Membership
Physical Property
Cyber Meeting
Religious Education
Activities &
Spirit of the Meeting
Peace and Social Concerns
Membership:
 One of our members compiled a member database, taking into
account the inactive members who don’t attend meeting nor contribute
financially, in order to get a more realistic picture of the health of
our meeting. As of
September, the number of adult members (144) was reduced by the number
of inactive adult members (19) to bring the active member total to 125.
Young adult members and youth members under 21 combined to total
81. The number of attenders increased by 9 to total 112. Without subtracting the inactive members, our combined member
and attender total remained the same as last year: 337. We were happy to welcome four new members, and also welcomed
one of our Young Friend’s affirmation of membership. We mourned the
deaths of four dear members
and celebrated three births and one marriage. The convener of our
Marriage and Membership Committee brought a concern to us regarding the
lack of clearness on the membership status of children in our meeting,
which led to a Brown Bag Discussion
and further study.
 Physical
Property:
This year our Trustees
instituted a Needs List to keep Friends informed of ways to help with
the upkeep of our Meeting property. Improvements included a replacement
of the ramp to our Schoolhouse and the construction of a new,
short wall at its entrance, plus new chairs in our library. We finally
hung the beautiful quilt, made by one of our members for our
Bicentennial in 2006, in the stairwell of the Schoolhouse for all to
enjoy.
Cyber Meeting:
Our Webmaster encouraged us to embrace new habits of visiting
this Web site and to keep it thriving with contributions of information
and photos that reflect our vibrant community. Several new people have
visited meeting on the strength of its appeal. More and more Friends are
observing the difference between the Google group meant strictly for
official meeting messages and the one meant for discussion. Our
newsletter editor pushed our meeting farther along into cyberspace by
creating a new presence on Facebook.
Religious
Education:
 Our Religious
Education Committee continued the monumental task of curriculum
review and the creation of a curriculum database and teacher
orientation, all designed to make teaching First
Day School easier and more enjoyable. All levels of curriculum
will be organized under three overarching themes of: Quakerism, Self and
Others, and the Bible. First day school students participated in the
Fairhill Community Book Drive, as well as the many seasonal activities
that have become First Day School traditions. Adult education
opportunities included a Quaker orientation class and several Brown Bag
Discussions on topics such as Leadings of
the Spirit 2008, Raising Our
Children in Meeting, and The Relationship Between Quakerism and
Activism, Spirituality, and Politics, and How
to Prepare for Meeting for Worship.
In July, eleven Young Friends,
four adults, and another student, traveled to a work camp of the American
Friends Service Committee’s (AFSC)
central office at the Pine Ridge Lakota
Reservation in South Dakota to help with the repair of houses.
The Young Friends subsidized the cost of the trip by holding several
fundraisers, including a Hunger Meal and sales of Young Friends-created
tote bags from old T-shirts.
We began a new tradition with the holding of a homecoming
party for retuning Young Friends who have recently become Young Adult
Friends.
Activities
& Spirit of the Meeting:
 The wealth of meeting activities continues to grow. A Welcome
Social for Newcomers joined our long-standing weekly Sewing
Group and monthly Eating
Meetings to help bring us together. Kudos went to the men of
Meeting for putting on another gorgeous and delectable Mother’s Day
Brunch. Monthly Hands-On Healing (a joint effort) and twice-monthly
Experiment with the Light group provided Friends with access to two
kinds of healing. The monthly book club and revived Spiritual Cinema
Night were available to enrich us.
 And once again, our magical Christmas
Program and party delighted Friends and guests. February
featured our annual YMCA Eating Meeting. Later on in the year, the Burr
Oak Society assembled at one of our member’s houses for its annual
dinner for people who have made commitments to Meeting’s
Endowment Fund. We also held our annual Community Lenten Service
and luncheon to which we invited people from the Downingtown community.
Homemade ice cream was the feature of the end-of school year
and teacher appreciation picnic, commonly known as our Ice
Cream Social, which also featured a farewell book-signing
project for graduating senior Young Friends. Winter Cooperative
Dinners and summer Friday
Night Cookouts were opportunities to mix and mingle. We were
further drawn together in picture and print with the work in our revised
Meeting Photo Directory.
 Not only was our Fall Festival
in October one of the most financially successful, despite less than
ideal weather, but it was a unifying amalgam of the special talents of
many, people in our meeting. Nowhere
else could visitors find the heart-warming live music, unique garden
plants, home-made soup and chili, outstanding face painting, suburb
baked goods, artfully arranged mercantile, and the one and only Quaker
Juke box, to name just a few, that our members generously offered.
Peace
and Social Concerns:
Meeting’s social activism took many forms. Including
monthly Peace Vigils, of which
the one held in September coincided with the International Day of Peace.
A Vegetarian Wednesday initiative raised awareness of environmental and
humanitarian concerns regarding industrial food businesses. Meeting
members and attenders continued to generously cook and serve monthly
dinners for the needy and homeless at the Salvation
Army in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The Right Sharing of World
Resources Stone Soup Eating Meeting brought in a record number of
financial donations. The Peace & Social Concerns Committee again
issued grants to local organizations in which our members were active.
 In January, several Meeting members traveled to La
Fitte, Louisiana, to volunteer at a work camp to help rebuild homes
damaged by Hurricane Ike. And in May, many took part in a service
project to help the Lord’s Pantry in Downingtown with its annual Postal
Workers Food Drive. And we were also encouraged to make changes
in our energy use with a post card writing effort called Countdown to
Copenhagen, addressing the effect of CO2 emissions on our planet.
Heeding God’s Call, the peace gathering that was
grown from Francis Brown’s original leading, came to fruition in
Philadelphia from January 13 to17. Several Downingtown Friends
represented us in workshops and talks. To put talk into action,
participants tried to get the owner of a gun shop in Philadelphia, a
known source of illegal weapons, to sign the Code of Conduct for
Responsible Gun Dealers. After his refusal, protests at the store led to
the arrest of 12 activists from the gathering—later acquitted of all
charges. On September 30, a Philadelphia Inquirer columnist described
the culmination of the action by saying: “Last week, after unrelenting
protests by the faith-based group Heeding God’s Call, The U.S.
Attorney’s Office filed charges accusing a gun shop of selling to
straw buyers. Within days, the shop’s owner pleaded guilty and
Philadelphia’s most notorious gun shop was out of business.” It was
a profound example of the power of a small group of faithful people.
Submitted December 6, 2009
<
Back to Committees
|