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Burlington Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
Steering Committee Meeting
Fourth Month 15 th 2006
Woolman Memorial Mount Holly New Jersey

Friends of the Burlington Quarter Steering Committee gathered for fellowship at half past nine in the morning of Fourth Month 15 th , 2006, at the Woolman Memorial in Mount Holly , New Jersey

Present were Fran Campbell (Mount Holly and Quarter Coordinator), Pat Fowler (Mount Holly), Harold Jernigan (Little Egg Harbor and clerk of Burlington Quarter), Jada Jackson, (Trenton and presiding clerk), Joe Jordan (Rancocas), Charlotte Mood (Little Egg Harbor), Gary Nisley (Little Egg Harbor), Frank Smith (Rancocas and treasurer of Burlington Quarter), Cynthia vanSaun (Little Egg Harbor), Jack Walz (Mount Holly), Allan White (Princeton), Susan White (Princeton and recording).

Minute No. 1 Opening Minute and Agenda . Burlington Quarter Steering Committee gathered at Woolman Memorial for regular meeting Fourth Month 15 th , 2006, near the stated hour of ten in the morning, and settled into worship. In the silence of opening worship, a Friend lifted up the witness of several Friends of long and faithful service in our Quarter who have recently passed from this life. The proposed agenda was consider and accepted as amended.

Minute No. 2. Concern on Repayment of Mansfield Loan from Mount Holly Mount Holly raised a concern about the proposal to repay the Mansfield Meetinghouse renovation by dividing the debt among Monthly Meetings according to membership. At the recent Quarter Treasurers Meeting, an example was given that so much per member could be charged to repay deficit. Following that meeting, clerk of Mount Holly Meeting called clerk of Quarter, and discussed matter. The situation with Mansfield is represented clearly in the minutes of both Burlington Quarterly Meeting and Burlington Quarter Steering Committee. These are sent to clerks of Monthly Meetings in our Quarter. We will look at budget repayment, and then it will be discussed at Quarterly Meeting. In any case, we do not assess Monthly Meeting any amount. We look at what we need and determine a budget for the Quarter, and Friends can then give whatever they are able and led. We will examine budget in this light.

Clerk of Quarter will make sure that Mount Holly understands the following. Nothing is set as to how the Mansfield Meetinghouse renovations will be repaid. The budget is being considered today at Steering Committee, then will come to Quarterly Meeting Sixth Month 2006 to be approved. In no case do we tax Meetings. We determine as a Quarter what our work will be, and then ask Meetings to support that work as they are able and led. We suggest an amount in case all Meetings pay equally, based on membership, but that is not a requirement.

Minute No. 2. Minutes of Previous Meeting. Minutes of First Month Meeting were considered, corrected and approved. Minutes state that the next Steering Committee Meeting was planned for Second Month 18 th . This was the plan, but way did not open.

Minute No. 3. Treasurer's Report and Budget . Treasurer reported General Funds of $14,493.82; School Fund $19,533.31, Shrewsbury Fund $3020.57. Mansfield Property Account: Checking $2,509.14, Savings $2,173.67, Strock Portfolio $17,165.90. Friends Assistance Fund: $2,411.31, Savings $43,237.28, for a total of $45,648.59

Treasurer presented a detailed proposed budget for Burlington Quarter:

[*Bookkeeping Adjustment: This amount includes a $30,000 pass through from Yearly Meeting for Coordinators expenses. Yearly Meeting portion of the salary is being paid directly in 2006-07 budget year.]

Due to PYM Quarterly for Covenant $14,972
Due to PYM Quarterly for Coordinators Expenses $4,625

Friends of the Burlington Quarter Steering Committee recommended Budget as proposed to the Burlington Quarterly Meeting in Sixth Month, with thanks to our Treasurer for its preparation.

Minute No. 5. Proposed Program . Mary Lord has been invited to present a program at Twelfth Month Quarterly Meeting. Will be held over until next meeting.

Minute No. 6. Coordinator's Report .. Fran Campbell distributed a written Coordinator's Report. She then highlighted the: Camp DarkWater fundraiser on May 21, and the report that TriQuarter Gathering has new energy, with a web page. Fran also appealed to all Meetings to contribute to our Quarter Link Newsletter. Next issue will go to press on May 15. News should be sent to Fran as soon as possible, but absolute deadline is May 14 th .
News about Residential Yearly Meeting was discussed. Friends approved report.

Minute No 7. Fundraisers for Mansfield Meetinghouse Renovations . The Mansfield Meetinghouse Subcommittee of the Burlington Quarter Trustees is made up of Harold Jernigan, Frank Smith, Maurey Stevenson . They have met with Cynthia VanSaun who is proposing ways to raise funds for Manfield.

Friends suggested that each Meeting put forward its own way of responding to the offer of Trustees and Cynthia to visit and talk about needs at Mansfield and possibilities about fund-raising.

Minute 7.A. Greeting Cards to Support Mansfield . Cynthia offered that she will take responsibility for making cards for us to sell to support the Mansfield Meetinghouse restoration project. The artwork for these cards has been contributed by our Friend Edith Clarke-Cassen, a member of Little Egg Harbor Meeting. We have the money to support fundraising projects. $1100 was set aside by Burlington Quarterly Meeting for this purpose last fall.

How much will cards cost, how much will we sell them for? This will be explored, and reported back to next Steering Committee. Friends would like a proposed budget. This information will be mailed out to Steering Committee members before next Steering Committee meeting so we can be thinking about plan. Cynthia asked that we outline what we need, and Friends offered the following:

The budget for Greeting Cards for Mansfield will include:

Friends of the Steering Committee will be charged to go to one or more museum or other appropriate card shops and see how much cards cost. We will then consider possible prices for the cards at the next Steering Committee Meeting. With these figures in mind, we can determine whether we make a profit on this. It is important to know this since this is seed money for future fundraising for Mansfield Meetinghouse project. .

Recorder read back Minute 7.A. and Friends approved this minute.

Minute 8. Bequest Committee Minute. Friends approved clerk of Quarter making a grant proposal to Yearly Meeting Bequest Committee to support Mansfield Meetinghouse renovation project.

Minute 9. Update on Yearly Meeting Matters . Mark Myers is new Interim General Secretary. He recently approached clerk of Quarter, and introduced himself, and asked to be invited to next Quarterly Meeting. As to Burlington Quarter minute on Yearly Meeting Governance, the Yearly Meeting Quarter Concerns Committee is working well, clerk of Quarter is a member, and that body should soon report.

Minute 10. Date of Burlington Quarterly Meetings and Visitations. . Burlington Quarterly Meetings will be planned for June 17 2006 - Mount Holly, September 16 - Barnegat, and December 9 - Mansfield . Clerk of Quarter will confirm dates with those Meetings. Visitation at Mansfield this Fourth Month was cancelled since building is not ready. Concern was lifted up that attendance at Visitations is poor. Ways to increase participation were considered.

Minute 11. Pictures on Website. Susan White, web clerk reported that pictures of people will be added to Burlington Quarter website. These will supplement pictures of the historic Meetinghouses in Burlington Quarter now on the site. Meetings are encouraged to send pictures to her for this purpose.

Minute 12. Closing. Friends settled into closing worship, and meeting rose at half past the noon hour, to meet again, Fifth Month 20th 2006, according to Divine Will.

Susan White, recording clerk