This year we are grateful for many blessings, humbled by a few challenges and encouraged by the faith and commitment of our growing community of members and attenders. In January our previous Clerk, Jim Laity, stepped down and moved away from the area. Our current officers are Scott Duncan & Susan Holt as co-clerks, Carlos Moreno as treasurer, Howard Van Breeman as recording clerk, Eva Paxton as First Day School coordinator, Cheri Clark representing the property committee. Also in January, we welcomed outgoing PYM General Secretary, Christie Duncan Tessmer, who visited with an activity that enlightened us all to the scope of PYM.
At the beginning of the year, the meeting came up with goals for both outreach and inreach. For inreach, taking inspiration from a quarterly meeting, we held a retreat where each participant shared their individual spiritual journey, specifically answering 2 questions: What brought you to Quakerism and what keeps you coming back? Each participant was invited to bring in an object with symbolic meaning. For outreach, we’ve created a website and a new sign for the driveway to the meeting place. Several new Friends have found us and come to Meeting For Worship. We also have partnered with Third Haven and PYM for FDS and religious education.
In February, WRFM supported the PYM Witness Statement protecting free speech in houses of worship. We also supported the lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that seeks to block government officials from entering houses of worship for their immigration enforcement actions. In addition, we gave a travel grant to Melvin Deloney, a Maryland Corps intern with Habitat for Humanity, to attend FCNL Spring Lobby Weekend in D.C. Also, in February we warmly welcomed a new member, Eva Paxton, who, along with her two children, brings cheerful energy to the meeting.
First on our list of blessings is the steady growth of our First Day School. Under the stewardship of Eva, FDS meets twice a month with 4 – 6 children, aged toddler through elementary school. They sit with the whole meeting for 16 (squirmy) minutes, then move to another room for FDS. Usually this begins a short reading and discussion followed by hands-on activities, often outdoors. They thoroughly enjoy our natural setting! Their joyful faces and energy are a true gift to our meeting. Last summer the Meeting sponsored Eva’s daughter Lois to attend Quaker Camp Onas. She had a wonderful experience and especially enjoyed outdoor meeting for worship.
We continue careful environmental stewardship of our property. The pollinator garden we planted last year came back this spring and all summer long was filled with large, colorful blooms and many types of bees and butterflies. In the spring and fall, we had 2 property workdays where members, attenders and Friends young and old worked alongside. The trees we planted previously are growing well and this year we added an area for compost.
While the Meeting’s finances are solid we have been debating how best to make use of funds. Three years ago we decided to increase our charitable contributions to local organizations. Over time, this has resulted in increasing the gap between income and expenses and diminishing our reserves. We will have to make some changes in next year’s budget.
In the spring, in accordance with the wishes of his close friend Sally Swayze, we held a heartfelt memorial service for Don Clement whose twinkling eyes and humor were fondly remembered. As many of our members age and we face health challenges, we try to give support. Fortunately, we are also blessed with new frequent and active attenders. We share our facility with a Buddhist group that meets weekly and recently, they held a memorial service there.
Currently, WRFM has 9 members, 2-5 active and consistent attenders and an average of 10-15 for weekly MFW.
