Announcements last updated September 4th, 2024:
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New Announcements | News of Friends | Events at Third Haven | Committee Announcements | Announcements about Local Non-Profits | Announcements from Quaker Organizations | Regular Announcements
New Announcements:
- The September newsletter is now available.
- Meeting for Business will convene September 8.
- Meeting funding and construction authorization, Meeting for business, 9.8.24
The Planning Committee will request Meeting approval for financing and authorization to proceed with construction and implementation of Phase 1projects:- Brick meetinghouse (BMH) back external stairway,
- BMH accessibility ramp on the south side,
- Renovation of the 2nd floor (BMH2) for First Day School (FDS) and other uses, and
- Tree succession planning.
- The Harper contract for the external stairway and ramp, based on the final building drawings from John Milner Architects (JMA) and Jonathan Ceci Landscape Architecture (JCLA). The current Harper $219,000 estimate was based on earlier building drawings and will increase slightly based on the final building drawings, which will address drainage concerns and other changes.
- A “recommended allowance” or cost estimate for the BMH2 renovations from Harper, or architectural drawings if needed, to be determined (TBD).
- An estimate of costs for the next phase of tree succession planning, with JCLA or alternative.
- 10% contingency, to be closely guarded.
- Volunteer Needed Nonperishable Food donations for the Neighborhood Service Center pantry are left every First Day in the bin outside the meeting house. Our thanks go to Winslow Womack for managing this donation for years. Now we need someone who can take over carrying the contents of the bin to the Neighborhood Service Center on Port St., Easton each week. If you are moved to volunteer, please contact Molly Brian.
- Join us for a day of peace and inward renewal! Inward Bound Quiet Day
September 18, 2024; 10am to 3pm (pot-luck lunch at 12 noon)
Common Room and grounds of Third Haven Friends Meeting
Join TH Friends in a silent retreat that offers a day of listening for the Light within, contemplation, reading, walking the grounds, writing, and self-chosen art activities. We enjoy a shared, silent potluck lunch, and end our session with a short sharing session. Come for all or part of the retreat. Information and/or RSVP: Katherine Johnson. - September 29th [Sunday], Southern Quarterly Meeting
The next Southern Quarterly Meeting on Sunday, September 29th, 2024 will be held at Camden Friends Meeting, 122 E. Camden-Wyoming Ave., Camden, Delaware. Please save the date and plan to join us! We will carpool from Third Haven. More details will be available soon. - Green Hands News:
Mary Yancy, Beth Mufson and Jonathan Williams completed work on a (mostly) new composter that is taking in 5 gallons of scraps from Third Haven each week. We hope to encourage the use of composting as an alternative to putting food waste into the landfill. Underground in the landfill, it is very likely to rot in a way that adds a greenhouse gas up to 80 times more powerful than CO2. This composter is large enough to serve us and at least one other faith group or a small housing unit like TIS or Dixon House. The compost will add vibrancy to pollinator or community gardens. And perhaps, like the Plastic-Free Easton success, a constituency will eventually be created that could make Easton free of this kind of food waste. - Inspirational Singers and Accompanists welcomed:
If you have even one small musical bone in your body you can contribute to the inspirational music we are now presenting at the end of Announcements. A handful of singers and/or folks playing the (usually simple) chords or rhythms of our tunes would add immensely to the spirit expressed in this new practice. A person who could play a bass, clarinet or harmonica, even just minimally, could create an ostinato or drone that would ground and connect each chord. Please contact Jonathan Williams for more information! - First Day School Updates:
FDS will resume on Sunday Sept 8 at 10am. We will welcome back Miss Cherie and Miss Kristin to some of our Sunday Fall programming.
First Day School Activities:
- Sept 15, Welcome Back breakfast 9am Common room: we hope all families will get to Meeting a little earlier that day to enjoy some yummy breakfast that the Pastoral Care committee is cooking up.
- Conversations on Race will resume in September. Please save the dates for our fall film sessions!
- Sept 23 Color Blind or Color Brave
- October 28 A Concerto is a Conversation
- December 9 American Santa
- September 6 (Friday), Zoom Happier Hour 7 PM:
Zoom happier hour conversation is scheduled on Fridays at 7:00 pm. Typically, about 5-6 people use the hour to reconnect, share news and again, offer fellowship. Please consider joining our group this evening.
News of Friends, or friends of Friends:
- Samantha McCall, according to Tom, is doing well with her liver transplant. She’s even driving!
- Condolences to Peggy Walbert and Family on the loss of her husband Don. Cards may be sent to Peggy Walbert.
- The Memorial service for Nancy Stanford will be held at Third Haven Friends Meeting, Easton, Md. Thursday, August 1 at 3p.m. in the 1684 Meeting House, followed by a reception in the Common Room. Since the historic 1684 Meeting House is open air, clothing suitable for hot weather is recommended.
All are invited to proceed from there to the Peace Vigil held at 5 p.m. in front of the Talbot County Courthouse on Washington Street, Easton, Md. Directions will be provided. A vigil for peace sponsored by Third Haven Monthly Meeting is held from 5-6 p.m. each Thursday at the Easton Courthouse. You are welcome to come at any time during the hour and stay only as long as you wish.
Come in Nancy’s memory to stand for Peace! - Samantha McCall at last report was in line for a liver transplant. Please hold her and the McCall family in the Light.
- Carlyle Hooff asks us to hold her brother, Eugene Hooff in the light as he undergoes surgery for a brain tumor.
- Cherie Baron and family are being held in the Light following the loss of Cherie’s brother, Danny Dunbar.
- Samantha Moore attended Meeting for Worship and expressed her appreciation for being held in the Light during her wait for a liver transplant. She notes that she mostly feels well but occasionally has a downward turn. Please hold her and her entire family in the Light.
- Amy Kimball and her husband David Schmickel will return home this coming week and continue to recuperate from their car accident.
- Mary Yancey continues to recuperate.
- Molly Brian asks we hold her sister-in-law, Martha, who is in a North Carolina Intensive Care Unit, in the Light.
- Sam Steffens asks we hold her ill stepfather in the Light and at the same time shares the joy of watching her daughter navigate the challenges of young adulthood.
- Congratulations! Matt Gray, assistant professor, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, and faculty member Professor Ming Li have been named U.S. Fulbright Scholars for the 2024-2025 academic year. The U.S. Fulbright Program seeks to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and partner countries through educational and cultural exchange programs. The program provides unique opportunities for scholars to teach and conduct research abroad. “Our short-term goals include conducting acidification experiments with the European Flat oyster, but my hope is the award will help establish long-lasting collaborations with researchers in Sweden and elsewhere in Europe,” said Gray in the Star Democrat article.
- Robert Gladney, leader of the Wednesday Morning Artists, Dorchester Center for the Arts and Academy Art Museum of Easton, organized a day for 26 participants to have their clay creations glazed and fired in the Raku method. See Star Democrat for details.
- Condolences to the family of Debbie Rossiter Cox Deborah Cox 83, a longtime member of Third Haven Monthly Meeting, passed away after an extended battle with Alzheimer’s Disease on February 16th, 2024, at Talbot Hospice in Easton. As a nurse practitioner, Debbie’s love was for the less fortunate with the most challenging health care needs. She is survived by her daughter; Brittain Shaw, son; John Shaw, and her four grandchildren, her aunt Janine, stepson David Cox and step-granddaughter Jamie Cox, and husband Doyle. Deborah Cox’s Memorial Meeting for Worship will be held on April 6, starting at 11:30 in the Brick Meeting House. At the rise of the meeting, there will be an interment ceremony by the Maryland Nurses Honor guard. After this, her husband, Mr. Doyle Cox, and his family have invited all attending to join them in the Common Room for a simple lunch. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Talbot Hospice, 586 Cynwood Dr., Easton, MD or the Alzheimer’s Association
Events at Third Haven:
Be sure to check out the Calendar for more events not listed here!
- Sunday, September 8th: Meeting for Business
- Wednesday, September 18th, 10am to 3PM : Inward Bound Quiet Day
Join us for a day of peace and inward renewal!
(pot-luck lunch at 12 noon)
Common Room and grounds of Third Haven Friends Meeting
Join TH Friends in a silent retreat that offers a day of listening for the Light within, contemplation, reading, walking the grounds, writing, and self-chosen art activities. We enjoy a shared, silent potluck lunch, and end our session with a short sharing session. Come for all or part of the retreat. Information and/or RSVP: Katherine Johnson.
Announcements from Third Haven's Committees:
- From Worship & Ministry:
- Thoughts on a more Settled Meeting: Quakers have come up with practices that are most conducive to a settled meeting. Please review the following link.
- Facilities Use Committee Zoom Meeting Scheduling:
This document was prepared by Third Haven Friends Meeting Facilities Use Committee is attached here to guide us through the process of setting up and running our meetings. - First Day School Updates:
This week the children had a beautiful day to explore our lovely Third Haven grounds. Their project today was to do etchings of some gravestones, trying to find the older dates. See their etching picture below. FDS will be taking a summer break but the grounds will be alive with the sounds of children learning at our annual nature camp happening from June 24-27 9 am- 3pm.
First Day School Activities:
FDS will resume on Sunday Sept 8 at 10am. We will welcome back Miss Cherie and Miss Kristin to some of our Sunday Fall programming.
First Day School Activities:
- Sept 15, Welcome Back breakfast 9am Common room: we hope all families will get to Meeting a little earlier that day to enjoy some yummy breakfast that the Pastoral Care committee is cooking up.
- From Testionies & Concerns:
- The Guide for Giving:
Testimonies and Concerns Committee has prepared The Guide for Giving, an annotated list of non-profit, charitable organizations who sustain values and priorities in keeping with our Queries. Please click here to view the guide. - Minutes for Testimonies and Concerns Meeting, 9/06/20.
- The Guide for Giving:
Announcements about Local Non-profits or Faith Organizations:
- Climate Change Activity If you'd like to add just a little elbow grease to dealing with climate change, Talbot Green Hands will be screwing together the frame of a new composter and parting-out the old at the Presbyterian Community Garden Tuesday (7/23) in the afternoon. Bring a battery drill with a 25T bit to assemble and/or a fencing tool or needle nose pliers to re-use the hardware cloth.
- Detention Center Library:
A small group from Third Haven and friends maintain the library at the Talbot County Detention Center. This was started many years ago by Ralph and Mary Young. The Talbot County Detention Center Library needs an additional volunteer. It involves one session of about two hours a month. The time is somewhat flexible—what you and your partner decide. The work involves checking books in and out for the guards to distribute to the inmates. Contact Stephanie French if you have time and inclination to join us. - The Maryland Alliance for Justice Reform (MAJR) reports their efforts, in the 2023 Maryland General Assembly Session, found success in passing some bills, partial-success with others, and still are building support for many more important bills. See additional information at their website.
- Talbot Interfaith Shelter:
Talbot Interfaith Shelter Help Needed: Third Haven Friends Meeting is committed to serving TIS in a very simple way. On the 17th of each month, we fill three shifts (8-11, 11-2, 2-4) in which we act as a friendly presence answering the door and the phone. We keep an eye on things so that the staff can stay working in their offices. We help at Easton's Promise, 107 Goldsborough Street, in Easton. At the moment there are three of us regularly filling these shifts. For July, however, we will be missing people for the 8-11 and 2-4 shifts. In August the 17th falls on a weekend when full-time staff will be there. We will resume in September, and we welcome new volunteers especially for the 8-11 shift. A simple background check is required for this volunteer job, which can be easily completed and is found in the red and/or blue boxes near the bottom of this PAGE. This is a great opportunity to be part of the amazing Talbot Interfaith Shelter which provides local families the tools that lead to stability and self sufficiency. Learn more at Talbot Interfaith Shelter.org. Please don't hesitate to contact Sarah Sayre if you have any questions. - PEARLS:
Stacy Ewing, of the Talbot County Health Department writes to our meeting, "I wanted to let you know about a home visiting program called PEARLS (Programs the one who should be able to get for Encouraging Active, Rewarding Lives)." Please click here for a brochure with more information. - Maryland Citizens's Health Initiative (MCHI) Request:
Third Haven has received a request from Nikki Richards of Homewood Friends Meeting in Baltimore asking us to endorse a resolution brought forward by their Maryland Citizens's Health Initiative (MCHI). If our Meeting supports the concept of equal access to quality, affordable healthcare for Marylanders we can help on this new Initiative to improve health equity. Health inequities based on race, ethnicity, and place of residence persist throughout the state, and have been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Maryland Citizens's Health Initiative requests that community organizations, faith groups, small businesses, and others around the state sign on by September 16 in support of this life saving initiative. If it is the sense of our Meeting that we endorse this, our response can be forwarded to them. The Initiative's Resolution can be reached by clicking on this link. - Feed The Front is organized to connect donors, restaurants and volunteers to feed essential workers in Talbot County.
- Acts of Kindness: A Task Force volunteer provides interpretation services between Mid Shore ProBono attorneys and immigrants. Another volunteer has been reaching out to immigrant children through the arts, as part of an after school program sponsored by the Chesapeake Multi Cultural Resource Center. Another, expert in immigration law, filed objections to proposed regulations that would raise barriers to documented immigrants becoming citizens. 2 volunteers from the task force have reached out to the many other congregations throughout the county to expand the network of congregations associating with the task force. There are 6 local congregations that are already associated with the task force and include Temple B'nai Israel, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship At Easton, Third Haven Friends Meeting, Easton Church of the Brethren, Scott's United Methodist Church and Grace Lutheran Church.Reach out to: Helpingimmigrantstc@gmail.com.
- Opportunity: If you are interested in helping to start a worship service at Eastern Shore Correctional Institute, please call Molly Brian. No set schedule is yet formed on this, but we are trying to see if there is genuine interest in a project there.
- If you would like to make a public statement of your commitment to our Peace Testimony, the opportunity to do so exists eachThursday afternoon. Peace Vigils are held each Thursday from 5 to 6 p.m. The Thursday vigil is held in Easton in front of the Talbot County Court House.
Announcements from Quaker Organizations:
- September 29th [Sunday], Southern Quarterly Meeting
The next Southern Quarterly Meeting on Sunday, September 29th, 2024 will be held at Camden Friends Meeting, 122 E. Camden-Wyoming Ave., Camden, Delaware. Please save the date and plan to join us! We will carpool from Third Haven. More details will be available soon. - Quaker Earthcare Witness Fall Gathering, 10/03 - 10/06:
Join us at our Fall Gathering at the Norbertine Spirituality Center at Santa María de la Vid Abbey in the beautiful high desert of Albuquerque, New Mexico, from Thursday, October 3rd to Sunday, October 6th. Please click here for more information. - Updates from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM):
- An Urgent Call to the Religious Society of Friends:
This call to action from PYM was authored by a group of nineteen Quakers, who see forces at work in our country that undermine some of our basic values of equality, truth-telling, and deep listening. - Supporting Children & Teens After Violent News:
In the last two weeks we have been repeatedly confronted with gun violence. The 3 recent events have happened in the kinds of everyday places that should be safe—the grocery store, church, and school. How do we talk to children about gun violence? - Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Response to the Crisis in Ukraine: Quakers from around the world are in anguish and deeply concerned with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Our hearts are with the people of Ukraine and Quakers in the affected areas in this dark time. As a historic peace church, we join our call for peace in the world to their cries for peace and help.
- Help Us Address Racism
A sprint (a goal-oriented short-term team that tackles a project and does the work quickly) has formed under the care of PYM's Administrative Council to propose ways for our yearly meeting community to intentionally hold the work of anti-racism and anti-oppression. Learn more on how you can help. - Epistles And Minutes:
Before the first reading of the PYM epistle on Saturday night, PYM rising clerk, Melissa Rycroft, described an epistle as a letter that is "not written for those of us in PYM. It is our outgoing letter to others in the world". Epistles are not meant to be a recitation of everything that happened, instead minutes capture those details. Nor are epistles a travel-log or documentary. Melissa emphasized that an epistle actually tracks how the spirit has moved among us.
- An Urgent Call to the Religious Society of Friends:
- From Friends Committee on National Legislation:
Support The Bill: At the PYM ecojustice conference this past week, information was given on the Clean Energy Protection Program (CEPP). This will be debated in the US Congress in the next few weeks. If you want to support the bill, here is an easy link for you to send an email to our Congress people: https://fcnl.quorum.us/campaign/34603/?utm_source=fcnlaction. The instructions are simple, however it's a good idea to make the email your own by writing at least a personal statement at the start and the finish. The bill would help us move towards clean energy by 2030. For extra punch, mention the Clean Energy and Sustainability Accelerator (Called a National Climate Bank in the Senate), as this bill would help low income communities with a series of environmentally friendly loans.
Regular Announcements:
- Please remember to greet visitors to meeting—answer what questions they have about Friends, our buildings, our programs and activities. We are all emissaries of Third Haven.
- Contributions to the meeting can be made by way of the contributions box in the Brick Meetinghouse entranceway. Checks can also be sent to THMM, P.O. Box 2379, Easton, MD 21601; or by clicking on the button below:
- Are your names, addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail listings all correct in the Third Haven Directory? Please review your information at Directory. The online directory remains protected: please e-mail taniahharrison@gmail.com or hawkjm@goeaston.net if you need the password. If you have corrections for the Directory, please send them to 3rdhaven@gmail.com.
- Faith and Practice can be read and portions extracted from the PYM website at this link.
- If you have material for the newsletter, additional announcements, or added information about any of these posted events, please send it to 3rdhaven@gmail.com.
- Fridays, Zoom Happier Hour 7 PM:
Hospitality would also like to remind the community that the zoom happier hour conversation is still happening on Fridays at 7:00 pm. Typically, about 7-10 people use the hour to reconnect, share news and again, offer fellowship. Please contact John Turner for more information. - Food Pantry Donations: We continue to support our community at the Neighborhood Service Center with donations of nonperishable food. Please remember to bring an item First Day and contribute to the bin outside the Meeting House. Food is then delivered on Tuesdays to the Neighborhood Service Center.