurring on Zoom video conferencing, could be recorded. Friends agreed to have the meeting recorded.
The clerk called the meeting to order and asked Friends to enter into silent worship. The clerk then read the query and invited Friends who wished to speak to the query to do so from out of the silence. Several friends spoke of how they felt a deeper sense of belonging to their meeting and the particular actions of Friends which contributed to a feeling of mutual love and communion.
Query:
What binds me to my meeting community? What fosters mutual love and communion in our meeting? How does our meeting resolve conflicts when they arise?
Query #5, Faith and Practice of Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting (2021).
Roll call of representatives of Monthly Meetings.
The following Friends were present to represent their monthly meetings.
Campus — no representative
Community –Deborah Jordan
Dayton — Nikki Coffey Tousley
Eastern Hills — Dale Hayes, Anne Hutchison
Lexington– Richard Mitchell
Louisville — Barry Zalph
Miami — no representative
Oxford — Andy Garrison
Yellow Springs — Bruce Heckman
Agenda review
The clerk reviewed the agenda for the meeting.
Planning for in person meetings. The clerk reminded Friends that annual sessions for this year will be entirely on-line with no in-person meeting. For this year there are two opportunities for meeting in-person. THe first is the annual picnic which will be held on 11 July 2021 and will take place at Fort Ancient in Oregonia, OH. The second could be a Joint Quarter meeting held at Happy Hollow Camp in Indiana, in October 2021. Staff from Happy Hollow Camp had contacted a member of yearly meeting to inquire about our interest in holding a weekend retreat there this fall. Friends discussed this possibility in relationship to the declining numbers of infections and Friends vaccination status. Minute: Friends agreed to begin planning for a Joint Quarter meeting to be held at Happy Hollow camp in October 2021.
Treasurer’s report
Veronica Frost, Treasurer for Miami Quarter meeting presented the treasurer’s report. The report appears below in these minutes. Veronica announced that all the meeting’s accounts were consolidated at the TruPartner Credit Union in Dayton, OH. She emphasized that each fund will have its own account at TruPartner and thus the treasurer will be able to report specific gains in value for each fund. The Cincinnati fund has been invested in a certificate of deposit (CD) and thus earns interest. The donation to the Green Plain cemetery fund came from a family local to the Green Plain meeting house. The donations of $1500 were for the creation of a bronze plaque to identify the historic meeting house and for the continued maintenance of the meeting house. The expense of $25 is for yearly registration of the cemetery with the state of Ohio.
The $25 expense for the Cincinnati fund was for the initiation of a subscription to Friends Journal of a new member of the Religious Society.
One Friend drew upon a poster created by her mother to explain the goal of the Cincinnati fund.
| BENEVOLENT FUND- TruPartner Credit Union | $3138.54 |
| CINCINNATI FUND-(original endowment $12,000.00) TruPartner Credit Union | $16,392.61 |
| JOINT QUARTER FUND- TruPartner Credit Union | $500.00 |
| GREEN PLAIN MEETINGHOUSE FUND- TruPartner Credit Union | $21,294.00 |
| INCOME | |
| BENEVOLENT & CINCINNATI FUND | $18.47 |
| GREEN PLAIN MEETINGHOUSE FUND | $61.04 |
| DONATION | |
| GREEN PLAIN MEETINGHOUSE FUND | $1500.00 |
| EXPENSES | |
| CINCINNATI FUND-Friends Journal subscription | $25.00 |
| GREEN PLAIN-Cemetery state registration | $25.00 |
The treasurer answered a few questions from Friends regarding the purpose and the restrictions of the Cincinnati fund. Friends having no further questions accepted the Treasurer’s report with enthusiastic appreciation.
OVYM Report
In the absence of other Friends from the Planning Committee, the clerk presented an update on annual sessions for yearly meeting. Registration is on-line and is available. The cost is modest and the program is varied and interesting. The clerk encouraged all friends to register and participate in the meeting.
Registration: https://form.jotform.com/201661101402132
Future meetings of Miami Quarter meeting
Friends will meet next at the annual sessions of Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting, June 16-20, 2021. The next meeting of Miami Quarter will be October 2021.
All minds being easy, the clerk Friends to enter into a period of silence. The clerk broke the silence and thanked Friends for their helpful participation during the meeting. He then closed the meeting.
