Westport Quakers

Westport Meeting News: 

Notice: Please be advised that Monthly Meeting for Business will be held THIS Sunday morning, Jan 15, 8-9:45 AM, via Zoom only. All are welcome and encouraged to attend. As always, the Zoom link will be sent via email.

BLM Sign Vandalized Again: As most Friends know by now, our large Black Lives Matter Sign was hit again with black spray paint during the overnight hours of Dec 6, 2022. This time vandals pulled the plexiglass covering away from the surface of the sign and painted over the first letter “B” on both sides of the sign. Monthly meeting for business, on Dec 18, approved leaving the damaged sign as is for now, and affixing a large diagonal “strip” sign across both sides that read, “HATE HAS NO PLACE HERE.” The matter was reported to the police, and recently, the Shorelines newspaper did an article on the most recent damage. Friends can read a photographed copy of the article HERE.

NEEDED: MEN’S HATS AND WOMEN’S/MEN’S GLOVES AND MITTENS: The Pilgrim Church Home urgently needs men’s hats and women’s/men’s gloves and mittens to make available to patrons at their morning breakfast program. Please bring these items to the Westport Friends meetinghouse and leave in the meetinghouse foyer. Barbara Sullivan will deliver them to the Pilgrim Church Home in downtown New Bedford. Questions? Contact Barbara at 774-454-1498.

Newsletter Editor: In 1994, Jean Kennison, due to advancing eye health challenges, asked me if I would consider taking over the Westport Meeting Newsletter . I said “yes,” figuring I would do it for a few years and then pass it on to another Meeting Friend. During that time, as the use of computers and digital formats increased exponentially, our Meeting Newsletter moved from printed monthly formats, painstakingly sent via US Mail, to monthly digital formats that arrived via email. Over time, we incorporated the Newsletter into our Meeting’s website, so that every issue was automatically archived and remained accessible by visiting westportfriendsmeeting.org. In recent years I have found it more efficient time-wise to update the Newsletter each week on a rolling basis, instead of monthly. Doing so has kept content fresher and gives us the ability to easily add content from committees and monthly meeting for business as requested.

After twenty nine years, I still enjoy putting the Newsletter together, but I know, too, that the time is nearing for me to pass this service to the Meeting on to another Westport Meeting Friend. If you, or if you know of another Westport Meeting Friend who might be interested, I am happy to answer questions and explain what’s involved. Choosing the next Meeting Newsletter editor is decided by monthly meeting for business.  Ideally, I would like to help the next Newsletter editor transition into the role as needed. That said, I plan to continue until business Meeting names the next editor to continue after me.  – Kevin Lee

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Approved previous minutes of Monthly Meeting for Business may be read HERE.