Western Quarterly Meeting Streamlines!

Friends:

Each Monthly Meeting is now asked to appoint one to two representatives to serve on the Support Committee, the new oversight committee of the Quarterly Meeting. See the below letter for details. Monthly Meetings may be creative in making this appointment. For example, a Meeting may decide to allow several people to share one appointment if it hasn’t enough commitment from one person. The shared appointment would mean that two or three Friends alternate their attendance at Support Committee meetings. They are set to occur no less than four times per year, but will be more frequent as we implement this change.

Below is a letter to Monthly Meeting Clerks about the new organizational structure. This structure has been approved by the Quarterly Meeting in session as part of a discernment process that continues. Click here to view the changes that were approved, and click here to view the minutes detailing the manner of their approval and the next steps toward a more streamlined focus on the care for our assets and our local spiritual communities.

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Dear Monthly Meeting Clerk:

At April’s Quarterly Meeting, proposed changes to our organizational structure were approved. It is our belief that the new structure will allow the Quarter’s mission to become significantly more centered on the health and vitality of Monthly Meetings. The short term impact is that each Monthly Meeting is now asked to appoint one or two representatives to the Quarterly Meeting Support Committee (the new oversight body of the Quarterly Meeting). Click here to view and download the proposal that has now been approved.

We ask that, if you haven’t already done so, to please identify these 1-2 representatives and forward their name and contact information to me and our coordinator, Zachary Dutton, by July 1st. Contact information is below. As individuals consider their participation on the Support Committee, please keep the following (preliminary) “qualifications” or characteristics in mind:

• A vision for and commitment to the role of the Quarter as a source of community, support and strength for our 11 Monthly Meetings.
• A willingness to fully engage in the work of the Support Committee, which includes managing physical assets (money and property), providing support and direction to our work and programs (e.g., youth programming, special programs and Quarterly Meetings) and supporting one another as individuals and Meetings as opportunities arise.
• Agreement to attend meetings of the Support Committee (anticipated to be 8-10 meetings in this first year of implementation of our new structure; no less than quarterly once the new structure is in place). We anticipate that these meetings will be on Sunday afternoons.

I would ask that, in this first year of implementation of the new structure, Friends be willing to commit to a minimum of 18-24 months of participation (recognizing that as we implement the new structure, more clarification will emerge.)