Spring Sessions 2011

Download the minutes of Spring Sessions 2011.

Documents from the Sessions

• Letter from Mito Meeting in Japan
• Report of the Stamford-Greenwich Care Committee, highlighting its history and decline
• Report of the Trustees on plans for the Stamford-Greenwich Meeting property
• Report of the Meetings for Discernment Steering Committee

Nine Partners Quarter is eager to welcome you to the 2011 Spring Sessions. These meetings, which carry on the business of the Yearly Meeting between the annual sessions at Silver Bay, need the wide involvement of Friends to ensure that they reflect the diversity and depth of all our monthly meetings.

This spring we are again being warmly welcomed by Oakwood Friends School. All the sessions and committee meetings will be held on this beautiful campus, and some Friends will be accommodated in dormitories.

Special Friday Evening Program

The Friends Church Peace Teams
Healing from and Preventing Election Violence in Kenya
by Getry Agizah, Coordinator

When violence erupted in Kenya around the 2008 election, Quakers there quickly formed the Friends Church Peace Teams (FCPT) to provide humanitarian relief. In the violent Turbo Division in the Rift Valley Province, FCPT also helped to start a nonviolent conflict-resolution project with the youth, who were responsible for much of the postelection violence. FCPT plans to put many resources into this Division as a model on creating a peaceful, coexisting community for the next Kenyan election in 2012. Eden Grace of the Friends United Meeting-Africa Office has called this activity “the most significant work that Quakers are doing anywhere in the world.”

Born in the western region of Kenya, Getry A. Agizah is 29 years old and mother of a six-year-old daughter. Since finishing schooling, she has worked on reproductive health, youth empowerment, and peacebuilding/human rights. For seven years she was the Project Coordinator of Friends in Peace and Community. She organized the building of the Friends Peace Center–Lubao and ran frequent workshops, many for youth, after the 2008 postelection violence. Now coordinator of the Friends Church Peace Teams in Kenya, Getry Agizah feels most comfortable when dealing with matters that concern Peace. She says, “I have vowed to help the community that lives in denial about conflict to come up and be aware of the things that affect them.”

Meals
Coffee, tea, and munchies will be available Saturday morning in the registration area. We will join Oakwood’s boarding students in the Dining Hall for Saturday lunch and dinner, and Sunday lunch. A hot breakfast will be available on Saturday and Sunday mornings for the benefit of those staying on campus (though others are welcome to partake as well). See the table below for prices.

Hospitality—three choices
Nine Partners Friends are welcoming overnight guests. Please indicate on the registration form your needs regarding animals, stairs, food, and the like. Home hospitality requests will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis, and cannot be guaranteed, especially after the registration deadline of March 21, 2011.

Oakwood Friends School has one dormitory building that is not being used by students. Nine rooms in this building will be available for Spring Sessions attenders. These rooms are very simple—clean but undecorated, with plain painted walls and tile floors. Each has two twin beds. Oakwood is unable to supply linens—please bring pillows, towels, and your own sheets and blankets or sleeping bag. There is one large bathroom on each floor. The charge is $10 per bed per night. Children may sleep on the floor of their parent’s room at no charge. There are only nine rooms, and they will be assigned first-come, first-served.

If you prefer to stay in a motel, there are several within 1.5 miles of the Oakwood Friends School campus. These are listed below, with the room rates they quoted to us. If you prefer to search for other accommodations on the Internet, Oakwood’s address is 22 Spackenkill Rd., Poughkeepsie, NY 12603.

Children and Youth
Plans are underway for a program for teens, and a separate program for 9- to 12-year-olds.  Information will be posted on the Web as it becomes available. It is important to indicate on the registration form the names and ages of youth who will be participating, as well as of younger children who will need childcare. Childcare will be available only if requested in advance.

Transportation
Metro-North and Amtrak both stop in Poughkeepsie. To arrange to be met at the train station, please contact Karen Snare, karensnare [at] aol.com or 845-677-3021.

Meeting space
Requests for committee meeting rooms should be directed to Julia Giordano, juliaagiordano [at] gmail.com or 212-979-0170. Please make requests by March 21, 2011. Committee clerks should be aware that rooms will be scheduled only if a request is received.

Display space If you plan to bring a display please contact Fred Doneit, fwdoneit [at] optonline.net or 845-297-5046. Please specify how much table space you need, and make requests by March 21, 2011. It will not be possible to get more tables at the last minute.

Registration
To register online, see the online registration information.

To register by mail, fill out the registration form and mail it to Viola Hathaway, 141 Fulton Ave. #112, Poughkeepsie NY 12603. Include a check made out to NYYM.

Financial considerations should not discourage Friends from attending. Support is available from the NYYM Equalization Fund. Please indicate on our registration form the amount requested.

The registration deadline is March 21, 2011. After that, a $5 per person late fee applies.

More information
If you have questions about registration, please contact Viola Hathaway, hathawar [at] newpaltz.edu or 845-454-6431.

For questions about other matters, contact Karen Snare, karensnare [at] aol.com or 845-677-3021

During the weekend of Spring Sessions, if you find yourself lost on the way, or need to contact the host committee for other reasons, you may call 845 242-1709.

Motels near Oakwood Friends School

All of these are along South Road (Route 9). Quoted rates are per night. Hampton Inn has a standing arrangement with Oakwood. Some prices are from actual conversations with motel management; others are from the motel chain’s Web site.

Hampton Inn (walking distance)
2361 South Road, Poughkeepsie, NY, 12601
845-463-7500
$119 for guests of Oakwood Friends School

Poughkeepsie Inn (About 1 mile from campus)
2625 South Road, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
845-452-6600
$99.95 (This is a group rate—mention NYYM when registering)

Courtyard by Marriott (About 1 mile from campus)
2641 South Road Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
 800-647-7576
$169.00

Clarion (About 1½ miles from campus)
2170 South Road, Poughkeepsie, NY, 12601
Phone: 845-462-4600
$99.99

Holiday Inn Express (about 1½ miles from campus)
2750 South Road Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Reservations Toll-free 1-888-465-4329
Local number 845-473-1151
$132.00

Directions to Oakwood Friends School
22 Spackenkill Road, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603

(Note: if you want computer directions, use MapQuest, not Google. Google makes a silly detour.)

From I-84 takeExit 13—Rt. 9 North, and follow Rt. 9 for 9½ miles. (Look for Miracle Ford—cream-colored building, blue roof—on the right and move to the right lane when you pass it.) Take the exit to “Spackenkill Rd.—Rt. 113.” The ramp will merge onto Spackenkill Rd. The entrance to Oakwood Friends is 500 feet on the right.

From Manhattan or Bronx: Take the Hutchinson River Pkwy. to I-684 north, to I-84 west. Exit at Rt. 9 North and follow directions above.

From Long Island: Take Whitestone Expressway across the Whitestone Bridge—Rt. 678; this becomes the Hutchinson River Pkwy. Follow directions from Manhattan.

From New Jersey: Take the Garden State Parkway or I-287 to NYS Thruway (I-87) north. Take Exit 17 (Newburgh) to I-84 East, cross the Newburgh Beacon Bridge, continue east to Exit 13—Rt. 9 North, and follow directions above.

From Upstate New York: Take NYS Thruway South to exit 18 (New Paltz), go east on 299, 6 miles to Rt. 9W south. (This is a T-intersection.) Turn right, go about 2 miles, and follow signs to the Mid-Hudson Bridge toward Poughkeepsie. Cross bridge, staying to the right, and exit immediately onto Rt. 9 South (toward Wappingers Falls). Follow Route 9 south for 3.5 miles to “NY 113 Spackenkill Rd” and take that exit. (It’s just beyond the overpass.) The ramp will merge onto Spackenkill Rd. The entrance to Oakwood Friends is about 1,000 feet on the right.

Advance Documents for Spring Sessions

Agenda

Consent Agenda

Meetings for Worship in Lane Auditorium
Meals in Dining Hall