Annual Sessions Information, July 24–27
Wilmington Yearly Meeting of Friends will convene on Thursday, July 24 through Sunday, July 27.
Thursday’s pre-Yearly Meeting retreat will be an outing to the Great Council State Park & Museum in Xenia, OH. The park and museum are free, but you may want to take advantage of the gift shop. We plan to meet at the Park beginning around 4pm, and hope everyone can come and bring a picnic-style meal. Carpooling from the parking lot near the Wilmington College Science Building has been arranged. Please contact the YM office for details.
Parking and traffic in downtown Wilmington on Friday and Saturday will be impacted by the Rock-the-Block event. Please allow ample time for driving around town, and expect city parking lots to be full or closed.
Friday’s daytime sessions will be held at the T. Canby Jones Meetinghouse and will begin with on-site registration and sign-in at 9am, followed by Worship at 9:30am. with the youth bringing a devotional message. Meeting with attention to Business will begin at 10am, followed by Wilmington College’s President Corey Cockerill’s address at 11am. Wilmington Yearly Meeting attendees are warmly invited to enjoy lunch as guests of the College at the Pyle Center dining hall immediately after Corey’s address. Our Yearly Meeting sessions are running concurrently with Wilmington College’s Trustees Meeting! Afternoon workshops will be provided by Daren Caughron with FCNL at 1:30pm, and FUM’s Carla Jay at 2:45 p.m.
An Evening of Hope: The USFW is planning an “indoor picnic” to begin at 5pm at the Wilmington Friends Meetinghouse’s Fellowship Hall. The cost is $15 per adult. For children 12 or under who are registered for YM Youth activities, the cost of the USFW dinner is covered by the Youth and Young Adult Committee, otherwise the cost for a child USFW dinner is $7. The Youth and Young Adult Committee will also cover the cost of an adult USFW dinner for youth registered with the YM Youth Activities, otherwise the cost for an adult USFW dinner is $15. Vegan/vegetarian options will be available.
Friday’s scheduled events will conclude at the Meetinghouse with “What Gives You Hope?” a presentation by the Katie and Jason Hollingsworth about their recent trip to Africa.
Saturday’s sessions will be held at Quaker Knoll Campground! The morning’s schedule will begin the same as Friday, with Ministry & Counsel replacing the morning business session. The memorial service will immediately follow Ministry & Counsel, and will take us to the lunch break (on-site lunch for a donation again provided by YAYA, specifically for Quaker Knoll repairs & improvements). The second business session will be held after lunch, beginning around 1:30 p.m. At 3 p.m. there will be a 15 minute break before a presentation by Dave Goff on strengthening ties with Western Yearly Meeting and the New Association of Friends. At 4:00 there will be another break, and at 4:15 there will be brief workshop on Clerking Committees. Following dinner break at 5 (on your own — consider bringing your own or to-share at Quaker Knoll rather than negotiating Rock-the-Block traffic and crowds!), the Peace Lecture, brought by Ursula McTaggart, Professor of English at Wilmington College, will begin at 7pm and will conclude our Saturday sessions.
Sunday’s morning session will begin at 10am at the Wilmington Friends Meetinghouse. Following the closing Meeting for Business, we will conclude our Annual Sessions with a time of worship. Our guest speaker will be Steven Rodgers, retired UM pastor, with 30 years of service, and resident of Mt. Orab, Ohio. Steven and his wife Sara describe Mt. Orab as “is a good place to call home, greeting the gift of each new day surrounded by the beauty of God’s first gift to humanity, all of Creation.”
Cost: Registration, for both Zoom and in-person attendance, is set at $25/person.
Cost for the USFW banquet $15 per adult. For children 12 or under who are registered for YM Youth activities, the cost of the USFW dinner is covered by the Youth and Young Adult Committee, otherwise the cost for a child USFW dinner is $7. The Youth and Young Adult Committee will also cover the cost of an adult USFW dinner for youth registered with the YM Youth Activities, otherwise the cost for an adult USFW dinner is $15.
Lunch on Saturday is by-donation to support the Youth & Young Adult Committee and to procure recreational items at Quaker Knoll.
