Minneapolis Friends Meeting
Minutes of Monthly Meeting for Business
November 12, 2023
[Names and some info have been edited for web publication]

 

In attendance:  John K. – substitute Presiding Clerk, Tom W. – recording clerk,  25 in-person, 16 on Zoom

1.  Worship

2.  Approval of Agenda—APPROVED

3.  Approval of Minutes of October 8, 2023 Monthly Meeting for Business – APPROVED

4.  Ministry and Counsel Committee (M&C) Report—Lolly L

• Ministry and Counsel wants to support the Indigenous Concerns committee in creating a land acknowledgement that will be used by MFM. When finalized, the statement will be brought to Monthly Meeting.
• A young people’s group has been suggested. Presiding Clerk contacted the S___ about starting such a group for younger members/attenders in the Meeting. Once they assess the interest level they will report to M&C with the next steps.
• A clearness committee met with Terry H regarding discernment about his leading to work with the Healing Circles project with the Lakota people.
• M&C has begun asking people in Meeting to offer vocal ministry on how they center into the silence. This will be repeated on a monthly basis to help deepen and focus meeting for worship.
• They are revising the speakers and closers instructions, making adaptations to be more welcoming of families and children at the close of worship service. We will be dropping the cares and concerns section at the close of semi-programmed worship.

There was no Discussion. The M&C Report was accepted.

5.  Report on Terry H’s Request to travel in the ministry—Joanne E     A clearness committee, convened by Ministry and Counsel, met two times with Terry H to discern his leading to work with the Healing Circles Alliance Project. The committee and M&C recommend that Minneapolis Friends Meeting designate Terry H as a traveling minister of our Meeting, to continue his outreach to the Healing Circles Alliance Project and the projects leadership. The Healing Circles Alliance Project is developing a multi-faceted program to connect young indigenous people with their elders and to help them heal from historic and contemporary trauma through education and the arts. This is a project of the Lakota people from the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota and from other reservations in the region.

The committee has additional recommendations.

• They recommend that an on-going support group be set up to meet with Terry regularly, to offer him encouragement and spiritual support.
• That Terry commits to providing the Meeting with regular communication about the progress of the Healing Circles Project so that our meeting may be more connected to it.
• That Terry arranges with the leadership of the Project to provide in-person opportunities to meet with us so we can learn more from them about their plans for the Project.
• That a travel fund, starting at $500, be set up from which Terry can be reimbursed for his travel expenses.

Discussion: There was discussion about existing travel funds managed by the Trustees and some questions about how those funds are allocated –  a $250 limit on how much an individual receives and yearly limits.  There may be a group organized by Friends General Conference for traveling ministers. If so, it would be good if Terry connected with them. Presiding Clerk asked for clarification of what it means to be a traveling minister. An example was given of John Woolman, who traveled in the South preaching against slavery.  Terry would be ministering to the leaders in the Indian community in South Dakota, and they, in turn, would be ministering to us. He said that the Lakota are very spiritual and that he believes everyone will benefit from the reciprocal nature of the relationship. Roland says there is $5,000 in the Trustee travel account and they would be amenable to using it to assist Terry. There is a question about the amounts that can be allocated and they would have to look into this more.  Friend suggested that the limit of $250 may have been intended for those traveling to conferences and might not apply in the case of a traveling minister.  Presiding Clerk – it seems there is money available, but we need more guidance on how the money is to be used. Roland agreed to bring this question to the Trustees for clarification.

Clerk asked Meeting for approval to designate Terry H as a Traveling Minister to the Healing Circles Alliance of the Lakota People.  Meeting APPROVED.   Next, Meeting APPROVED delaying the decision regarding traveling funds to support Terry Hokenson in his ministry until next month’s meeting for business. Lastly, Friends were asked to approve establishing a support committee to work with Terry in his role as Traveling Minister. Friends APPROVED.  John S has already agreed to participate on the support committee and requested that others who are interested in supporting Terry should contact him.

 

6.  Discernment on proposal to invest in solar panels—Roger M and Rick V  An ad hoc committee has been working on this for over a year and they have made two presentations to Meeting, the most recent was last week. Last week’s presentation reviewed changes that have occurred to the proposed investment since April of 2023. The committee believes this initiative would address a number of the points in the vision statement Meeting agreed to eight years ago.  Today, we are being asked to strengthen our commitment to the care and future of the Meeting. We are not deciding on the specifics of concept or installation, but are making clear our commitment to pursue solar power for the meeting house. Clerk asked for approval for Minneapolis Friends Meeting to pursue development of solar energy for the meeting house.  Friends APPROVED.  Additional discussion: Question was raised if there should be a formalized committee to move this forward. The ad hoc committee wants more people to be involved with the facilitation and implementation of a solar program.  Clerk acknowledged that the ongoing responsibility for such a program would properly rest with the Property Committee. Rick V said this item has been on the agenda of Property Committee for some time and having Meeting approve moving forward with the proposal will change how Property Committee manages the question and how they proceed. There was some question about the continuing role of the ad hoc committee. Should it report to Property Committee or should Property Committee take on the entire project? Clerk asked us to pause on that question while other questions are considered.  Are there more specifics to the proposal at this time?  No. Do we have a timeline for specific proposals?  All Energy Solar is the organization that has been proposing most of the ideas that the ad hoc committee has been considering and they may be able to take this on before the end of this year. Clerk suggested that we need to have all the specifics identified in any proposal before we act on it. Other pertinent committees – Trustees, finance, etc. – need to sign-off on the proposal before Meeting considers it. Rick V said he would bring this discussion to the Property Committee to see if they can take it on. Clerk asked Meeting if Property Committee should take under its care the development of solar power.  Friends APPROVED.  In closing, a Friend asked if we had sufficiently addressed the initial question posed by Roger and Rick about providing more help to the ad hoc committee.  Thanks was expressed for all the hard work the ad hoc committee has done.

 

7.  REPORTS

A.  Stewardship and Finance Committee 2nd Quarter Report—Mike F

 Shortened Report for Second Quarter (November 13,2023) 

Starting Bremer Bank Account                                    $168,000

Ending Bremer Bank Account                                     $136,000

Offering Box 2^nd QTR 2023                  Total 2^nd QTR Expenses           Total 2^nd QTR

                    19,324                                     36,353                                     -17,029

              Trustees 2022-23 payment       20,000

                Usual Quarterly Expense        16,000

Offering Box 1^st QTR 2023                   Total 1^st QTR Expenses            Total 1^st QTR

                13,898                                        16,280                                       -2,286

 

2^nd Quarter expenses are similar to the expenses for the 1^st Quarter. The 3^rd Quarter is normally the largest quarter for donations and usually takes care of most of our expenses.   Discussion: Presiding Clerk – how are contributions doing relative to our budget for the whole year? We are at over 25% of the $126 K budget approved in March.  This is very similar to how we have done in the last 10 years – the 1^st and 2^nd Quarters are typically very light on contributions. We may not achieve the full $126K of the budget but we are light on expenses. Based on past experience we should be fine from a budget perspective.   Friends Accepted the report.

 

B.  Fall Camp Committee Report—Ed S    Fall Together Retreat was held at Fish Lake Park on October 14. It was a cold and cloudy day so much of our activity was inside. We were able to see the partial eclipse when the clouds gave way and we had a wonderful scavenger hunt outside, too. The day went back and forth between group activities and time to share one on one, or in small informal groups.  Thirty-nine people attended. There were two children and one dog. The Camp Committee feels the retreat went well and they plan to repeat the format next year.  Discussion:  Presiding Clerk – Meeting thanks Camp Committee for planning and staging this program every year.  It has always been very important to the life of the Meeting.  Friend asked how the attendance compares to previous years.  It is about the same – maybe a few more this year than last year.

C.  Loaves and Fishes – Annual Report—Ann L and Sue K  We participate in Loaves and Fishes whenever there is a fifth Monday in a month. This past year there were four Mondays that qualified, but we participated in only three since one of the dates was a holiday. Minneapolis Friends has taken part in Loaves and Fishes for over 40 years. Since we are a smaller congregation, we have joined with Twin Cities Meeting and other Meetings in the twin cities to provide volunteers to prepare and serve the meals. Recently, the Ismalli Community of Minnesota and Mayim Rabin have assisted in serving meals at Holy Rosary Church in Minneapolis. On average in 2023, 350 meals were produced on each meal date using 24 volunteers. In October, 10 volunteers from MFM helped out. In 2024 there will be 5 meals served.  Since COVID there have been no sit-down meals – all meals have been served in take-out style. This necessitated a change from the standard chili meal that has been our staple over the years to a Chili-Burrito, which has increased both preparation time and costs. Over 400 Chili-Burritos are made each time. Beef is no longer included in the meal, just ground turkey and beans. For now, meals continue to be served outside the church in take-out containers. The intermittent presence of homeless encampments in the surrounding community introduces uncertainty in the number of meals that need to be prepared from month to month.

Twin Cities Friends Meeting and Minneapolis Friends split the cost for each meal, and this has been a line item in our budget for many years.  In 2023, average cost per meal has been running around $1,000, with each meeting responsible for half.  With only 3 meals served in 2023, there may be some extra left over in our budget. However, even with generous donations of fruit – about $250 a meal – and with some cash donations, costs are projected to continue rising in 2024. The projected cost of each meal will be close to $1,400, or $700 for our share; and with five meals scheduled in 2024, MFM’s budget line item for Loaves and Fishes will need to increase to $3,500. Presiding Clerk: this will be incorporated into next year’s budgeting process and is not a separate item for consideration today. Discussion: Is there a particular shift or time when volunteers are most needed? Not specifically.  Those who are not working often come earlier and help with food preparation while those with jobs will come later and help serve the meals. It would be good to figure out how to add cookies to the meal and not just serve fruit. This might be a way for children to participate on a regular basis. Cathy N – the youth and children in Meeting would love to help with Loves and Fishes. Two times they have helped with Feed My Starving Children…  Are the smaller Meetings in the area contributing financially?  Should we ask them?  Ann will follow-up with the smaller groups and re-invite them to participate. She does think it would be good to ask Mayim Rabin to make a contribution.

Friend expressed his thanks that we now have a Children and Family Coordinator and that twice in today’s business meeting she was able to provide valuable input.

 

8. Communications and announcements— We received a thankyou from Friends for a Non-Violent World for our contribution of $3,000 to help cover the costs of George Lakey’s tour to Minneapolis.

 

9. Closing Worship