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Meeting Tasks for this Sunday:
Care of Meeting: SJoanne .
Key - Carole T.
Setup help - Don R.
Greeter - Larry T.
Snack - vacant
Kitchen - vacant
Kitchen help - Wendy C,
Children's Teacher - vacant
Lots of fill-in help needed this week, gentle reader. Please come prepared to pitch-in and bring a snack if you can.
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Wedding Invitation
Wendy Beach
and
Don Goldstein
are pleased to invite you to share
the celebration of their marriage on
Saturday, April 11, 2015 beginning at 1:00 pm at
the First Congregational Church of Bellingham,
2401 Cornwall Avenue, Bellingham, WA.
We are planning a Quaker wedding under the care of
Bellingham Friends Meeting, followed by a reception including
circle dancing, contra dancing, and a potluck buffet, for which we invite you to
bring food to share if convenient. Cake and drinks will be provided.No gifts, please.
The festivities will last until about 4:30 pm.
Please R.S.V.P. to let us know how many will be in your party
by phoning us at 360-671-1395, or emailing Don at dnx6309@gmail.com.
We look forward to the pleasure of your company on this happy day.
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Announcements from Friends
Housing Request
Friend Tom Zylstra
Tom is coming from China to Bellingham in early April for some medical evaluation and treatment for an estimated 3 months. He needs a place (room, neither big nor modern). He can pay as much as $200 or $250 per month, and will also pay food costs, and will cook and help with chores.
He also hopes to buy a cheap but dependable car.
If anyone has or knows of a room and/or vehicle, please contact Tom at cntomclay@gmail.com.
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Looking ahead to wider Quaker gatherings:
PNQM Spring Quarterly Meeting – April 24-26, Ellensburg, WA: Theme: Lift Every Voice – Music & Spirituality
Friends General Conference (FGC) Gathering of Friends – July 5-11, Western Carolina Univ., NC
North Pacific Yearly Meeting (NPYM) Annual Session - July 15-19, Whitworth Univ., Spokane
Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) Fall Steering Committee Meeting:October 22 - 25 at Ben Lomond Quaker Center near Santa Cruz, CA
Bellingham Friends are reminded to contact Ministry and Counsel for assistance reaching clearness about attending, and/or availability of financial assistance for attending any Quaker event.
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Calls to Action!
1) WA State Budget Priorities
and Progressive Taxes
Contact your Representatives and urge them to support the House Budget Proposal
Leaders in the state House last week released a budget proposal that charts a progressive course for Washington. Their budget meets our constitutional responsibility to fund education, protects essential services, and finally implements a progressive tax on the wealthiest Washingtonians.
The proposal includes:
- a capital gains tax on anything over $25,000 per individual per year,
- repeal of some business exemptions
There are many positive environmental provisions including:
- funding for oil spill response plans and equipment (both rail and vessel)
- fish and forest management, the
- voluntary stewardship program to meet county critical area ordinances, and
- State Parks funding, to name just a few.
The Senate version does not include any new taxes, but simply shifts funds for other programs to education. It would maintain Washington's status as the state with the most regressive tax structure in the nation. A compromise between the two versions will be devised.
If you support progressive taxation, funding for education and social services, then
Contact your Representatives and urge them to support the House Budget Proposal
2) Rail Safety - without requiring approval of export terminals
Amendments have been offered to both rail safety proposals that would link rail safety to approval of new terminals. So the bill numbers are not important. Tell your Iegislators that the linkage between rail safety and proposed new terminals is not acceptable. - just tell your legislators - NO LINKAGE!
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Metamorphosis
(Each month’s Metamorphosis is available on our website (www.bellinghamfriends.org ) the Wednesday following Meeting for Business. A few of the many offerings in the current issue are:
March
- Interfaith Hope Auction and a leading of Sharon Trent
- AFSC article : Nine Ways to Connect our Meeting to the Work of American Friends Service Committee: Some GREAT suggestions here - in case you are pondering YOUR next leading. .....(Personal note: Your E-News editor is especially intrigued by the Art exhibit "39 Questions for White People")
April will feature Friends Leadings for Hospice - and more!
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Celebrate Nature!
SKAGIT VALLEY TULIP FESTIVAL:
The flower-focused Skagit Valley Tulip Festival takes place throughout the month of April at a variety of venues from Mount Vernon to Edison to La Conner, Anacortes, and beyond. In addition to being able to explore fields of budding daffodils and tulips, there'll be a street fair, arts events, a kids garage sale, a boat show, a tulip run and tulip pedal, live music, a quilt walk, a wine festival, roller derby, book sales, a parade and much more. Head to the website to check out the full roster
http://www.tulipfestival.org
If you would like to organize a Quaker carpool to an outdoor event, (Meeting for Worship with Attention to Nature) just send a message to the editor !
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Upcoming Second Hours
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April 19 – QEI – Friends History (Allen Stockbridge)
April 26 – Quarterly Meeting
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Calendar for Bellingham Friends
Saturday, April 11, 1 pm
Wedding
for
Wendy Beach
and
Don Goldstein
See Invitation to the left
and please RSVP
Wed., April 1, 7-9 PM
Midweek Worship
at
Mary Ann Percy's home
(1 hr worship + worship sharing and/or check-ins).
Friends gather for midweek worship on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays each month.
Future dates will be on April 15, 29 etc.
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Spring Quarterly Meeting
April 24 - 26
Registration for the Spring 2015 session of Pacific Northwest Quarterly Meeting (PNQM) is now open.
The location is Lazy F Camp and Retreat Center near Ellensburg.
The theme is:
“Lift every voice: Music and spirituality”.
To register online, go to pnqm.org and click on the “Register now” link near the top of the page. You can download the registration information packet in PDF format, and also a separate document containing the registration forms, in either Word or PDF format, in case you choose to mail in (postally or electronically) your completed registration form.
PNQM has a “pay what you can” policy. The information packet includes a page listing suggested fees (the average amounts the Quarterly Meeting needs to receive in order to cover expenses). You can also receive a further discount by registering early, by March 25. The final registration deadline is April 12, after which there is a late registration fee and neither accommodations on site (other than camping space) nor availability of the children’s program for your children can be guaranteed.
If for some reason you need a printed registration packet, there will be a few available at Meeting beginning March 15th.
--Don Goldstein, BFM’s liaison with PNQM
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Query of the Month
"Live adventurously. When choices arise, do you take the way that offers the fullest opportunity for the use of your gifts in the service of God and the community? Let your life speak. When decisions have to be made, are you ready to join with others in seeking clearness, asking for God’s guidance and offering counsel to one another?
Advices and Queries. - #27 in the Little Red Book
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From Ministry and Counsel:
Friends are asked to hold Jenny Davidow in the Light following the death of her cousin recently.
Maya Hatten-Beck is home! Please continue to hold Maya, John, Katy and Frieda Hatten-Beck in the Light as she continues her recovery.
Friends are asked to hold Kristen McLewin in the Light as she recovers from a serious fall from her horse.
*Ministry and Counsel asks the Meeting to hold Don Goldstein and Wendy Beach in the Light as they prepare for their April 11 wedding.
*******
To honor and nurture our precious silent worship together, please plan to arrive before 10 a.m. on Sunday mornings. Please enter the hallway outside the worship room quietly, as voices carry. Please silence cellphones and arrange belongings before entering, and keep comings and goings during worship to a minimum.
Thank you.
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William Penn Quaker Workcamps
Summer 2015
There may be snow on the ground, but Spring is on our minds and in the air. As you turn your own thoughts to warmer days, consider joining William Penn Quaker Workcamps for one of our exciting, fulfilling and meaningful programs in either Washington, DC or Pine Ridge, SD. Both of these share the spirit of building bridges while deepening our own faith and practice in peace and justice work. Some of the people you will meet are also in our "40 Days with Peacemakers" series.
From June 28 to July 5,
"Community Gardens/Community Health"
will be taking place in DC. This Workcamp will be an exploration of the community around the Capitol at the peak of July 4 celebrations. Connecting myth with reality, we will be engaging in a range of activities that expose participants to the vibrant yet underserved and often-invisible parts of DC, while also partaking in celebrations and festivities. Many of the projects will have a focus on community gardens and clean watersheds.
From July 15 to July 29,
Pine Ridge
We will be returning to Pine Ridge, SD to continue our partnership, friendship and service in this beautiful but challenged region. As in past years, we will spend time building for a sustainable future while honoring sacred traditions. Along the way, we learn more about the history - much of what is untold or rewritten - as well as the day-to-day experiences of people on "the Rez." This is our effort to carry on William Penn's commitment to create the Peaceable Kingdom. What better place to start than where many of the struggles for rights and honoring of treaties continue to play out.
These are both great opportunities for fellowship, for learning and to further our own practicing of what we preach. They are inter-generational programs. All are welcome. See here for more information about the details.
The William Penn House
515 E. Capitol St. SE
Washington, District of Columbia 20003
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Announcements from the Wider Community
April 18
Saturday, 6 - 8 pm
Whatcom Museum - Old City Hall - Rotunda Room
Art depicting Suffragists and the Women's Movement
Free and light refreshments will e served. Click here for more information
Friday Peace Vigil
When
Every Fri, 3:45pm – 4:45pm
Where
104 W Magnolia St, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA ()
Description
The Nation's oldest weekly Peace Vigil. Paricipants gather weekly at 4:00 pm with signs in front of the Federal Building on the Corner of Magnolia and Cornwall Streets.
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