|
Friends United Meeting |
 |
September 1997
News from Friends United Meeting
Work Teams Needed in Belize and Cuba
Steinke Set for Indiana and North Carolina
Work Teams Needed in Belize and Cuba
Belize
FUM has become aware of the need to work on the building being used for the Friends Boys School in Belize City, Belize. (See "A Future for Friends in Belize?" by Florence Peery in the June ë97 Quaker Life).
Realizing the need to provide adequate classroom and office space for the newly formed school, FUM is sponsoring a work team to travel to Belize during the month of October. The first story was replaced several years ago with cement block walls. But the wooden second story needs to be restored.
Work will include replacement of the siding, new windows, building interior walls to divide the larger upstairs area into a classroom and an office for the school. Other work will include moving one or two doors in the first story of the building, painting the entire building and adding a restroom area. Some general maintenance and clean-up around the building may also be required.
Contacts are being made with the owners of the adjoining property to possibly secure an area that can be developed into a play area for the school.
The dates for this work team are October 13-26, 1997. FUM is looking for 12-15 individuals with basic construction skills to volunteer their time.
Additional opportunities are also open for other work team members (and spouses) to provide a Bible School program for the children who attend the small Friends meeting in Democracia, 30 miles south and west of Belize City. All participants will be encouraged to visit Democracia sometime during their time in Belize. Travel and recreational opportunities will also be available.
All team members will gather in Indianapolis on the evening of October 12, 1997 at one of the local meetings for a time of orientation. The team will depart Indianapolis on October 13.
Approximate cost for this trip will be $1,000 per person, excluding travel to Indianapolis. The deadline for registration was Aug. 25. Nevertheless, if you are interested, please call Curt Ankeny at FUM to see if there are openings.
Cuba
A workteam will be traveling to Cuba in January 1998. Tentatively scheduled for January 16-30, 1998, this is FUM's second work team to Cuba. The first work team traveled to Cuba in January 1997 and began the rebuilding of the El Retrete Chapel outside of Banes (see "Culture Shock and Community" by Curt Ankeny in the April ë97 Quaker Life).
In 1998, team members will be working on another chapel in the village of Bocas, outside of Velasco. Most of the 12-15 volunteers needed for this trip should be in good physical condition and able to work at hard physical labor.
Other team members will be needed to assist in cutting and bending reinforcing steel, hauling water and helping with other duties--so don't let the prospect of hard labor scare you away! There will be opportunities to participate in various worship times during the evenings and on Sunday with members of the Friends meeting in Velasco, and with members and attenders of the Bocas Chapel in the village of Bocas.
The team will gather in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on January 15, 1998 for an evening of orientation before leaving on January 16. Approximate cost for this work team is $800 per person, exclusive of travel to Montreal. The ideal number for this work team will be 12-15 people, so please indicate your interest as soon as possible-the deadline is November 1, 1997.
For a brochure about this work team, write or call Curt Ankeny at FUM or email
Steinke Set for Indiana and North Carolina
Participants will learn to detect and avoid unhealthy patterns of living in community in the "All in the Family: Understanding Our Meeting Life Together" conferences sponsored by FUM this fall.
Peter Steinke (see reviews, page 30) will teach about how to keep anxiety from being infectious, and how meetings can cultivate stronger leadership capacities. The goal is to heighten participants' abilities to discern ways in which they can maximize the health of their meetings; pastors and meeting leaders are particularly encouraged to attend.
Two sites have been chosen for these confences thus far, and more are being planned:
* Wednesday, September 24: Quaker Hill Conference Center in Richmond, Indiana.
* Tuesday, November 11: Quaker Lake, Climax, North Carolina (co-sponsored by the North Carolina Yearly Meeting Ministers Association). Both conferences will run from 9 AM to 4 PM.
These regional conferences with Peter Steinke are sponsored by Friends United Meeting's Ministering in a New Generation program which takes the place of the Empowering Ministries conference series. Write or call Mary Glenn Hadley at FUM for registration information or email Resources@xc.org.
Ramallah team readies
Northwest Yearly Meeting (EFI) has entered into a partnership with FUM in Ramallah, Palestine, encouraging young adults from NWYM to teach at the Friends Schools. The Missions Rally highlight during their recent yearly meeting sessions in Newberg, Oregon, was the commissioning of Carleta Baker and Allyn and Holly Dhynes to teach in Ramallah. They will teach ethics, college prep, Christianity and art. Laurie and Marilyn Hadden of Toronto, Canada, recently arrived in Ramallah, where Laurie began serving as director of the Ramallah Friends Schools on August 1, 1997. Friends United Meeting has also appointed Nancy Maeder of Iowa Yearly Meeting to serve as Friend-in-Residence at the Ramallah Friends Schools. Nancy will join the staff to provide leadership for a choir, volunteer administrative help and lead a young Friends after-school club. Nancy visited Ramallah twice during her work as administrative assistant of FUM World Ministries.
VBS funds Turkana vehicle
In August, $2,000 was forwarded to the Turkana, Kenya, mission to assist in maintenance and licensing of the mission vehicle. These funds were raised through offerings in the Vacation Bible School programs of many Friends meetings this summer.
FUM representatives in East Africa
Rich and Sandy Davis begin their appointment as FUM respresentatives to East Africa in October. Rich will also serve as principal of Friends Theological College in Kaimosi. A video introducing the Davises and explaining the appointment is available, free, from FUM. The video runs approximately 20 minutes.
Cuba Yearly Meeting information
A brochure, "Cuba Yearly Meeting: People of the Mustard Seed" is available from FUM describing the current life of Cuba Yearly Meeting. It also lists the priority needs of the yearly meeting adopted at their yearly meeting sessions February, 1997.
FEC Reaches $2 Million in Deposits
A $22,000 deposit on April 2, 1997, brought the current total of deposits on the ledgers of Friends Extension Corporation to $2,002,561. Deposits from individual Friends and Friends groups have provided $4,439,424 of lower-cost loans to Friends meetings and other Friends groups. Currently there is $1,610,600 on the loan ledgers. The directors attempt to keep the deposit rate attractive to investors and the loan rate better than a typical commercial bank loan. Since the first deposit by Marcus Kendall in 1964, interest has always been paid in a timely manner and no withdrawals have ever been delayed because of lack of liquidity. Margaret Bennington, FEC's administrator, says, "Depositors can enjoy a competitive rate of interest while knowing that their investment is helping the growth of Friends by providing funds for lower-cost loans."
FEC is located in the offices of Friends United Meeting; the office is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. Inquiries are welcome.
Copyright 1997, Friends United Meeting
Back to September 1997 Contents