Summer Sessions 2014: At Silver Bay

Quicklinks

• Download a map of the Silver Bay campus
• Download a Silver Bay trail map (large file)
• Worship sharing
• Special Needs
• Food at Silver Bay
• The Healing Center
• 12-Step Meetings
• Story Telling at Summer Sessions
• The golf cart
• Fundraising at Summer Sessions
• Tagless Tag Sale

 

An Invitation to Facilitate Worship Sharing

Kate Lawson & Claire Simon, Worship Sharing coordinators

As is traditional, we are planning for Worship Sharing during Summer Sessions at Silver Bay, and we would like you to consider facilitating a worship-sharing group this summer.

Worship-sharing groups meet Monday through Friday from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. On Saturday morning, Friends are encouraged to participate in the final meeting for worship.

General Worship Sharing will be offered as in the past. In addition, there will be a number of special groups: Adults with young children; Aging; Caregivers; Conflict Transformation; Earthcare; Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender; Men; Racial Healing; 12-Step; Women.

Worship Sharing provides an opportunity to worship together near the beginning of the day, setting the tone for other activities as the day unfolds. Sharing insights, experiences, and prayer together refreshes the spirit. Your contribution—opening participants to be a channel for the Holy Spirit—would be invaluable.

We would like to have two leaders for some worship groups. This helps share the responsibility for planning and conducting the sessions. If you are an experienced leader, you may be willing to mentor someone who is less seasoned. If you have not had the opportunity to lead others in worship in this way, working with someone may help you feel more comfortable in the role. We welcome suggestions for someone you would like to work with. If you prefer to work alone, that is fine as well. Also, if you know someone who might be interested, please let us know.

All leaders are scheduled to meet on July 20, Sunday afternoon, at 5:00 p.m., in the Silver Bay Inn, to receive group lists and locations, ask any questions, and share concerns. We are working to make locations appropriate for special needs, such as a place for children where noise will not bother others, accessibility concerns, etc.

Please reply as soon as possible via email to Kate Lawson,
quakerkate@aol.com, and to Claire Simon, quakerartist@verizon.net.

We hope you will feel led to contribute to Yearly Meeting in this way. If you let us know that you would like to be a leader, we will send suggestions about the format and topics in advance.

 

Special Needs at Silver Bay

Martha Gurvich, Special Needs Coordinator

Friends who indicate special needs on their registration will receive a form from the NYYM office requesting specific information about their needs. This information is shared only with Silver Bay as needed to find appropriate accommodation.

There will also be opportunities for Friends to be special-needs volunteers. A checkbox for volunteers is on the registration form.

Housing.  Five mobility-accessible sleeping rooms, with bathrooms, are reserved in the Inn for those using wheelchairs (and their roommates). One-tenth of the rooms in the Inn will be reserved for people who, for any reason, find it physically difficult to room elsewhere. These rooms will be held only until July 1 and then will be released for general availability.

If you have a disability or illness that makes it hard for you to climb hills or steps, please make sure that you sign up early and request one of the reserved rooms. Financial assistance is available from the Equalization Fund.

Friends who are unable to transfer themselves to and from wheelchair/bed, etc., and require special assistance with dressing, bathing, or other personal needs must arrange this assistance on their own and the person assisting them must stay in their room. The caregiver must be in attendance for the length of the stay of the person they are helping. Silver Bay will offer a special reduced rate for the person assisting.

Worship and Meetings.  The people who set up the worship-sharing groups need to know if you have hearing or physical problems so that note takers can be provided or accessible locations allocated. Please indicate on your registration form if you require such assistance.

 

Food Service at Silver Bay

Martha Gurvich, Food Service Coordinator

Friends, please remember: you must be wearing your name badge to enter the dining hall.

Meals begin with dinner on Sunday evening and conclude with breakfast on Saturday. Lunch will be available for purchase on Saturday; it is not part of this year's conference package. If you plan to arrive at Silver Bay early enough to have lunch on Sunday, you must purchase a meal ticket at the Silver Bay desk in advance to buy this meal; it is not part of the conference package.

Silver Bay will provide standard and vegetarian menu choices for each meal. Vegetarian meals include eggs, milk, and cheese, but no meat or fish. Silver Bay cannot accommodate “specialty” diets. Lunch and dinner both have a full salad bar. If you are a vegetarian, please indicate this on your registration form.

For those with other special dietary needs, we recommend that you bring your own food. Silver Bay will provide refrigeration. A refrigerator will be available in the dining hall for baby food, etc., for use during meal times. It will not be available after 7:00 p.m. Cooking facilities for those with special dietary needs (though not for campers) will be available in Paine Hall—1st floor off rotunda. The Silver Bay cooks will not add salt to either the regular food or the vegetarian food. Salt shakers will be available on the tables.

The dining hall opens at 5:00 p.m. each day for dinner. This is to give families with small children and Friends who are physically challenged the time and space to get their meals before the larger group steps into the line. Please allow these Friends to go to the front of the line at all meal times and remind them to feel comfortable stepping up. We also encourage all of the community to lend a hand to anyone who might seem overwhelmed and in need of help carrying plates, bowls, etc., getting drinks, or navigating the busy dining hall. Mealtimes can be stressful for the youngest among us, our physically challenged friends, and their families and helpers. Your kindness will be deeply appreciated.

 

Healing Work at Summer Sessions

Buffy Curtis and Healing Center Support Committee

This year at Summer Sessions, Sproul Pavilion will once again have regularly scheduled hours for healing work. The Healing Center is under the care of the Committee on Worship at Yearly Meeting Sessions. Hours of operation will be posted.

We are calling for Friends who work in the healing arts or who are interested in helping with healing work. We are looking for volunteers who would offer their skills in the healing arts or support the work by greeting and scheduling. Skills can include energy work (Healing Touch, Reiki, Therapeutic Touch, etc.), massage, Rolfing, craniosacral, spiritual counseling/direction, or other areas of healing work. Practitioner volunteers should have training with qualifications or experience relevant to their practice. Friends who are interested or perhaps feeling "called" to the work are welcome to “buddy” with other practitioners as possible. We will need people to meet and greet and help match those desiring work with the practitioners available. This year we will need additional coordinators to help out as well. Those wishing to hold the space in prayer are welcome indeed. It is yet another extension of worship, after all!

Please contact Buffy Curtis, havehelpinghands@gmail.com, 508-566-6639 (cell), to offer your assistance, make suggestions, or let us know what else you need. We will meet with volunteers on Sunday night of Silver Bay sessions to organize and clarify details. We look forward to hearing from you. Look for us at the Healing Center and check the Center's volunteer box on the registration form!

 

12-Step Meetings

Derek Polzer, 12-Step Coordinator

This year meetings will be at 9:30 pm on Sunday. 6:30 pm on Monday and Wednesday, and 10:00–11:00 pm on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Nurture Coordinating Committee has oversight of this, but needs to hear from people who would be willing to take responsibility for one or more of these meetings. To volunteer, please contact Derek Polzer (pineknotred@yahoo.com, 973-665-0555). 

 

Story Telling at Summer Sessions

Kate Lawson, Story Telling Coordinator

Everyone knows a good story! 

Would you please consider sharing a personal story or a particular short book that you know during Story Time? We meet on the front lawn in the evenings after dinner at Silver Bay.

All Friends young and a bit older are invited to listen and share stories. Stories shared during this intergenerational event need to be appropriate for all ages.

To volunteer or for more information please contact Kate Lawson. Her contact information is in the Yearbook.

 

Golf Cart Drivers Needed

Angel Ramos, Golf Cart Coordinator

Silver Bay is a beautiful place, but for some Friends, it is challenging to walk up and down the hills and from one meeting place to another. As in previous years, we will have golf carts to help Friends get around. We need volunteers to drive the carts. Are you 21 or older with a valid, clean driver’s license? Those are the requirements to volunteer as a part-time golf cart driver. Driving the cart is easy, fun, a great way to serve the community, and a wonderful way to get to know Friends of all ages you might not otherwise meet. If 40 NYYM Friends each volunteer to drive for two hours during the week, we will be able to maintain the level of golf-cart service we want to offer. To commit to driving for two hours or more, please contact the NYYM office at office@nyym.org. You may also contact the Golf Cart Coordinator, Angel Ramos. His contact information is in the Yearbook.       

 

About Fundraising During Summer Sessions—Sessions Committee

There are three Thursday events during Summer Sessions that raise money to benefit the work of Powell House, NYYM's Conference and Retreat Center, and the NYYM Sharing Fund. The Fun(d) Fair is sponsored by the Young Adult Concerns Committee (YACC) and includes a variety activities and games. Participants must pay individual vendors of activities with tickets that are sold by YACC at the Fair. The Tagless Tag Sale (operating at the same time under separate sponsorship) can accept cash as well as tickets (see more information below). Café Night, sponsored by the JYM high school group, showcases the many talents of our Summer Sessions participants (bring your musical instruments)!

Anyone who is raising money for a Quaker-related cause (e.g., AFSC, AVP, BQEF, BQL, FCNL, Friends Peace Teams, Quaker Schools, a new meetinghouse) may include appeals at their display spaces, such as invitations to send or pledge money. If another type of fundraising activity is contemplated, like selling cards, photos, books, or crafts from a place of Quaker mission or outreach, please contact Roseann Press, clerk of the Sessions Committee, to discuss guidelines. Her email is rpress123@gmail.com.  

 

Tagless Tag Sale

Yes, there will be a Tagless Tag Sale at Silver Bay during Summer Sessions. It will be held during the Fun(d) Fair on Thursday, July 24, from 1:45 – 3:15 p.m. If you have sale items (new or used items in good shape) to donate, please bring them to Silver Bay. 

Treasures that you are ready to pass on sell well, as do clothing, jewelry, small electronics, household items, and things for children. The Tagless Tag Sale benefits the Sharing Fund and Powell House. Tax-deduction receipts for in-kind charitable contributions will be available upon request.