Clerk: Roberta McGregor
Note: SUMMER HOURS
10 a.m-11 a.m. July & August only
Sunday, June 24, M4W to be held in the Brink's garden.
*********
Coffee, Tea and You
(For the rest of the summer)
June 17 Janice Muller
June 24 Don Woodside
July 1 Jean Johnson 628-6654
July 8 Helen Paulin
July 15 Betty Preston
July 22 Beverly Shepard
July 29 Margaret Vallins
Aug 5 John Milton 628-6654
Aug 12 Andy Muller
Aug 19 Les Francey
Aug 26 Carol Leigh W.
Sept 2 Harriet Woodside
Sept 9 Kris Wilson-Yang
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To run joyfully into the world
As a child, I thought
simplicity meant
doing without,
starting from scratch,
bare floors,
hard benches,
plain speech,
dull colors.
As I grow older, simplicity
becomes a question of:
how to live
on this planet
so that all
life can be
nurtured;
how to redesign what we
live in,
drive in,
dress in,
eat from,
throw away;
how to choose what we put into
our mouths,
the air,
the water,
our lawns to make them green;
how to quiet our minds, so we can
center,
listen,
lift those who are falling,
deal with greed and fear,
envision community,
run joyfully into the world.
by Elsie Kuhn,
in Friendly Woman, Vol 9, No. 1
(submitted by Mona Callin)
*************
An Appeal
Acronyms only work if they are recognized and understood. When the writer makes up his or her own acronyms it is very confusing, especially to readers unfamiliar with the terminology. It is helpful to give the full title followed by the acronym when the term is used for the first time.
(submitted by Mona Callin)
**********
A fun-filled First Day School frolic was held on Sunday June 10 at the Gravity Climbing Gym. Moms, dads, tots and teens and in betweens all climbed the walls while two 50-somethings watched, wondered and played with baby Sylvie.
This will be the last outing till the fall.
Jean
Dandy
by T. A. Edge
I look out the window and my neighbour was sighin'
as he looked at my field of bright dandelion.
He approached the young beauts with a hint of a vex
as if he would cut off their tender young necks.
Instead, he produced a pair of large boots,
to trample my flowers right down to their roots.
By the time I got out there in my robe and slippers,
He's found a pair of awesome hedge clippers
and started in on my pretty lawn nippers.
Next thing I saw was a orange hedge trimmer, and the prospects for dandelions grew suddenly dimmer.
My neighbour was fixated, for just as I feared,
the sprayer of Killex suddenly appeared.
Summoning up all my courage and power,
I burst right in front of his chemical shower,
and said with a neighbourly smile that would melt
all the flora-fed anger that my neighbour felt:
"Wait! Dandelions have been declared the national flower!"
"It's true," I continued, my smile spreading wide
as the ocean of yellow on my property side.
"For Canada Day this year, and the next,
Good Sheila in Hamilton who Culture Protects,
will mail out wee bags of dandelion seed,
to all of the citizens regardless of need.
It's to spread the glorious national flower
that just like Canadians has great staying power."
He put down his Killex, and laid down his shears.
Those neighbourly eyes welled up with tears.
"You're right, my fine neighbour, so why should I fight, this beautiful flower I once called a blight?"
So, it's nice to see deep roots and bright top,
no longer need to be brought to a stop.
A true symbol of Canadian life, & harmony waking, non-violence, getting on with peacemaking.
As I looked out the window just showing the dawn--
Ten thousand bright dandelions adorning my lawn!!
************
OPERATION: PACK FOR SCHOOL
The current project of the West Hamilton Interfaith Committee on Child Poverty is the brainchild of Denise Barron. We've adapted Denise's idea and plan to fill backpacks and other suitable containers with school
supplies to be distributed to students in need in the New City of Hamilton. These will be prepared and given out during the month of September, 2001.
Right now, we are in need of your leads or connections. We will contact places which might have backpacks, cloth lunch sacks or other suitable "containers" to donate or purchase at a modest price. We already have many
backpacks from local MacDonalds' outlets. For example, have you been in volved with a group that made too many lunch pouches for their fundraiser?
Please send your thoughts along to me.
Over the summer if you see Back to School sales, think of our project and items which could be put in the school packs. Again, one thing you can do is alert me about opportunities and I'll fan the message out. Hamilton Monthly Meeting has made a generous financial donation to help purchase supplies.
In early September, the Interfaith Committee will be distributing brown paper lunch bags with a wish list inside to be filled. Margaret Vallins contributed a list which we are basing our wish list on. I'll be again
asking for your support. We hope that a gathering of youth from several congregations will help us sort all the items we collect and pack the bags. School social workers will distribute the packs to local children.
To be successful, this project needs your ideas. As you can see, our faith community has already been instrumental in this effort and I'm sure this
will continue.
Harriet Woodside
905-522-8048
************
***************
Peacehouse experiment winds down
PeaceHouse came about in Jan/Feb 2001 as a vision of Raj Ramanathapillai and Ian Graham.
PSAC proposed that HMM support it in principle at the Feb 5 M4W4B, which it did.
The following Mission statement was presented in March:
Peace House is founded on the principals of nonviolence, ecological awareness, and healing to
- promote and apply methods of peaceful relationships, locally, nationally, and internationally,
- help communities resolve conflict and heal the wounds of violence,
- through research, education and programming.
Two events were organized by Raj under the partial funding and sponsorship of PeaceHouse and Hamilton Monthly Meeting, CFSC, and McMaster's Center for Peace Studies.
A report from the one day Childrens' Workshop in Toronto on May 26th follows.
The second event is a weekend camp at Camp NeeKauNis June 22/23 2001.
In April Raj asked Meeting for a Clearness committee to help clarify the future of PeaceHouse and his
connection to it. The committeee met with Raj on May 16 and May 24, 2001.
Raj feels he has fulfilled his commitment to create an experiment for PeaceHouse and will be laying the work down as of August.
Consequently, this experiment has come to an end, with some good learnings and modest contributions to the future of peace in our world. Raj has planted many seeds on behalf of peace and Quakers through this project and we celebrate with him in this.
We thank Raj for his vision and energy, in the face of great odds, for bringing more awareness to peace, ecology and healing within our community.
*************
Culture of Peace : Workshop for Children May 26 2001, Toronto
The Culture of Peace Workshop is designed to teach the value of peace and to learn conflict prevention skills to children through art. We use painting, story telling, craft making, peace games, theater and music and dance. Through these activities we teach values such as trust,
kindness, love, friendship, caring and respect and skills like listening, understanding, cooperation, anger management and leadership.
We also encourage discussion of school yard issues such as bullying, hurting, teasing, racism and violence. In our activities the facilitators and group leaders engage in elicitive pedagogy model discussions with children. Asking questions and engaging them to understand the nature of conflict and to find way to resolve it can be
beneficial to all. This workshop also designed activities to foster an appreciation of diverse cultural values so children learn to respect different cultural perspectives and life norms since they are a part of larger multi-cultural society in Toronto.
The workshop at the Scarborough Civic Center was aimed at the Sri Lankan Tamil community. The Tamil community is one of the largest refugee communities; over 100,000 immigrant refugees live in Canada. The media reports that some challenges the community faces are gang violence, suicides, and monetary extortion to support the ongoing war in Sri Lanka.
This event was organized with the collaboration and sponsorship of Tamil Resource Centre of Toronto and McMaster Centre for Peace Studies, Quakers - Hamilton Monthly Meeting and the Peace House from Hamilton.
Hamilton Quakers involved in program delivery included Dawn Lepard, Rex Barger and Raj Ramanathapillai.
The next event is being held for high school and young adults at NeeKauNis on June 23/24. Contact Raj if you want to help, be in solidarity with multicultural victims of war and conflict, and enjoy a healing time in the outdoors.
peacehouse@hwcn.org or 528-4293.
****************
Outreach using our new garden.
Yesterday evening a group of us were working in the garden when two neighbourhood ladies came walking by. I invited them in, and they were very interested to hear about our native plant choices. They were very complimentary indeed. I think a feeling of relief was being expressed that we tidied the property up so much.
John has installed four benches purchased at Fortinos for the price of one of the cedar benches I was looking at last weekend at Flamborough Patio Furniture. We may still purchase a couple more benches to sit on the patio. The present benches are locked to a stake in the ground with steel cable. We believe that this will deter casual theft. However, determined thieves with tools could still remove them. Comments to me or John would be welcome.
I would also like to hear your ideas on how to use the garden as outreach in our neighbourhood and the wider world. I plan an open house in the fall. I invited the two neighbours to come and sit on the benches any time. I think that our garden could be used as a quiet restful place by the local people.
It has been suggested we put an interpretative sign or small kiosk at the entrance to the side garden .
Outreach Report for May 2001
The Committee met on May 31 at the Meetinghouse at 6pm.
A) Activities
Campus Presence
P>1. We are researching ways to be more visible and helpful on McMaster campus.Current plans are to participate in Clubsfest (at invitation of Chaplaincy office) as we did last year and are looking for ways to improve on last year.
We are setting up meetings with contacts at other local churches that do work on campus for suggested areas of need or benefit that fit our resources and testimonies.
2. We plan to encourage campus groups to use the Meetinghouse for suitable events, as one example of being helpful (campus space is getting more
expensive).
3. We discussed hosting a "cost supper" on campus. This is a program run by the Chaplaincy Office. Host groups bring a simple supper for about 15-20
students and join in. Students pay $2.50 to cover costs. These provide a time for students to get some home cooking and be with like-minded people.
Visible support of Public Events
The one area that is underway is to provide billeting for Air Show protesters on the weekend of June 15/16. We are also providing snacks for 150 people
for Friday June 15 at the nearby Mennonite Church. (This is a wonderful opportunity for Quakers to get out and meet people) We will be billeting people on the floor both Fri and Saturday. It may be possible for us to provide a breakfast on these days as well. A link to the Air Show and Protest will be posted on
www.hwcn.org/link/hmm.
The committee is on the watch for other community events where we can lend our support.
New Attenders Program
1. We will be offering an introduction to Quakers in June for new attenders, going under the name of QuakerLite. Its focus is to be on resources people can use to find out more, some handouts and highlites of Quaker origins, the testimonies and worship.
General outline:
- Beginnings: historical and social context
- distinctiveness among protestant movements
- unique ways of worship
- importance of being in community
- testimonies: spiritual and social
It will be participative, helping people decide whether their spiritual growth can be served by involvement with Quakers.
Ian Graham will be facilitating, eldering by Bev Shepard.
2. A new attenders survey is available for anyone to offer feedback on what their experience
has been at Hamilton MM.
3. A draft of a shorter Welcome letter for Hamilton inquirers is in process.
B) Website Subcommittee
1. The internal content 'intranet' is ready to launch, with invitations going out by email shortly. It can be
reached from the www.hwcn.org/link/hmm site or from
www.communityzero.com/hquakers
2. A release form for use photos, or contact information is being circulated by email and paper to allow us to make the website more hospitable looking and the Meeting more accessible.
C) New Business
We explored the ways that outreach needs to be in communication with others in the meeting, e.g. newsletter as there are many beneficial ideas we could share.
The area of learning about what is the role of a worshipping community in these times was
mentionned for future discussion. Books like Church on the Other Side; Faithquakes are possible resources in this.
Meeting ended with silent worship at 7:30pm
***************
Hamilton Quakers Online Community
We are now online with internal, password-accessible forum (called an intranet).
So far 12 people have joined. See the HMM website for instructions on how to access. www.hwcn.org/link/hmm.
New general email address for Hamilton Meeting is quakers@hwcn.org.
**************
House Available August 1st. For Rent or Sale.
Bungalow, 2 bedroom, LR, Kitch, 3pc bath, in quiet neighbourhood 2km from McMaster U.
Rent for $900/month. Sale $135,000.
800 sq ft on one floor. Dry unfinished basement. Appliances included.
Unfurnished. Non smoker. Has Air conditioning.
Garage (single) plus parking for two cars
On bus route 5A. Walking distance to churches and
1/4 mi to public and secondary schools.
40' x 100' lot with gardens
Contact: Ian Graham ian.graham@hwcn.org or 336 0163.
See photos at www.http://www.communityzero.com/grahamia
Online Help to Learn the Internet
As a benefit of Peace House being a client of HamiltonWentworth Community Net's Volnet program
Hamilton Meeting is able to access the online Internet Guide, a self-directed learning tool.
To login to the course, go to
http://ce.fis.utoronto.ca/TIG
Your username is quakers
Your password is quakers1
You will be asked for your user name and password.
A successful login will take you to the TIG Welcome page.
Topics covered:
The Browser
Learn how to navigate the Web, do E-Mail, and read Newsgroups
Communication
Write, chat, phone - do a conference. Learn about e-mail addresses and the etiquette of e-mail.
Discussion Groups
Want to talk with others who share your personal and professional interests? Subscribe to mailing lists to find out what others are saying and put in a few words yourself.
Research
Check the Internet first for information. Learn the features of the main search facilities: the subject directory, search engine, and meta-search service.
Shopping
Need a book quickly, looking for special piece of music, planning a vacation away from home?
Software
Don't drive to the nearest computer store for software. Find what you need on the Internet. Learn how to locate, download, virus check, and install software.
About the Internet
Get answers to some frequently asked questions about the Internet and get the background on how the Internet works.
**************
I hope everyone has a pleasant summer season. Don't forget Camp Neekaunis! There are programs for all ages and stages, set in beautiful surroundings, with swimming, boating, good food, in a friendly accepting atmosphere. There is something magical about it.
Brochures are available at the Meetinghouse, or contact me, or Beverly Shepard.
This is the last newsletter until the fall, and also the last with me as the editor. Carol Leigh Wehking and Tom Edge will be taking up this job in the fall.
Thanks for all the poems, articles and suggestions.
Please send them to Tom or Carol Leigh in future.
Jean
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