February 2025 – Meeting for Worship on the Occasion for Business
GRASS VALLEY FRIENDS MEETING
Of the Religious Society of Friends of the Truth
College Park Quarterly Meeting, Pacific Yearly Meeting
MINUTES & RECORD
Meeting for Worship on the Occasion of Business
February 9, 2025
We met in a hybrid meeting in person at the meetinghouse and on Zoom.
Present: Dorothy Henderson, clerk; Jennifer Smith, recording clerk; fosten wilson, Kathy
McCreery, Doug Hamm, Reed Hamilton, Dianne Marshall, Judy Hamilton, Sharon Davisson,
Chamba Cooke, Amy Cooke, Stuart Smith, CJ Patterson, Peter ORourke, Marilyn Guida,
Gordon Starr, Mary Starr, Lo Hamm, Don McCormick, Arly Helm, Meghan Shannon
The Meeting opened with silent worship.
Clerks’ Remarks and Query
● Micah 6:8: Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.
● Query: How do you see Meeting for Worship for Business, and this process,
assisting or guiding you as you attempt to live out the request from Micah to “do justice,
love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”
● Friends spoke out of the silence:
○ One Friend recalls another friend who recommended a two step approach to
Quaker Bible study: 1. Try to understand what the scripture/quote meant at the
time, who was saying it, and who it was being said to. 2. What does it mean to
you today? This Friend says our quote is meaningful to him today.
○ Another Friend shared that Meeting for Worship for Business is not about making
decisions. It is about loving one another. We can be present, not just for the
issue, but for all the hearts in the room. To “speak and release” requires such
humility but it needs to be paired with love. Do our process with love and release
it outward.
○ Justice, when done in love, is “just us.”
○ Another Friend recalled her work with treatment courts that recreate a family with
love, and not throwing anyone away. Take a breath. Let’s wait a second before
we react. Even after pain and trauma, we can use our Quaker process to heal
and come together with love.
○ Another Friend remembered how children can be guided to come together and
find unity.
○ Too often “justice” is used to mean “retribution” or punishment. Everyone needs
to be involved. No one should be left out. When we work as activists, we are
working to make sure everyone is included in our government structures, and no
one is left out.
○ One Friend expressed a personal concern about how we take these Quaker
ideas and Quaker processes and bring them out to the concerns of the world?
○ Sometimes “walking humbly with your God” means you don’t know the way
forward, but you continue forward steadfastly, knowing you will be guided.
○ Another Friend is sitting with a concern about our Quaker process. What
happens when a weighty concern is brought to Meeting for Worship for Business
and a decision is made when you know people who feel strongly on the other
side, or are affected by the decision, are not in attendance? Do we go forward
and make the decision as is the process, or do we wait and include the people
who are affected by the decision? Several Friends spoke to this about extending
an opportunity for participation is both justice and mercy. If justice does not
include everyone, it might be “just us” in the justice system.
○ Tyrants draw their power from people’s fear. If we don’t buy into the fear, they
don’t have the power. We need to have passive INSISTENCE, not just
resistance.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
(see reports appended, committee clerk is noted in bold)
Spirit and Witness: Amy Cooke (2024-2027), Stuart Smith (2023-2026), Reed Hamilton (2022-
2025), Sharon Davisson (2022-2025), Dean Olson (2023-2026), Dorothy Henderson (ex-officio,
GVFM Clerk)
Amy Cooke gave the report, appended.
● One Friend wondered if anyone remembered the Death and Dying Committee
results. This would go to Spirit and Witness. This friend was satisfied with the
response.
MINUTE (Seasoning until 3rd Month): Grass Valley Friends Meeting approves the
following change to the Spirit and Witness job description. One paragraph of the Spirit
and Witness job description has read: “Provide ongoing coordination and care of the
relationship between Grass Valley Friends Meeting, College Park Friends Educational
Association (CPFEA) and Sierra Friends Center (SFC).” We replace that language with:
“Provide ongoing care of the relationship between Grass Valley Friends Meeting, the
California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP), and the Nevada City
Rancheria Nisenan tribe.”
Stewardship: Gordon Starr, Pat Phillips, Reed Hamilton, David Bowman. Dianne Marshall
(ex-officio, Newsletter editor), Mary Starr (ex-officio, Treasurer), Don McCormick (ex-officio,
Librarian), HaileyWilson (ex-officio Tech Support).
Gordon Starr gave the report appended.
Welcome: Peter O’Rourke (Website and Facebook coordinator), Kathy McCreery, Don
McCormick, Pat Phillips, Cheryl Hendrickson, Cindy Bliss, Lo Hamm, Judy Hamilton (ex-officio
email coordinator), Nancy Anderson (ex-officio directory clerk).
Peter O’Rourke gave the report, appended.
● There was a clarification about the process to speak with members of CHIRP
about site issues, compliments, etc. Communication should go through Dorothy
Henderson and she will speak with CHIRP on our behalf.
Nominating Committee: (terms as noted), Gordon Starr: 2022-2024, Judy Hamilton: 2022-
2024, Dean Olson 2023-2025, fosten wilson 2024-2026.
Gordon Starr gave the report.
● There was a question if this will be three people operating as a subcommittee, or
are the three people sharing the librarian position. They decided to let the three people
choose amongst themselves the roles they will share, rather than dictate it to them. This
will not be a committee, it will be three people sharing that librarian position.
● The three will need to decide who will attend the Stewardship meetings.
MINUTE (Seasoning until 3rd Month): Grass Valley Friends Meeting approves Don
McCormick, Judy Hamilton, and Kathy McCreery as candidates for a shared position of
Librarian.
Children’s Program: Keely McDonald, Doug Hamm, Judy Hamilton, Dean Olson, Reed
Hamilton, Don McCormick, David Cowan, Lo Hamm.
No report given.
OFFICER REPORTS and REPRESENTATIVE REPORTS
Treasurer: No report given.
Pacific Yearly Meeting: No report given.
College Park Quarterly Meeting: No report given.
Interfaith Nevada County: No report given.
Interfaith Nevada County is scheduled to meet on site here on February 20th.
Sharings from the wider Quaker world:
● There are Quaker Meetings that have filed suit against the change in government
policy allowing ICE officers into places of worship, hospitals, and schools. Dianne has
several articles that she will include in the newsletter. There is a Meeting tonight with
members and clerks of PYM to see which other Meetings are interested in getting
involved.
○ There was discussion on if we need a Minute as a meeting to go forward and
support PYM being named in this lawsuit?
○ There was a lot of discussion on two separate issues: how to handle the call to
the meeting this evening with PYM on this issue, and if we should create a
minute in support.
○ There was concern about sharing the email on the email tree, when it is
supposed to be discrete. Friends agree that not every member needs to attend.
Our clerk can go on our behalf.
○ Friends agreed that there should be a formal Minute so we, as a meeting, are on
record for supporting action on this issue.
○ There were questions about whether we support PYM being named, or support
the discernment and decision made by PYM going forward. One Friend brought
up that much discernment has already been done by other Quaker meetings
already involved in the lawsuit. Several Friends agreed that we should say that
we support Pacific Yearly Meeting being named and take a stand against the
government’s action.
MINUTE 2025.02.01: Grass Valley Friends Meeting supports Pacific Yearly Meeting being
named in the lawsuit being brought by the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection
of Georgetown Law to address the rescission of “sensitive locations” protections (sanctuary)
for places of worship, schools, and hospitals.
CLERK’S REMARKS:
● The State of the Meeting reports are available on our website. If you’d like to
read them in preparation for next week’s State of the Meeting report, they are available.
The meeting Minutes are also available on the website.
● The lease with CHIRP has been signed. Any concerns, suggestions, or
questions, should go through Dorothy Henderson.
ITEMS SEASONING or CARRIED OVER
MINUTE (Seasoning until 3rd Month): Grass Valley Friends Meeting approves the
following change to the Spirit and Witness job description. One paragraph of the Spirit
and Witness job description has read: “Provide ongoing coordination and care of the
relationship between Grass Valley Friends Meeting, College Park Friends Educational
Association (CPFEA) and Sierra Friends Center (SFC).” We replace that language with:
“Provide ongoing care of the relationship between Grass Valley Friends Meeting, the
California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP), and the Nevada City
Rancheria Nisenan tribe.”
MINUTE (Seasoning until 3rd Month): Grass Valley Friends Meeting approves Don
McCormick, Judy Hamilton, and Kathy McCreery as candidates for a shared position of
Librarian.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
● Facebook: please follow the Grass Valley Friends Meeting page, or join the
Facebook Grass Valley Friends Meeting group. If you share a post from the page, your
friends will see it, and it helps our visibility. Follow this link.
● The 2023-2024 PacYM General Directory. The directory is now available.
The Directory is for use by members and attenders of monthly meetings and
worship groups within Pacific Yearly Meeting and by Friends serving on Pacific
Yearly Meeting committees. It is not to be shared beyond this community. Dorothy
and Don have the new password for the PacYM Directory.
● Carl Magruder: You can follow Carl’s healing journey on the CaringBridge.org
website HERE. Friends have also set up a daily Meeting for Healing from 7:30 to 8 am
(Pacific) on Zoom here or contact Amy Cooke at amylisette@gmail.com for the link.
● Contributions to Grass Valley Friends Meeting are gratefully accepted. You
can give by mailing a check to Mary Starr or through Tithely on the website or our
newsletter.
READING OF THE RECORD AND MINUTES
The record and the minutes were read, corrected, and approved.
If you are giving a report to GVFM, please send the actual report to the recording clerk
at jenniferjksmith@gmail.com THE WEDNESDAY BEFORE MEETING FOR BUSINESS and
share with both Dorothy and Jennifer.
GVFM Newsletter Reminder: Please have items into Dianne Marshall by Tuesday at 10 am.
The Meeting closed with silent worship.
Respectfully recorded by Jennifer Smith, recording clerk.
APPENDICES:
- Spirit and Witness Committee report
- Stewardship Committee report
- Welcome Committee report
- Nominating Committee report
- Children’s Committee report
- Treasurer’s Report
- Interfaith Nevada County report
- Pacific Yearly Meeting report
Spirit & Witness Report
Seasoning minute, change to our job description:
“Provide ongoing care of the relationship between Grass Valley Friends Meeting, the
California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP) and the Nevada City
Rancheria Nisenan tribe.”
Spirit & Witness Report 02.2025
Our State of Meeting listening session will be on February 16 after Meeting for Worship.
Please come to share in the reflections of the last year.
Toward Right Relations: This Witness Committee under our care is working to reach out to
Northern California Quaker meetings that are adjacent to unrecognized tribes. The letter they
are sending, approved by GVFM in January, is being sent via paper copy and followed up via
email.
We are holding several members and attenders in the Light as they navigate difficulties and
changes. We also have several support and care committees under our care.
We will convene the Spring Meeting of the Clerks on March 6 in person at Dorothy and Doug’s
home. This is an opportunity to check in with the clerks of the committees on how their work is
going. In addition, we will be convening the Naming Committee, who brings forward names for
the Nominating Committee.
Stewardship Committee Report
Report of meeting on 1-30-2025
Present – Committee Clerk Gordon Starr, Mary Starr, Reed Hamilton, Dianne Marshall,
Don McCormick, & Fosten Wilson
Moving On – Don reported that he was attending to note that because he has resigned as
Librarian he expects to be absent from future Stewardship Committee gatherings. With
minor friendly harassment, he exited.
Do we have available library shelf space? And reminding our people that buying & donating
good books helps stretch our library’s budget both were mentioned.
Treasurer’s Report – Jan. 2025 income = $2,233. spending = $624. – Thank you!
Inter-faith Nevada County – Dianne has arranged for this group to again gather at our
Meeting House. This will occur in February. The Nisenan have agreed, the menu is
arranged, and Tribal attorney Frank Lawrence is invited to speak.
Newsletter – It was suggested that Kieth Runyon of Quaker Earth Witness could provide
more lead-time for announcements that can be re-published – say in monthly newsletters
like ours. Dianne requests written contributions for our newsletter. Having more options to
fit in eases her editing work.
Seating – Some of the chairs in the Meeting House are uncomfortable. The Stewardship
Committee will be testing the use of some of our folding chairs.
Thursday, 2/27/2025, at 3 p.m. will be the next Zoom gathering of Stewardship
Committee.
Welcome Committee Report
February 3, 2025 / 7:00PM / Zoom
Attendees: Judy, Nancy, Pete
Opening Worship
- Birthday Calendar
a. In place - Monthly potluck
a. No new events - “Outreach”
a. Next Door helping drive Website “views”:
i. Dec. 2024: 1,176 Jan. 2025: 1,459
b. Discussed and added signature with website address to GVFM email template
i. This would possibly draw more people to our website - See below example
- Supplies
- Looking into standards to keep Meeting House bathroom in good condition
Next Meeting – Monday, March 3, 7pm
Template example (in red)
Nominating Committee Report
From meeting on January 28, 2025
Committee members: Gordon Starr, clerk, Judy Hamilton, Fosten Wilson, and Dean Olson
We met on Zoom to begin our work on the 2025-26 slate, noting that it is due to be presented
at April’s Meeting for Business. We looked at the list of Meeting members and attenders and
divided up the list with each agreeing to contact individuals to learn of their preferred roles in
the coming term.
We also needed to respond to Don McCormick’s tendered resignation from both the Recorder
and the Librarian positions, since these are positions that need to be filled, hopefully, soon.
Our next meeting is Monday, February 10, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Since our meeting there have been a number of conversations between members of the
committee and several possible candidates, the result of which is Nominating committee would
like to bring forth the names of Don McCormick, Judy Hamilton and Kathy McCreery as
candidates for a shared position of Librarian to be seasoned for one month. It has been noted
that in previous times there was a standing Library committee.
If anyone has a specific request or question, please feel free to contact one of the committee
members.
Respectfully submitted,
Gordon Starr, clerk
Children’s Committee Report
No report was given.
Treasurer’s Report
No report was given.
InterFaith Nevada County Report
No report was given.
Pacific Yearly Meeting Report
No report was given.