As Friends do not have a traditional minister and staff, Meeting acts through its committees. From a Business Meeting of the whole to a Relief Committee with three members, activities in Quakerism are accomplished through Committees.
Committee Pages
- ARCH representative
- Committee for Prison Ministry
- Communications and Website Committee
- Finance Committee
- First Day Caregivers
- Friends’ Committee on Unity with Nature (Friends Earthcare Witness)
- Hospitality Committee
- Library Committee
- Ministry and Counsel
- Nominating Committee
- Peace and Social Concerns Committee
- Riverside Space Committee
All Positions & committee members for 2021
Committees have either a clerk for a long standing committee such as Ministry and Counsel or a convener for a short-term committee such as a Clearness Committee. Like all Quaker activities, committees begin and end in silent worship and members await the leading of the Spirit in the transaction of business. Committees are therefore forms of worship that are Spirit-led.
In order to ensure shared decision-making, the clerk and other members of committees serve only for a specified length of time. All Meeting members and attenders may be asked to sit on committees, depending upon their leadings and the discernment of their gifts by the Nominating Committee.
Anyone with a leading for service to the community should contact the clerk of nominating or any member of the nominating committee to make that leading known.
All positions are for one year, renewable except for the nominating committee terms which are for two years, staggered terms, renewable once, and ministry & counsel terms for 3 years, renewable once, staggered terms.
- Clerk
Jane Alexandre (3rd term)
Convenes and conducts the Monthly Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business
Carries out the instructions of the meeting and signs necessary documents on its behalf
Maintains Meeting records including Business Meeting minutes and correspondence
Serves on Committee for Ministry and Counsel
- Recording Clerk
Bernard Winter (2nd term)
Writes minutes of the business meeting, subject to the meeting’s approval, and conveys them to the Communications Committee to be published in the meeting newsletter.
Assists Clerk with correspondence as needed
- Treasurer
Stephen McDonnell (2nd term)
Keeps the accounts of the Meeting
Receives and disburses funds
Reports periodically to Business Meeting
Presents by the March Business Meeting a report of the previous year’s finances, audited as arranged for by Ministry and Counsel. Such report will include a statement of the Meeting’s assets and obligations, and the condition of the Crumlish Bequest and any other separate funds.
Serves on Finance Committee
- Assistant Treasurer
Megan Maurer
Is familiar with the Meeting’s accounts, its accounting practices, and the work of the treasurer
Has authority to sign for the Meeting’s accounts in the Treasurer’s absence
Serves on Finance Committee
- Recorder for Membership/ Historian
Helen Garay Toppins
Keeps track of memberships, marriages, divorces, births, deaths and addresses
Forwards new information to Yearly Meeting office
Annually forwards total number of adult Monthly Meeting members to Quarterly Meeting Audit and Budget Committee
Maintains Meeting records regarding membership
Organizes our papers and submits appropriate items to the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
- Finance Committee
Charlene Ray Bart Dominus Pam Wood Stephen McDonnell (treasurer) Megan Maurer (assistant treasurer)
Raises money for the Monthly Meeting through letters of appeal and other methods
Solicits proposed expenditures from the various committees of the Meeting and proposes a budget to the December Business Meeting for final approval in January
Attends the General Services Meeting of the New York Yearly Meeting to discuss the Yearly Meeting budget and allocation
Meets as needed, usually about three times each year
- Nominating Committee
1st term to 2022: Bryan Oettel, Robert Renwick
Fills positions and committees in Monthly Meeting by asking people what they would like to do, getting suggestions, and searching for (possibly hidden) talents
In December, presents nominations for positions and committees to Business Meeting, for final approval in January
Meets as needed, but more frequently in the fall
All members of Nominating Committee who are members of the Society of Friends also serve on Quarterly Meeting Nominating Committee, which meets about four times per year
*Members of the Nominating Committee are themselves nominated by a Naming Committee (which is established/confirmed by Ministry and Counsel). The naming committee brings names to the business meeting. In January 2021, Charlene Ray and Jason McGill were confirmed by Ministry and Counsel as a Naming Committee, to be brought to meeting for business for approval.
- Ministry and Counsel
2nd term 2021-2024: David Fletcher, Jerry Reisig; 1st term: 2021-2024: Ernie Buscemi; Continuing (2nd term 2020-2023): Ed Elder (clerk), Tom Goodridge; Continuing (1st term to 2022): Ron Rieder, Jason McGill, Pamela Wood; Morningside Clerk (to 2022): Jane Alexandre
Is concerned with the pastoral care of the Meeting
Recommends acceptance and release of members, for approval by Business Meeting
Oversees marriages
Appoints clearness committees as needed
Visits the sick and counsels those in need of pastoral care
Arranges programs and retreats on Quaker topics
Arranges an audit of the Treasurer’s annual report before the report is presented to the March Business Meeting
Considers requests for scholarships and travel assistance to Quaker events
Considers requests for financial assistance from the John Bohne Memorial Fund
Ideally the terms of three will expire each year
- Communications and Website Committee
Bryan Oettel (clerk), Scott Blumenthal, Kathy Stackhouse
The committee is first and foremost focused on helping Morningside members and attenders and distant Friends maintain a sense of community via email, newsletters, the site, mailings, and other forms of communication.
We meet on a regular basis to ensure that we’re helping Morningsiders with their communication needs, whether it involves writing monthly newsletters to assisting with a zoom meeting set-up.
We maintain an up-to-date roster of all members & attenders with the help and guidance of Ministry & Counsel. That roster is shared with the meeting on a yearly basis via email and mail delivery.
We regularly review the website and other digital means of communication so that those avenues are delivering important information to Friends within the meeting.
We help the clerk, other committees, and individual Friends with their communication needs, such as assisting with zoom meeting scheduling, sending out emails, etc.
We keep our focus on delivering important information about the meeting and Quakerism so that the Meeting maintains its spiritual life.
We manage the meeting’s social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, making sure that they reflect our Quaker values and testimonies.
We listen to Friends and help them find ways of promoting messages important to Quakers. Prepares and distributes the monthly newsletter, issued September through June, which includes the minutes of the Monthly Meeting with a Concern for Business, the calendar, and articles or announcements that may be submitted
Editor assembles and formats the newsletter for copying
- Librarian
Sally Campbell
Maintains library and coordinates lending of books
Coordinates the selection and purchase of books with New York Yearly Meeting’s annual $50 contribution from the Mosher Fund
- Library Committee
Corona Machemer Richard Schmidt Joyce Richardson
Makes literature such as Faith and Practice and various other pamphlets available to Meeting attendees
Arranges the literature table before each Meeting for worship and stores the literature after Meeting
- Peace and Social Concerns Committee
Co-Conveners Corona Machemer Robert Schwab
A Committee of the Whole
Others may join on a voluntary, ad hoc basis.
Proposes to Business Meeting activities to be undertaken by the Meeting and financial contributions to be made by the Meeting
Undertakes such social action activities, on its own responsibility, as it may wish, without representing the Meeting
- Friends’ Committee on Unity with Nature (Friends Earthcare Witness)
Tom Goodridge Robert Renwick
A local group of the North American Quaker FCUN organization.
Other interested Morningside members and attenders are invited to join. The group members work among themselves and with the Meeting at large in understanding and living the goals of FCUN. These goals are:
To search for the life that affirms the unity of all Creation
To apply Friends’ practice to live in deep communion with all life spirit
To be guided by the Light within us to participate in the healing of the Earth
To be a reflective and energetic forum within the Religious Society of Friends to strengthen and deepen our spiritual unity with nature
- First Day Caregivers
Ernie Buscemi Sally Campbell Tom Goodridge June Tano
Arranges for Child care during the Meeting for Worship and Monthly Meeting with a Concern for Business
Does long-range planning for First Day School
- Hospitality Committee
Charlene Ray, Richard Schmidt, Bryan Wigfall
Recruits volunteers to prepare simple refreshments for after Meeting, and forwards list of volunteers to Newsletter Committee
Keeps track of and replenishes general supplies such as cups
Greets newcomers and visitors to the Meeting
Prepares special literature for an Inquirers’ table and speaks with visitors to the table after Meeting for Worship
- ARCH representative
ARCH Visitors: Sally Campbell, Kathy Hinton, John Tweddle, Charlene Ray, David Fletcher, Schuyler Osborne, Bryan Wigfall
ARCH [Aging Resources Consultation and Help] is a program of the New York Yearly Meeting;
ARCH visitors are trained to help Friends deal with aging or disability-related concerns
- Riverside Space Committee
Jon Melhaus (clerk), Scott Blumenthal, Sally Campbell, Robert Schwab, Pam Wood
- Scheduling volunteers to welcome members/attenders and to break Meeting at the end of Worship (currently the First Day Coordinators Committee). - Overseeing technology for the Meeting room, including setting up, operating, and putting away the equipment each Sunday; and coordinating with Riverside when tech challenges arise. - Serving as the primary contact for facility issues with Riverside Church (currently the Space Committee) - And, for the foreseeable future, managing COVID-related logistics, including the attendance reservation system, attender/member check-in on 12T, maintaining records of sign-up and attendance, bathroom monitoring, etc.
- Committee for Prison Ministry
Ernie Buscemi, David Fletcher, Helen Garay Toppins, Pamela Wood