September 2021 Newsletter
For upcoming events, see our Calendar. For the monthly Queries, see September: Personal Relationships. (The red text on this page and within this web site contains embedded hypertext links. Double click on any red link to open the web page associated with that link.)
Announcements
Reno Friends Meeting is currently holding Silent Worship at 9:30 am on Sundays. For the first two Sundays in September, we will be holding Silent Worship on Zoom. Click here for the Zoom link. We hope to return to using our garden for Silent Worship later in the month, if weather and smoke conditions permit. Please check here for updates. Our First Day School is open at parent request, and will be held outside during the summer months. Please contact clerk(at)renofriends.org if you would like to request First Day School for your children a few days in advance, if possible. We are also holding online meetings, fellowship, spiritual discussions and yoga on Zoom. For details on using Zoom, see our Zoom guidelines.
September 2021 Reno Friends Meeting Schedule
Wed. Sept. 1 – Zoom Ministry & Oversight Committee Meeting, 9 am
Thurs. Sept. 2 – PM Embodying the Light, 7-8 pm, on Zoom (details)
Sun. Sept. 5 – Silent Worship on Zoom, 9:30 am (details)
Wed. Sept. 8 – AM Embodying the Light, 9:30-10:30 am, on Zoom (details)
Thurs. Sept. 9 – Zoom Clerks’ Committee Meeting, 10:00 am
Sun. Sept. 12 – Silent Worship on Zoom, 9:30 am (details)
Sun. Sept. 12 – Zoom Meeting for Business, 11:00 am
Thurs. Sept. 16 – Zoom Brown Bag lunch, hosted by Melanie and Peg, 12 noon.
Sun. Sept. 19 – Hybrid/Garden Silent Worship, 9:30 am (details)
Wed. Sept. 22 – AM Embodying the Light, 9:30-10:30 am, on Zoom (details)
Thurs. 23 – Zoom Spiritual Discussion on “The Trial of Early Quaker Francis Howgill” with Doug Smith, 7:00-8:30 pm (details)
Sun. Sept. 26 – Garden Silent Worship, 9:30 am (details)
Sun. Sept. 26 –Potluck in the Garden, 11 am (details)
Thurs. Sept. 30 –Last day for Peg’s food drive for a local food pantry. Until the end of September, you may drop off canned or other non-perishable food items in a box on her porch at 75 Hastings Drive, Reno.
Reno Friends Meeting Events & Notices
Zoom or Garden Silent Worship every Sunday at 9:30 am, with Fellowship afterwards. Worship is “Weather Conditional,” so check for last minute emails about whether we are in-person or on Zoom.
This summer we have been holding Silent Worship in our Garden and, more recently, back on Zoom. For September, we will continue to conduct Silent Worship on Zoom for the first two Sundays, Sept. 5 and 12 due to air quality and health concerns. After that, we hope to move back to the Garden. Watch the emailed Weekly Update for the latest announcements. Here is the recurring Zoom link for online Silent Worship. (The Zoom session is active between 9:15-12:00, with Silence starting at 9:30.)
https://zoom.us/j/98305205938?pwd=cDZseGdLbWMyYWZsZDdiN00rMjRUZz09
If you are joining us in person in the garden or the Meeting House, please read about Silent Worship. For Silent Worship on Zoom, we have developed a set of Zoom Worship guidelines. For those who would like to learn more about Zoom in advance, go to https://westernfriend.org/media/how-use-zoom-videoconferencing. If you would rather sit in Silent Worship quietly at home rather than online, we invite you to send after-thoughts, joys and concerns, and requests to hold people in the Light to Rhonda at rhondalou14(at)gmail.com. Our worship clerk will read them at the next Silent Worship.
In-Person Fellowship May Resume in the Meeting House Garden, with a Potluck on Sun. Sept. 26 after Worship at 11:00 am, Conditions Permitting
Reno Friends will gather for our 4th-Sunday Potluck tradition on Sept. 26 at 11 am, after Silent Worship. We will serve food in the Meeting House but bring our plates to eat outside. Please bring food to share that is easy to eat with just a fork or fingers. Masks are required while in the Meeting House getting your food or using the restroom.
Garden or Zoom Brown Bag Lunch, Thurs. Sept. 16, at 12 noon
Reno Friends is also bringing back the popular Brown Bag Lunch, but this time it will be in-person in the Garden or on Zoom, weather depending. Peg McCall and Melanie Scott will host on Thurs. Sept. 16, at 11:30 am. We plan to offer 3rd-Thursday Brown Bag Lunches in some form for the coming months. Stay tuned.
Zoom Ministry & Oversight Committee Meeting: Wed. Sept. 1, at 9:00 am
The next Ministry and Oversight Committee Meeting will be Wed. Sept. 1 at 9:00 am on Zoom. A link for that Zoom session, along with the agenda, will go out to those involved the day before. If anyone in the Meeting has a concern for M&O, please email M&O Clerk Wendy Swallow.
Zoom Clerks Committee Meeting: Thurs. Sept. 9, at 10:00 am
The next RFM’s Clerks’ Committee will meet Thurs. Sept. 9 at 10:00 am on Zoom to discuss the September Meeting for Business agenda. A link for that Zoom session, along with a draft agenda, will go out to those involved the day before. If anyone in the Meeting has an item for the Meeting for Business agenda, please forward it to one of the Meeting Clerks, either John Hervey or Mark Woolbright.
Zoom Meeting for Business: Sun. Sept. 12, at 11:00 am
Business Meeting will be Sun. Sept. 12 at 11:00 am. This Meeting for Business will be on Zoom. A Zoom link will be sent out by email to all in advance, along with the agenda. Everyone is welcome at Meeting for Business.
Embodying the Light: Evening Session on Zoom Thurs. Sept. 2 at 7 pm; Morning Sessions on Zoom Wed. Sept. 8 and Wed. Sept. 22 at 9:30 am
Rhonda Ashurst leads the “Embodying the Light” class of gentle yoga and Tai Chi/Qigong as a service to Reno Friends and the community. The First Thursday evening class will be Sept. 2 on Zoom from 7-8 pm; and the Second and Fourth Wednesday morning classes will also meet on Zoom, on Sept. 8 and 22, from 9:30-10:30 am. For all the sessions, we will do our Tai Chi/Qigong practice standing, but please have a chair or mat for our brief meditation. See our website for more details. Please watch the Weekly Schedule Update for the latest announcements and links for the Zoom sessions.
Zoom Spiritual Discussion, 7-8:30 pm, Thurs. Sept. 23, “The Trial of Quaker Francis Howgill,” with Doug Smith
Please join Doug Smith for a Zoom Spiritual Discussion, Thurs. Sept. 23 at 7 pm, on “The Trial of Early Quaker Francis Howgill.” The Zoom link for this discussion, and additional background material and queries, will be sent out later in the month. We welcome everyone.
Donating to Reno Friends in 2021
If you would like to support the Meeting, donations should be sent to our Meeting Co-Treasurer Katie Dwyer, at her home at 40 Arbor Oak Court, Reno, NV 89509. Or you can send money to the Meeting via your bank using the Zelle payment application, which most banks offer for free. To make a Zelle transfer, you’ll need Reno Friends’ bank account number, which you can get by emailing our other Co-Treasurer Charlie Shepard at cshepard54(at)gmail.com. It eliminates the need to write a check and, for our Treasurers, to deposit your check at the bank. Thank you from Reno Friends!
Help Catie Polley Support a Youth Center in Naco, AZ
Catie Polley spent part of the summer helping her Aunt Lori with the opening of a youth community center in Naco, Arizona. They first opened El Centro at the beginning of 2021 have since began providing free music classes and a social space from kids crossing over from Mexico who attend school in Bisbee. They are now hoping to gain support in opening a small cafe within the center, whose proceeds would go towards funding the community center as a whole. However, in order to make this a reality, they need the support of those in their community and those abroad. Catie hopes Reno Friends will consider joining her in congratulating their success by learning more about the work they’ve done not only at El Centro but also in several other projects. Go to https://www.binationalarts.org/ to learn more and please visit their Go Fund Me page at: http://gofundme.com/f/el-centro. Additionally, if Friends are ever passing through Bisbee or Naco, make sure to stop by El Centro for a coffee or tea to make a meaningful impact on their beautiful community. Thank you so much! Love and light, Catie Polley
RISE Update
Changes have been coming to RISE, the local charity that serves Reno’s homeless and which is supported by Reno Friends. RISE, which stands for the Reno Initiative for Shelter and Equality, is no longer managing the RISE & Dine meal service that Reno Friends have helped with in the past. Instead, RISE is operating the new family shelter, Our Place, and is monitoring other changes in the homeless community.
For a report on RISE from Steve Wolgast, the RFM RISE liaison, please see the 7/1/2021 Reno Friends RISE Report.
Quaker Earthcare Witness: Books on Climate and Care of the Earth
“Each of us approaches Earthcare from the calling deep within us. Some are called to advocacy; some are called to tilt at the political windmills; some of us are called to teach/share with others; some of us are called to regenerative agriculture and/or native plants. Each has its place in Earthcare. It’s important to find our own starting place – and that will guide our reading. Reading broadly can also help us find that starting place.” – Hope Ascher, Quaker Meeting of Melbourne. For some suggestions of recommended books, click here: https://www.quakerearthcare.org/article/qews-favorite-books
Donate New Stamps to the Homeless
Want to help those in need? Donate new FOREVER stamps to be distributed to the homeless through the Reno Family Resource Center. Put stamp donations in the little drawer under the bulletin board in the Meeting House.
Carson City Worship Group
The Carson City worship group meets every Sunday of the month for unprogrammed worship from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm in the living room of the Rectory of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Carson City. Attenders are asked to wear a mask. St. Peter’s, located at 314 North Division Street, occupies a small city block in the heart of Carson City’s Historic District. The Rectory, an historic two-story brick house, sits just south of the church building. If anyone would like to be connected to the Carson group, just email clerk(at)renofriends.org.
Quaker Mission Stamp Project
Stamping for Dollars, previously know as The Quaker Stamp Project, helps the poor through Right Sharing of World Resources, a Quaker organization that provides micro-grants to groups of very poor women for starting up a business. All live in impoverished areas in Africa and India. To support this worthwhile program, save canceled foreign and domestic stamps, and send them to: Stamps for Right Sharing, c/o Indianapolis First Friends, 3030 Kessler Blvd East Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46220. For more information: https://www.rswr.org/stamp-program. You can help make a difference in the world – one stamp at a time!
Outside Non-Profits That (Previously) Met at the Quaker Meeting House
NOTE: These groups are negotiating their return to our Meeting House this summer. Please contact the groups directly for updates.
Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm, and every Saturday from 5 pm to 6 pm. ACA is a world service 12-step program for those struggling with the legacy of growing up in an alcoholic or dysfunctional home. These groups are open to all.
Citizens Climate Lobby of Northern Nevada works with local and national legislators to pass a carbon tax and dividend to help stop global warming. CCL meets the 4th Tuesday of the month, 6:30 to 8 pm (except for Dec.). For more info, email Betsy Fadali at bfadali(at)sbcglobal.net. Feel free to bring friends and neighbors, if they are interested. For more on CCL, go to www.citizensclimatelobby.org.
Other Non-Profits Affiliated with Reno Friends
Sierra Interfaith Action for Peace (SIAP) has been “holding a space” for peace for over 16 years. Instead of gathering in front of the Federal Building, as they have done in the past, the group now gathers for a peace vigil on Zoom every Monday from 5:30-6:00 pm. Members take turns leading the group with relevant articles and discussions. If anyone wants to join the group, please send an email to either Pat Coia at crmmp2001@yahoo.com or Rita Sloan at rwrksloan@hotmail.com.
Hold Them in the Light
Please hold the following in the Light: All who those who have lost loved ones or who have suffered illness during the pandemic; those who have lost jobs or business; everyone hurt and challenged by racism, war and terrorism; those who struggle with loneliness, sadness or privation; all those grieving over the epidemic of gun violence and police violence in our country, and for and all the people and leaders of our nation and all countries experiencing war or oppression, so that we may find peaceful resolutions to all our economic and political troubles. In particular, please hold in the Light: Sharonlee Souza; Arlene Van Cleave and her friend Joyce Lehrer ; Peg’s cousin Cathy; Mark and Edie’s niece Hannah and friends Karen and family, Lee, and Bart; Rick’s wife Beth and all of San Jose Meeting; Melanie’s sister Stephanie; Erin’s friend Derek; Rhonda’s friend Deb; the animals at the roadside zoo in Reno; Kerstin and Dave and their cat Mickey; Suze’s friend Carolann; Joan Graham, her brother Tom, and her family; all the communities impacted by wildfires, the firefighters, and the forests; the people of Haiti and Afghanistan; Shanna Mae and her soon-to-be-born baby girl. To request prayers, or to add or subtract someone from the “Hold in the Light” list, please contact Rhonda Ashurst at rhondalou14(at)gmail.com.
Quaker Activities & Announcements
Ben Lomond Quaker Center Workshops
Ben Lomond is still operating, but most programs are currently held online. Check out their website for Worship Sharing, Silent Worship, specific programs and more. Go to http://www.quakercenter.org.
Ben Lomond Financial Appeal
Between COVID and the recent fires, Ben Lomond Quaker Center
has lost about $15,000 per month of budgeted income. We started out with some healthy reserves, we’ve cut back on expenditures and Friends have been exceedingly generous in offering financial support. But, as the pandemic continues, and as we recover from the CZU fire, we are nearly certain to approach the limits of our ability to stay afloat and to chart the course. Please help, as you are able: DONATE
British Yearly Meeting Shares a Daily Feed of Advices and Queries: Go to http://quakerthoughtfortheday.com/
Quaker worship and fellowship online through Western Friend Magazine: https://westernfriend.org/quaker-worship-and-fellowship-online
Write for What Canst Thou Say?
Tell us your stories! What Canst Thou Say? (WCTS) is an independent publication co-operatively produced by Friends with an interest in mystical experience and contemplative practice. WCTS is a worship-sharing group in print. We hope to help Friends be tender and open to the Spirit. Articles that best communicate to our readers are those that focus on specific events and are written in the first person. We welcome submissions of articles less than 1500 words and artwork suitable for black and white reproduction. It is published in February, May, August, and November. The editorial and production team is Muriel Dimock, Lissa Field, Mariellen Gilpin, Judy Lumb, Grayce Mesner, Mike Resman, Earl Smith, Eleanor Warnock, and Rhonda Ashurst.
Reno Friends are welcome to email submissions to Rhonda Ashurst at rhondalou14(at)gmail.com. Please send your text submissions in Word or generic text format, and artwork in high resolution jpeg files. Photocopied art and typed submissions are also accepted. All authors and artists retain copyright to their articles and artwork published in WCTS. WCTS retains the right to publish initially and to reprint in WCTS anthologies.
Reno Friends Newsletter: How To Contribute
Submissions: Please submit your items for the newsletter by the 25th of the month for inclusion in the following month’s newsletter. Send Friends Calendar events and information to Reno Friends newsletter editor Wendy Swallow, wswallow54 (at) gmail.com, or leave a message on the Meeting phone, (775) 329-9400.
Getting the newsletter in the mail: If you need to receive your newsletter by postal mail, please notify RFM newsletter editor Wendy Swallow at: wswallow54(at)gmail.com or call at 775-473-5559.