The Lake Erie Yearly Meeting is moving its website to a new home. From now on, new updates and news will be found at http://leym.org - Please update your bookmarks and news feeds as needed so we don’t lose touch with you.

Sincerely,
Bill Warters
LEYM Outgoing Webmaster

Dear Friends,

Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting invites you to a gathering of Friends
for worship followed by a pot luck on Sunday August 7 at 11:00 a.m. at
Quaker Park in Battle Creek.

This annual gathering is for worship focusing on prayers for peace in
memory of Hiroshima Day.

Attenders are asked to bring a chair as well as dish to pass and a
place setting.

Quaker Park is located between Fremont Street and Groveland Street in
Battle Creek.

Here is a flyer with details. Hope to see you there!

Blessings and peace,
Dianne

The GPQM spring gathering will take place on Saturday, May 21, from 9
am to 4 pm at the Michigan Friends Center in Chelsea.  The focus of
the meeting will be on the business of the Quarter.  Ed Harris, the
new Head of School at Friends School in Detroit, will present on the
state of the school.  Natalie Holbrook from the AFSC Criminal Justice
Office in Ann Arbor and Max Heirich from the Inclusive Justice Program
will give updates.  And we are happy to have both Michigan Friends
Center and the Friends Lake Cooperative represented at this meeting by
Steve Daut and Richard Tucker respectively not only to report but also
to reflect on how to better collaborate with Quarterly.  There will
also be other committee reports and business as part of the agenda.

Lunch is provided ($5 donation is accepted) and childcare is organized
by Pine River Monthly Meeting.

We look forward to seeing many Friends and friends at this meeting!

For more information please contact: Dianne Guenin-Lelle,
dgueninlelle@albion.edu .

The 18th Annual Wade McCree, Jr. Scholarship Fund Dinner benefiting students of Friends School in Detroit, will be held Saturday, April 16, at the Ford Field, Hall of Legends at 6:00 p.m. This year, both Denise Ilitch of Counsel, Clark Hill, P.L.C. and John Barfield, founder and chairman emeritus of The Bartech Group, Inc. will receive the “Friends for Children Award” for their outstanding and on-going support of children throughout our metro-communities.

“Made in Michigan” is the theme for this year’s event. We are celebrating friends in our own backyard who use their talents and skills to make our state, our community, a better place. The dinner, which also features a silent auction and dancing, is a great evening out in support of some truly amazing students—students who will undoubtedly help our state to continue to move forward!

Full details are available here and via the Friends School in Detroit website.


This year's dinner will include a Very Special Memorial Tribute to Dores McCrary McCree, who was instrumental in the founding of Friends School in Detroit, along with her husband Judge Wade H. McCree, Jr. Mrs. McCree supported the school consistently and immeasurably up until her recent death, December 9, 2010.

Some news from Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting

1. There was a mistake on the date for the Spring GPQM announcement. The corrected date is May 21 (not the 14th as previously listed).

2. There is a Winter Quarterly Gathering at Red Cedar Friends on Saturday, January 29 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Located in Lansing's Old Town, the address for the new Meetinghouse is 1400 Turner Street, Lansing, MI. Brian Edmiston, a long-time Friend and educator from Ohio will be leading us in exploration of intergenerational worship and ways to better integrate adults and children in the life our of Meetings. The day will include opportunities for young Friends to participate and contribute, so children are not only welcome, but needed! (Childcare will be provided as well, as we expect the children will also want some free play time with each other.) Joann Neuroth is our primary contact with Brian. (Further details will follow.)

3. A new Head of School has been named for Friends School in Detroit. Please welcome Ed Harris into his new role. See the attached official News Release for details.

The Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting web page has been updated and now includes a link to new page with many useful files about GPQM, such as position descriptions, history and meeting minutes.

With regard to meetings, Clerk Dianne Guenin-Lelle reports that Mid-Winter Gathering is scheduled, to be hosted by Red Cedar Meeting. More information will be forthcoming.

The Spring Meeting is scheduled for May 14, May 21 starting at 9:00 at the Michigan Friends Center. Childcare is provided by Pine River Monthly Meeting.

Saturday, February 27, in Detroit
Including a Work Day at Friends School Birmingham and Detroit Monthly Meetings will jointly host the mid-winter gathering of Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting on Saturday, February 27. The day will begin with meeting for worship at Detroit Friends Meetinghouse (6227 West Fort Street, Detroit, MI 48209), probably starting at 9:30. There will then be a brief tour through Detroit, ending at Friends School in Detroit (1100 St. Aubin Street, Detroit, MI 48207 – corner of St. Aubin and Lafayette) for a day of cleaning and repairs, with “a bit of frivolity in the mix.” Watch for a flier announcing this event and providing more details.

The 2009 FALL Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting (GPQM) will be held Saturday Sept. 19 at Friends School in Detroit,  1100 St. Aubin St. near Lafayette.  Registration 9:30, Worship 10 am, business from 10:30 - 4 pm.  Lunch provided, $5 donation. Children's Program available.

Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting is sponsoring two opportunities to be of service to Friends School in Detroit 1100 St. Aubin St., Detroit, MI 48207-2896. Friends will visit the school August 6th and again on August 19th from 9:00-3:00 to help get the school Library in shape for the coming year. More information is available from Margaret Walden 313-341-9404 or Linda Mills 269-375-4414.

A Called Meeting of GPQM Friends
June 7, 2:00 p.m. at the Ann Arbor Friends Meeting House
To explore the possible plans for the present and future of the Friends School in Detroit. Dwight Wilson, Geoff Brieger, and other board members will present.

GPQM  Clerk's Message to Monthly Meetings;
On Saturday May 16, 2009  our Spring Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting will meet at Michigan Friends Center neat Chelsea, MI

AGENDA
9:00 AM   Registration
9:30   Worship
10:00   Program with Michael Birkel

Michael Birkel will be the morning speaker at the Spring Quarterly Meeting. He is Professor of Religion at Earlham College and well known among Friends as a gifted  speaker and author.  His books and pamphlets include: Silence and Witness ( an introduction to Quaker practice and spiritual life), A Near Sympathy ( on John Woolman), Engaging Scripture (a study of early Quaker writings), The Messenger That Goes Before (Margaret Fell on personal spiritual journeys), and Mysticism and Activism (an address to Southeastern Yearly Meeting on insights from John Woolman)

"TOWARD A DEEPER DIALOGUE ACROSS RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES" will be the subject of Michael's talk at 10 AM.  He intends to explore with Michigan Friends some aspects of the inner dimension of dialogue and ten to offer some comments on the practice of dialogue across boundaries of religious difference.   The  2008-9 Lake Erie Yearly Meeting Query raised this subject for our consideration this current year.  We look forward to Michael's message to taking us to another level.

NOON    LUNCH PROVIDED

1:00  PM   thru     4:00 PM       BUSINESS

This proposed agenda I have prepared from the requests arising from our fall session:
REPORTS:
Naming Committee
Nominating Committee
Treasurer and Finance Committees
Ann Arbor AFSC Program
Michigan Friends Center/relationship with GPQM
Institute for Global Education purpose and work
Other business and announcements

4:00 PM     Closing Worship

Hopefully there will a program for children especially enjoying the Friends Lake lands.

PLEASE ENCOURAGE FRIENDS FROM YOUR MEETING TO JOIN US IN THIS TIME FOR THOUGHTFUL SHARING, FELLOWSHIP,  AND PRAYERFUL CONSIDERATION OF THE QUARTER'S BUSINESS.

BLESSINGS,
Shirley Bechill ,  GPQM Clerk