Yearly Meeting Relationships

While QEW is a national/international organization, we work through Yearly Meeting earthcare/unity with nature committees where they exist, and seek to inspire the creation of such committees where they have not yet formed.

A first step for each Yearly Meeting is to appoint up to two Yearly Meeting Representatives to QEW (usually done through the YM Peace and Concerns Committee).

These YM reps serve as active members of QEW's Steering Committee (its governing body), participate with like-minded Friends in our twice yearly Steering Committee meetings, and act as liaisons with their yearly meeting and YM earthcare committee.

If your YM does not yet have a Representative to QEW and you would be interested in serving, please contact Ruah Swennerfelt, QEW's general secretary, or Hollister Knowlton, QEW's clerk of outreach for some guidance on how to proceed.

Posted below is a copy of the responsibilities ("job description") of a QEW YM Rep.

Job Description for Yearly Meeting Representatives to Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW)

(Approved March 2006)

Overview: Yearly Meeting Representatives (YMR) to QEW are Friends appointed by their yearly meeting to serve on the QEW Steering Committee. Ideally, YMRs have a sense of leading to work with Friends, especially those in their yearly meeting and QEW, in finding ways to integrate concern for ecological integrity with Friends’ long-standing testimonies for simplicity, peace, truth and equality. The YMRs generally serve a three-year term, which can be renewed once.

A. Responsibilities of Yearly Meeting Representatives (YMR)

1. Attend at least one, preferably both, QEW meetings each year.

2. Serve as liaison between QEW and their YM Earthcare committee, or the committee with responsibility for Earthcare.

• Encourage a line item in the yearly meeting budget for a contribution to QEW.
• Provide a written report to the yearly meeting about QEW’s work and activities.
• If there is no YM committee, work within the appropriate standing committee to lift up the concern and encourage the establishment of a YM committee, if appropriate.

3. In collaboration with the YM Earthcare committee and/or others in their YM:

• Identify contacts in monthly meetings (see responsibilities for MM contacts on next page), forward contact information for these contacts to the QEW office, and will stay in touch with them on a regular basis. (a QEW list of MM contacts will be provided to the YMR but may be out of date).
• Seek out opportunities to visit with monthly meetings for workshops, discussions.
• Listen to and record the Earthcare-related concerns of Friends.
• Identify Friends that QEW should seek to engage with its work.
• Compile information on their yearly meeting using the QEW YM Earthcare Information Form; collect any Earthcare-related minutes passed by monthly and/or yearly meeting(s); attach these to the completed form; and send to the QEW offices. Send information updates to the QEW offices as needed.

4. At yearly meeting annual sessions, collaborate w/ the Earthcare committee and/or other interested Friends to:

• Set up a QEW display (The QEW office can send YMRs a QEW display “in a box” to mount on a display board; one panel can be devoted to the YM Earthcare committee’s work).
• Present and/or arrange for interest groups, workshops, or programs and/or plenary sessions.
• Present an oral report about QEW’s work during a business session.

5. Provide a written report for the fall QEW meeting, highlighting activities and challenges within their yearly meeting for the past year. Be prepared, if asked, to report on some aspect of this work at a QEW Steering Committee meeting.

QEW also asks YMRs, as time permits, to:

• Write articles and notes for BeFriending Creation and/or encourage others in their YM who have interesting projects and/or leadings to do so.
• Be willing, as able, to visit other yearly meetings that do not have a QEW representative. (These requests are coordinated by the QEW Outreach Committee.)
• Share collected minutes with monthly meeting contacts to consider for approval at their monthly and quarterly meetings.
• Collect other examples of materials that might be suitable for inclusion in QEW’s “Resource Library,” such as articles, workshop formats, project descriptions, leadings of individual Friends, etc.

B. QEW Responsibilities to Yearly Meeting Representatives

1. QEW General Secretary will provide YMR with:

• A listing of QEW Steering Committee members and QEW supporters in their yearly meeting.
• A list of monthly meeting contact people in the representative’s region
• A full set of QEW tri-folds and a publications catalog
• Recent issues of BeFriending Creation
• Minutes of recent QEW meetings
• A copy of the QEW by-laws

2. QEW General Secretary will send, on request:

a. Basic literature for displays (Representatives should, as able, help defray cost of these publications through their own resources, donations and sales.)

b. QEW “in a box” display—YMR purchases the display board and mounts display items.

c. QEW business cards

3. Editor of BeFriending Creation will interview each new yearly meeting representative and publish a short article in BFC , as space permits, on the person’s background, concerns and leadings.

C. Responsibilities of QEW Monthly Meeting Contacts

The Monthly Meeting contacts serve as liaisons between their MM and their YM Earthcare group as well as with the larger QEW network. They will stay in contact with their YMR and will:

1. Receive QEW mailings and share information with their monthly meeting.

2. Maintain a supply of QEW pamphlets in the monthly meeting and distribute as appropriate

3. Make announcements of QEW events and any requests for action received from QEW

4. Encourage the establishment of an Earthcare group (or a subcommittee of their peace and concerns committee) in their monthly meeting, if appropriate.

5. Attend QEW annual meetings when possible.

6. Assist in obtaining information for QEW (i.e. questionnaires etc.) when requested.

7. When possible, arrange for members of their YM’s Earthcare committee (or where none exists, QEW steering committee members) to visit the monthly or quarterly meeting for a forum, business meeting or discussion.

8. Forward to the YMR (who will forward to the YM Earthcare committee, or directly to QEW—if no YM committee exists) articles about or notification of any projects that might be of interest to others in the QEW network.