Minneapolis Friends Meeting

Minutes of Monthly Meeting for Business

August 10, 2025

[names and some content have been edited for publication on the web]

Attendance:  Stephen S.- presiding clerk, Tom W.- recording clerk, 25 attenders in person with 16 on Zoom

1.  Silent worship
2. Land Acknowledgement—
3. Approval of the agenda—Clerk   approved
4. Approval of July 13, 2025 Minutes – Minutes were APPROVED. Friend asked that we record his dissent to a minute on Peace in Israel and Palestine that Meeting approved 6 months ago, in February. He did not want to stand in the way, but wanted his disapproval recorded.
5. Death & Memorial Annual Report: Tom W, clerk   Death and Memorial Committee is a sub-committee of Ministry and Counsel (M&C) and it assists M&C and Care and Counsel Committee in providing support and guidance to families when someone dies, from before the death, through the memorial service and beyond. The primary focus is to plan the memorial service with the family, to assist with the service and to coordinate the reception. In the past year we coordinated three memorial services in the meeting house: Janis R. died 7/4/2024 with service on 8/19/2024, Jim L. (spouse of Kate C.) died 8/29/2024 with service on 7/12/2025, and Scott W. died 1/23/2025 with service to be held 8/23/2025. There were three other deaths within the greater MFM community that should be noted, but for whom we did not coordinate services: Cheryl M. (H.) died 8/22/2024, Karen R. died 1/30/2025, and Doris T. died 12/29/2024. Committee challenges include replacing three members who have withdrawn for various reasons, selecting a replacement of the co-clerk, Barbara Z, who moved out of town, and developing the experience of committee members.  Friends Accepted the report.
6. Scott Wright’s memorial minute: Pat J.  [see attachments for entire minute] His memorial service will be Saturday August 23^rd at 1PM at the meeting house. We are asked to hold Debbie H., his spouse, and Scott’s family in the Light. Meeting settled into silence in remembrance of Scott.
7.  Ministry and Council (M&C) report for membership –  Kate W-J  M&C received a request for membership from Jeff B.  A clearness committee was convened and met with Jeff. The clearness committee and M&C heartily recommend Jeff for membership in Minneapolis Friends Meeting.  Friends APPROVED Jeff B. for membership in Minneapolis Friends Meeting.
8. Audit of Trustees Funds, May 2024-April 2025 —Suzanne F.  There are three primary objectives when auditing Minneapolis Friends Meeting accounts: 1. Confirm to donors that resources given are used as authorized and that sound stewardship and money management is followed by committees and trustees. 2. Protect those that handle, record, or disburse funds that they do not have any suspicion or ill will towards them because of their contact with Meeting funds. 3. An audit will provide assurance that funds are not misappropriated or used fraudulently. Accomplishments: Current trustees are Linda C., Roland B. and Keitha H.  The role of the trustees is to resolve legal questions, handle insurance questions, allocate Lakewood Cemetery plots, maintain Asset Replacement Schedule, and decide meeting house use for non-meeting purposes.   Legally only the trustees of the meeting house can sign contracts, so repairs and remodeling contracts go through the trustees.   The Property Committee brings all their requests outside of normal wear and tear to the trustees for approval.  The trustees conduct business via email and/or zoom meetings and, as needed, gather to sign documents or checks.  Linda, as clerk, keeps a detailed spreadsheet of income and expenditures. Accounts are reconciled with the bank statement every month by both Linda and Roland. Both Linda and Roland can sign checks and make transfers.  Roland has been added to the Bremer Bank account. Keitha has not yet been added to the account, but will be.  Linda keeps the paper records, checkbook, bank statements and paid invoices.
   1. End of MFM audit year May 2024 – April 2025
      1. 1. Checking Account Balance: $4592.39
         2. Freedom Account (Savings) Balance: $190,370.51
   2. Expenditures during audit year May 2024 – April 2025
      1. 1. Aug 2024 Insulation and Lighting upgrade. Initial Invoice of $17,098; Rebate of $9948  Total expenditure was $7150
         2. Sept/Oct 2024 History Fund:  $3841
         3. 2024-2025 Solar Project after rebates totaling $14,524 there is a remaining balance of ~$11,000  to which monthly payments of $150.65 are made
   3. Trustee Account Income:  Budget Allocation from General Fund;  Rent – Mayim Rabim, Community Choir, Men’s Group;  Memorials and Bequests;  Interest
   4. Recommendations:
      1. 1. Keitha H. should be added to the Bremer Bank Account
         2. The Asset Replacement Schedule should be brought up to date. This may require a combined meeting between Trustees, Stewardship Committee and Property Committee.
   5. Discussion: Clerk: audits of all Meeting accounts are performed every other year, alternating between the general fund one year and the Trustee’s accounts on the next. So, there is an audit report each year.  Friends Accepted the auditor’s report and the Clerk expressed the Meeting’s gratitude for Suzanne’s excellent work.
9. Request for Support from Trustees Conference Travel Fund—Linda C.  Terry H. is requesting $250 from the Trustee’s travel fund to attend People Camp. This year, the focus of People Camp will be George Lakey. The Trustees have agreed to the request and are coming to monthly meeting for approval. Terry will report back to Meeting following the event. Friends APPROVE giving $250 from the travel fund to Terry H. to attend People Camp and to report back to Meeting. Linda will notify Terry of the award.
10. Shepherd Scholarship Committee Annual Report—Allen G.  The title of the scholarship has changed to properly reflect that it is independent of Minneapolis Friends Meeting, and it is now registered with the IRS and has tax exempt status. To date, August 2025, the Scholarship Committee has awarded $266,914. The balance on June 30, 2025 was $243,831, but was reduced by $10,000 by the grants we just made. The balance goes up and down, considerably, month to month. Discussion: Who can apply for the scholarship and what can it be used for?  There are stipulations, but, in general, it is available to any person, or their children, who have significantly contributed to Meeting for at least five years. It is for post-secondary education. While we do, preferentially, support Quaker members of Minneapolis Friends Meeting, we have given scholarship aid to other students who have demonstrated significant commitment to Quaker values and principles. And we have given to William Penn College. This year, Beau F. and Morgan F. applied for and received scholarships.
11. Children and Families Annual Report— Andrea S.  The Children and Families Committee provides leadership in programs and activities for Children, Youth, and their Families. It promotes interconnectedness and community among children, families, and youth of different ages. The committee oversees the Religious Education Program, supervises the Religious Education Children and Family Coordinator, and supports Coordinator Cathy N. The Religious Education Committee provides leadership in prayer, thought and action regarding children’s programs and activities. The committee meets regularly with the Children and Families coordinator and is actively working to create a process for operating as a committee. They have been struggling to determine their role in supporting the children and families in Meeting and in figuring out their relationship with the Children and Families coordinator. Upcoming points of attention are to contact parents to let them know the committee is here to support them and to create programming that encourages the inclusion of family’s ideas for programming while meeting the needs for spiritual education they desire for their children. They strive to remain open to the Spirit to guide their work, rather than following preconceived ideas or letting the program unfold without the committee’s active engagement. Discussion: Meeting had a lot of suggestions. Could we engage the Outreach Committee and the coordinator to develop a formal way to communicate with parents?  Friend thought it would be good if MFM participated in the Linden Hills fall festival as a positive way to reach out to the community.  There was acknowledgement of how hard it is to develop the children and families program – that last spring there was a program on ways to enhance their program, but how do we implement the ideas that were generated?  Andrea – we are in the process of engaging and collaborating with other committee clerks, to be more connected to Meeting and to other committees, but they do feel like they are floundering in moving the program forward.  They are a new committee and are working out what they should be doing. Presiding clerk asked what Meeting can do to assist. Invite more children to participate in Meeting and support the committee by staying in contact with them. Tom Wells added that religious educators are always seeking to find what works and what does not work, but it is a constant challenge knowing who will show each week. This is inherent in our religious education program and it is a big commitment for the families to show up each week. Some weeks, no children show up and our best plans are unmet. Carolyn V put in a plug for more people to teach. It was a very rich time for her, teaching in First Day School. It is a privilege working with our children and it can be spiritually deepening to take a Sunday and explore our religion together. Friends Accepted the report.
12. Liaison and Review Committee(L&R)   Rae Beth – L&R is looking for volunteers to assist covering some of Ariel’s duties when he is on vacation or is sick. Ariel has agreed to open and close on Sunday mornings during the summer, but he does not drive and it will be difficult for him to be present on Sundays during the fall and winter. Ariel and Lavender will coordinate to see that the meeting house is opened and closed during the summer, but the rest of the year, L&R is looking for volunteers to open and close the meeting house on Sundays – 8:30 AM to open and 12:45 to close – and to make sure the meeting house gets closed after potlucks. However, if committees meet after meeting for worship, someone from the committee needs to close up. Email Ariel if you are interested in opening and closing.  The other request is more challenging. L&R is looking for someone experienced in our Meeting who could substitute as a volunteer office manager on Thursdays or Fridays when Ariel is absent. The main task would be getting out the weekly bulletin. Again, contact Ariel if you would consider doing this.                                                      *      The second part of L&R’s request concerns approving up to $4,000 from Trustee capital funds to purchase a new computer and printer for the office and to update the software. Trustees favor supporting the request but wanted to run it by monthly meeting.  The computer is quite old and will be obsolete this fall – no updates available after October – so the need is fairly urgent. Also, many programs on the computer are charging yearly subscription fees, such as QuickBooks, so it will cost more to maintain the new software. The printer will need to be fairly heavy duty to manage all the printing needs of the office and committees. There was considerable discussion over the Meeting’s needs for the printer and the clarification of L&R’s request for specific equipment and software programs. Some committees and first day school teachers have regular printing needs. It appears that the Trustees may have approved a general amount for the capital improvements, but there is a need for more details, specific equipment requests, itemized lists. Presiding clerk expressed concern that the request is not clear. Friend remarked that it had been approved by the Trustees, but it was being brought to monthly meeting for review of what was to be purchased.  Linda C suggested that the Trustees may need to review the proposal again.  Friends agreed to sending the request back to L&R, to be brought forward in a new proposal in September, after they have polled the clerks. Any subscription fees for programs need to come out of general budget office expenses. Concern was expressed that the printer should be easy to operate and operating instructions should be available; that the computer not be a laptop model, making security more problematic if it left the building (it will be a desk model, per Roger M.); that L&R will poll clerks to make sure all their needs are considered; and that this be done in a timely fashion, since there is a real deadline with the current computer going obsolete.
13. Peace & Social Concerns Committee (P&SC) Annual Report—Nettie S.   The re-designed Peace and Social Concerns Committee is charged with supporting members and attenders who are engaged in social action. We are an open committee and encourage all to come to our meetings. We provide support and encouragement to projects and leadings of members and attenders. We also provide some mid-morning programs, and we may initiate some social action projects. We are committed to combining social action with contemplation and prayer.
    1. Accomplishments – before the new structure (prior to April 2025), P&SC showed films at the meeting house; recommended the 2024 Winter Envelope Gift go to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund; sponsored a mid-morning program on the Apache Stronghold and on “About Power: How to Democratize Electricity Now” with George C.; got a minute approved asking for peace in Israel and Palestine; worked to have a land acknowledgement statement approved and read before every monthly meeting; held a “stone soup” potluck in support of Right Sharing of World Resources; and had Meeting co-sponsor a talk by Sarah A. at United Theological Seminary on “Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery”.
    2. Since the new structure was implemented (April 2025) the committee has continued as an open committee and has held monthly meetings on Zoom. They encourage those who are engaged in social action and would like support, ideas, and clearness from the committee. The committee supported some members and attenders who organized a protest at the state capitol against the actions of the president and Congress.  They are promoting an opportunity for Friends to mentor students at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College and have connected with the Southwest Alliance for Equity, adding their support to John Stuart and others who are participating in this organization of social activists. They facilitated obtaining financial aid for a member who is planning to attend Friends for a Non-Violent World People Camp and are supporting a member working with refugees who are seeking asylum. P&SC supported two members who coordinated a postcard/letter writing gathering of Quakers and Mayim Rabim members. P&SC continues to maintain their care of the Deep Inner Work of Racial Justice group, which meets monthly, is engaged in embodied social action, and has worked with Unidos to bring about clean energy in the city of Minneapolis.
    3. Challenges: The restructuring of the committee has been a challenge. Committee members and Clerk of Meeting came up with the new design. There is the on-going challenge to address, in a Quaker way, all the concerns of the state, our nation, and the world which weigh heavily on so many of us. How do we combine contemplation with action?
    4. Discussion: Clerk commented that these activities are a powerful statement of the witness and contributions of members of our Meeting community. The fact both U.S. Senators from Minnesota voted, for the first time, to restrict military aid supporting Israel’s war effort is evidence that our actions do make a difference. Friends Accepted the report.
14. FNVW Craft Fair?  (Clerk is checking on whether this will happen) On hold until next month
15. Correspondence and Announcements—Clerk encourages Friends to get announcements into the office by Thursday, if they want them printed in the bulletin.
16.  Closing Worship

ATTACHMENTS 

Memorial Minute for Scott Wright

Scott Wright arrived at Minneapolis Friends in about 1988 and became a member ten years later. Friends remember him as warm, gentle, and kind. Scott may have been in contact with Friends in the 1970s when he was part of a group of young men who refused armed service induction during the American war with Vietnam.

Scott was born on October 8, 1951, in Minneapolis to Robert and Dolores. He was officially named Robert Scott after his father, but was always called Scott by his parents and three siblings: Robin, Richard, and Ronelle.

Scott had an insatiable curiosity, in particular about global and familial history. He questioned established norms and procedures, wanting to find better ways to do things and sometimes frustrating those who wanted to complete a task the usual way.

Scott had left St. Louis Park High School without graduating and was drafted in 1970. His refusal counted as a felony offense. When he came before Judge Miles Lord, Scott was working with grade school children at Tilden School for the Deaf. Lord approved of Scott’s work and sentenced him to continue that for two years. Scott later earned a GED and attended St. Cloud State. In 1977, he was included in Jimmy Carter’s pardon of war resisters, which was important to Scott because he could again vote. He believed in the power of the vote and the responsibility to vote and had suffered when he could not exercise that duty.

Scott was a spiritual person, questioning all he read and experienced. He looked for his own version of enlightenment, reading books by scholars and spiritual teachers to help him find his path through life. His library became filled with books of different perspectives; no one teacher was sufficient. His favorites included Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, John Dominic Crossan, Howard Thurman, and Don Miguel Ruiz.

In parallel with his Quaker testimonies, Scott followed Native American Lakota traditions and spiritual teachings. He attended Sundance, often with his child Caitlyn. Pat C. and other members of the Minnesota sweat community remember him this way—

Scott and Caitlyn were active members in a local group we call the “Minnesota Camp” of the Hollow Horn Bear Sundance community. Scott’s connection began long ago when some folks in his Twin Cities Quaker community did volunteer work at the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. Both he and Caitlyn, who was a child at the time, were touched by the people and culture they experienced there. Sometime later, Scott began attending Sweat Lodge ceremonies in Minnesota. This was the initial connection to traveling to Rosebud reservation in South Dakota over a 20-year-plus period.  In June of each year a group would venture to support one another in completing our Hunbleychia (often referred to as “vision quest”). Scott spent several nights in prayer and fasting (no food and water) during his four-year commitment. While this ceremony requires considerable preparation and courage, Scott seemed incredibly peaceful about it all. On one particular night there were concerns about an enormous storm that he had to weather with just a blanket and a small tarp. Yet, as he revealed his personal journey of this experience, we were deeply moved by his absolute wonder and gratitude about the splendor of that storm. He seemed fearless about it. On later reflection, we can imagine he found himself one with all of creation.

We finish all our Lakota prayers with the phrase, “Mitakuye Oyasin.” This is a sort of “amen” that affirms we are related to every living thing on this earth, and even the entire universe. The storm story is just one of many examples about how Scott brought his spiritual life into his daily life in authentic ways. We know his love of literature was put into practice through ceremony. We suspect his simple and straightforward capacity for meaningful relationship was enhanced through ceremony. We were all blessed to know and be with him. And we will miss him.

Scott loved working outdoors, taking care of his customers’ lawns, plants, and trees. He referred to the “heroic action” of battling a winter snowstorm to make sure his customers could get to wherever they needed to go. For decades he cleared the snow from the meeting house sidewalks in winter and cut the grass in the summer. He and Ed S. planned and built the fence, the timber walls, and the paver patio. To make that patio solid, they had to replace a lot of clay with sand.

Scott and Ed sailed with Alf and Brynden W. to Cuba in 1992 and, while there, painted the 100-year-old Friends’ Church in Puerto Padre. That was the first of four trips to Cuba that were sponsored by Minneapolis Friends Meeting.

Scott’s child, Caitlyn, went on one of those later trips with other Quaker youth and adults, including Scott. Caitlyn, who had been born on March 30, 1987, in Seattle to Scott and his then-wife Susan S., came as a toddler to the nursery where Scott was often a parent-caregiver. The two were living in St. Louis Park in 1988 and until 1991 when Scott and Debbi H. met at a Twelve-Step Meeting in a church basement. Scott and Debbi became friends, then dated, and were partners after that for the remaining 34 years of Scott’s life.

Scott, Debbi says, valued his role as a father, and Caitlyn was always in his thoughts. Caitlyn was four when the three moved in together at Debbi’s place in St. Paul. Throughout youth, Caitlyn participated actively in Sunday School, made life-long friendships with others there, traveled with Quakers to El Salvador as well as Cuba, and worked with Scott on the meeting grounds. Because he had the flexibility of his own business, Scott spent lots of time visiting Caitlyn’s school and participating in activities. He was in touch with Caitlyn about life and work regularly into adulthood. During Caitlyn’s early thirties, they expressed their non-binary nature; Scott was an active support to them throughout that transition. In their mid-thirties, Caitlyn experienced a mental health crisis and took their own life.

Caitlyn’s death was a major tragedy for Scott. Listening to and singing the rock, blues, and folk music of his youth comforted Scott as he mourned Caitlyn’s death.

Scott was devoted to his family and friends. He was especially fond of his English great-grandfather’s memoirs. When he told stories about his family, he was adept at making the stories personal and relevant so that people would enjoy listening and would learn. He studied Irish history and visited Ireland as an adult to trace his mother’s family’s origins.

Debbi, Scott’s life companion, says that Scott was one of the most delightfully complex people she’s ever known – “All the facets of his personality were complex, both his life and the things he stood for: Quaker peace witness, Quaker spirituality mixed with Lakota spirituality, believing that we are all connected, including the earth and the animals. Scott spent his life’s work outdoors, aware of and attuned to nature and to all beings.”

In his retirement, Scott revisited earlier interests. He took up playing the cornet once again; he had played largely by ear in high school, but began taking lessons from his fellow Quaker friend, Tom W., and was learning to read sheet music. He returned to t’ai chi, another beloved practice, after a more than 25-year hiatus. He also spent a lot of time with three very good friends who had terminal diseases.

Scott was reconnecting with parts of himself from the past and determining what he wanted his future to be when, on January 23, 2025, he died of complications after an abdominal aneurysm surgery. Debbi, his sisters, Minnesota sweat lodge members, and Quaker Friends were with him at his passing.

Scott’s witness for all life remains with us as we remember him.