Fall Sessions 2013

Friday, November 15, 2013 - 7:00pm to Sunday, November 17, 2013 - 12:30pm

 

 

Fall Sessions 2013

November 15–17
Caldwell College, Caldwell, NJ
Chatham-Summit Meeting, Chatham, NJ

 

Welcome to Fall Sessions 2013!

Quicklinks

Documents from the Sessions

Youth Program

Click the following to download a Word document giving new details about our Youth Program at Fall Sessions 2013.

Youth Program Schedule. Click the following to view the Youth Program Schedule, or download it as a pdf file.

What if Sessions . . .

were a place where we invited each other to know one another more deeply?” This question from Chris DeRoller, of the Powell House Youth Program, challenged us on the Host Committee to think how we could use the Friday evening of Fall Sessions to engage in deepening our lives together. Could this help to increase participation in the Sessions? Could it bring together more of our young people and increase their involvement in the life of our Religious Society of Friends? Might it also help to strengthen the connections between the Yearly Meeting and our monthly meetings?

We say, let’s go for it: we invite you to Chatham-Summit Monthly Meeting on Friday evening, November 15, 2013, from 6 to 9 pm. The moment you open the door of the meetinghouse, the delicious smell of hot soup will let you know you’ve made it, you’ve arrived, you are welcome, the connecting has begun. We hope that each monthly meeting will spread the word and encourage members and attenders to participate. Families are encouraged to attend. Childcare will be available for the littlest ones, and the activities will be multigenerational. Mike Clark and Chris DeRoller, Directors of the Powell House Youth Program, will be there with their magician-like bag of tricks, moving us into lightness and fun, into sharing and listening, and into insights about the mutual concerns of our meetings. We will explore the theme of VISION. We hope to prepare a greeting (whether in words or images) to be included the following day in the worship and work of Fall Sessions. The evening will not go too long, as folks will have been on the road and will still need to settle in for the night, whether with a host family or nearby accommodations. 

Residential” program for grades 7-12

By advance registration only, youth in grades 7-12 are invited to stay overnight at Chatham-Summit Meetinghouse Friday and/or Saturday night in a kind of Powell-House-on-the-Road program. Activities for these grade levels and others will continue on Saturday at Caldwell College. In the morning there will be a presentation by The Seeing Eye (educating about blindness and how people who are blind gain independence through seeing eye dogs). Throughout the day there will be community building. Teens will have the opportunity to participate in the Fall Sessions by attending committee meetings. We have asked committee clerks to send us a short blurb so that we can talk about the committees’ work and encourage young friends to attend committee meetings in the afternoon. We may pull together a Talent Show on Saturday evening, so come with ideas! and props!

Saturday program for grades 1-6

Also by advanced registration only, youth in grades 1-6 will take part in a youth program during the day at Caldwell College. Activities there will include meaningful Quaker content and community building, in addition to the morning presentation by Seeing Eye.

Childcare for babies to kindergarten age

Childcare will be provided throughout the weekend for children from infants up through kindergarten age: at Chatham Summit on Friday and Sunday and at Caldwell College on Saturday. It is especially important that you register by November 2nd for this service so that we can have enough caretakers to provide safe, meaningful, and fun activities for our youngest children.

Release Form

A special Release Form, available on the NYYM website [/sites/default/files/Sessions-Medical-Info-Form.pdf] must be submitted by all who will participate in the youth program, all ages and grades, in addition to the registration. Both the registration AND the Release must be sent in by November 2, 2013.

Contacts

Nathalie Bailey of Chatham-Summit Monthly Meeting, and Abigail Burford of Montclair are serving as co-clerks of the Youth Program and will send out detailed information—what to bring and not bring, what to expect, guidelines—via e-mail to those registered. 

We would be thrilled to hear from anyone—from teen to grandparent—who would be interested in being a Friendly Adult Presence or helping with the Youth Program in any way. Please contact Nathalie Bailey (bailey.nathalie@gmail.com) or Abby Burford (aburford1@verizon.net) to find out more. 

Click the following to go straight to the Registration Form for Fall Sessions. PDF file here.

New York Yearly Meeting Fall Sessions is scheduled for the weekend of November 15-17. Two venues will be used: Chatham-Summit Monthly Meeting (CSMM) for the Friday evening program and Sunday meetings, and Caldwell College (CC) for meetings and activities on Saturday. The Host Committee for the weekend is comprised of Friends from All Friends Regional Meeting. AFRM is composed of Chatham-Summit, Montclair, Ridgewood, Dover-Randolph, and Rockland Monthly Meetings. We look forward to welcoming you.

We on the Host Committee want you to feel welcome, whether you are an experienced participant in these Sessions or a newcomer to the world of Friends. At the beginning of our weekend, Friday night, we want to create a deepened sense of connectedness. We want you to be comfortable. We wish to anticipate your needs (though you need to let us know what they are!). We want you to share healthy meals with friends old and new. We want families to feel especially welcome and reassured that their children—from infants through teens—will be well cared for and engaged in a meaningful program. In sum, we want the mechanics of the places and the spaces to go smoothly so that you can experience the aliveness, the Spirit moving through thelife and work of New York Yearly Meeting.

We Host Committee members are working hard towards these ends. We would like to engage you in helping make all of this happen. The most important thing you can do in that regard is to make a commitment to coming, and to let us know you’re coming by the registration due date of November 2, 2013. We are Setting the Table for you, and if we don’t know how many people are coming, it makes things bumpier and more stressful—for us and for you. Is there an obstacle that keeps you from being sure you can attend? The responsibility of an elder, of children, of a household, of a job, perhaps—or something else that is causing you to hesitate? Can you seek the help of your meeting community or of your committee clerk to smooth the way? Caldwell College wi-fi will be available, in case you need to stay in touch back home. And remember that resources are available to help with the cost. Finally, please don’t stay away because you can’t be there for everything. Come for whatever time you have: each person is a part of the whole.

Committee clerks: Please register by November 2, and remind your members to do so as well. Also, please submit your requests for room space for your committee meetings and for your displays by this same due date. If you have handouts, try to get there early. See note under “Parking” (bottom of "Travel", page 11) re dropping off materials at the door. Assign someone to close up any displays and remove extra materials before leaving.

Clerks of meetings: Encourage members to attend Fall Sessions, and remind them to register in advance. Arrange for your meeting community to make it possible for those to attend who feel led to do so. Remind everyone in late October that the registration date of November 2 is approaching.

Parents: We hope you will come and bring your children. Please read the article in this issue about the Youth Program (opposite) so that you can see that plans are in place to care for your children, whatever their ages. Contact either of the Youth Program coordinators with any questions or needs that you foresee. We especially need to know about the children coming, so please register promptly. And please note that a filled-in and signed Medical Release Form is required for each child. We welcome Friendly Adult Presences (FAPs).

Below are further details about Registration procedures, meals, and fees, the Schedule, Travel Directions, Lodging, and the Friday night event with Chris and Mike of Powell House and the Youth Program. For who-to-call-about-what, we have provided a listing of Helpful People and Information. A dedicated spot at www.NYYM.org will be available for posting further information, including advance reports.

We look forward to welcoming you at Fall Sessions, 2013.

Registration for Fall Sessions 2013

Friday–Sunday, November 15-17, 2013

Registration form: click here. Click here for a pdf file.

REGISTRATION  DEADLINE   11/2/2013

Instructions:

Please return one form for each household before November 2, 2013.

Download it from www.nyym.org/sites/default/files/Registration-FallSessions2013.doc (case sensitive) and fill it out, moving from one field to the next in the tables by using your “tab” key. Then email it to Alice Coulombe, registrar: aa.lleenn@verizon.net.

Please pay via PayPal (click here to go to the PayPal page on the NYYM website) or by check payable to NYYM, mailed to
Alice Coulombe
15 Hansen Avenue
New City, NY 10956

Youth programs will be arranged only if requested in advance. Parents will be responsible for any youth not registered by November 2, 2013.

Agenda for Fall Sessions*

Saturday morning 9:30 - 11:15
Roll call
Welcome from host committee
Remembrances of Elizabeth Moger
General Secretary's report
Treasurer's report
2014 operating budget
Chwele task group report
Two Row Wampum report

Saturday afternoon 12:45 - 2:15
Priorities Working Group report
Meetings for Discernment report

Sunday 9:00 - 10:30
Memorial minute for Marianne Longstreet
Apology for slavery and Jim Crow

*Subject to change. Items not heard due to insufficient time available will be moved to a later session at the clerk’s discretion.

Sessions Schedule

Friday evening, November 15, 2013, at Chatham-Summit

6:00  p.m. Soup’s on

7:30 – 9 p.m. Light & Lively Program with Mike Clark &
Chris DeRoller (see separate article)

(plus Residential Teen program overnight and also on Saturday night)

Saturday, November 16, 2013, at Caldwell College

8:00 a.m. Registration, display set-ups, and morning coffee

8:30 – 9:15 Meeting for Worship

9:30 – 11:15 Meeting for Business in Worship 

11:30 – 12:30 Lunch

12:45 – 2:15 Meeting for Business in Worship 

2:30 – 4:00 Committee Meetings - 1

4:05 – 5:30 Committee Meetings - 2

5:45 – 6:45 Dinner

7:00 – 8:45 Coordinating Committee meetings

Sunday, November 17th, 2013, at Chatham-Summit

8:00 – 8:30 a.m. Light breakfast 

8:30 – 9:00 a.m. Meeting for Worship

9:00 – 10:30 a.m. Meeting for Business in Worship

11:00 – 12:15 p.m. Meeting for Worship with Chatham-Summit

12:30 – 1:30 Luncheon

1:30 – 3:30 Committee Meetings (limited space available)

Notes:

Registration, Displays, and Meeting for Worship & for Business will be in the Alumni Theatre.

Display space is located in the lobby and solarium area of the Alumni Theatre.

Lunch & dinner will be in the Student Center, across from the Alumni Theatre.

Afternoon & evening Committee Meetings, and the Childcare & Youth Program will be in Werner Hall, also across from the Alumni Theatre.

Children are expected to eat with their parents.

 

Resources for this Session

Minute of Conscience
Apology to Afro-Descendants 11/17/2013
Budget
NYYM Budget 2014 11/09/2013