Spring Sessions 2015

April 10–12
Oakwood Friends School
Poughkeepsie, New York

 

Welcome

Nine Partners Quarter welcomes you to the 2015 Spring Sessions. These meetings, which carry on the business of the Yearly Meeting between the annual summer meetings, need the wide involvement of Friends to ensure that they reflect the diversity and depth of all our monthly meetings and worship groups.

This spring we are again being warmly welcomed by Oakwood Friends School. All the sessions and committee meetings will be held on this beautiful campus.

Friday evening program: Fostering Leadership for Social Change

Friday evening at 7 pm we are pleased to introduce Shan Cretin, General Secretary of the American Friends Service Committee. Prior to her appointment in 2010, she served as Director of the AFSC’s Pacific Southwest Region for seven years, responsible for programs in Southern California, Hawaii, Arizona, and New Mexico. 

Shan has served as Clerk of Pacific Yearly Meeting, co-founded the Los Angeles chapter of the Alternatives to Violence Project, and currently serves on the boards of directors of The California Endowment and Envision Peace Museum. 

Shan has lived, worked, and traveled throughout the United States and many locations in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Canada. A graduate of MIT and Yale, she served on the faculties of Harvard, Yale, MIT, West China Medical University, Shanghai Medical University, and University of California at Los Angeles. 

Shan will be with us for the whole weekend, and we hope Friends will have a chance to talk with her about the many projects going on at AFSC. The Friday evening topic will be: Fostering Leadership for Social Change

AFSC supports and inspires a global network of young people who are emerging leaders in nonviolent movements to build lasting peace in their communities by pursuing social change wherever it is needed—providing just livelihoods, ending racism and intolerance, transforming policing and criminal justice systems, offering alternatives to violence, and working for humane immigration policies.

Registration

The registration deadline is March 27, 2014. 

Online registration form:   http://goo.gl/forms/Bh2bylqlfp.
Please use this online form if you can. It links directly to a spreadsheet and will make the registrar's job MUCH easier. However, if this really doesn't work for you, you can download a Word file here, then fill it out and email or snail mail it to Valerie Suter at 131 Titusville Road, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603, or email it to [email protected]. Or use the form on page 12.

Payment.

• By check. If paying by check, checks should be made payable to NYYM and sent to Valerie Suter at 131 Titusville Rd., Poughkeepsie, NY 12603-3238.
• Electronically. You may pay your registration fees electronically using the Yearly Meeting’s online donation/payment service, as follows:
  1. First, click this link to open the donation/payment web page.
  2. On the web page that opens, in the Payment Amount window under “NYYM Contribution,” fill in your total amount for registration and meals.
  3. Then, under the “Calculate Total” button, in the “This payment is for:” window, enter “Spring Sessions 2015 Registration.”
  4. Then complete the rest of the donation form.

Running late with your registration? Please let Valerie know you are coming via email: [email protected], or phone (845-661-8562), if you will be mailing your registration close to the deadline.

Spring Sessions Daily Schedule

Friday, April 10, 2015
7:00 pm	Speaker: Shan Cretin, AFSC General Secretary, on Fostering Leadership for Social Change
Saturday, April 11
8:00 am	Registration, display set-ups, and morning coffee
8:30 – 9:15	Meeting for Worship
9:30 – 11:15	Meeting for Business in Worship
11:30 – 12:30	Lunch
12:45 – 2:00	Meeting for Business in Worship
2:15 – 3:45	Committee Meetings – 1
4:00 – 5:30	Committee Meetings – 2
5:45 – 6:45	Dinner
7:00 – 9:00	Coordinating Committee meetings
Sunday, April 12
8:15 am	Registration and morning coffee
9:00 – 10:00	Meeting for Worship
10:15 – 12:15	Meeting for Business in Worship
12:30 – 1:30	Lunch

 

8:00 a.m. 8:30 – 9:15 9:30 – 11:15 Meeting for Business in Worship 11:30 – 12:30 Lunch 12:45 – 2:00 Meeting for Business in Worship 2:15 – 3:45 Committee Meetings - 1 4:00 – 5:30 Committee Meetings - 2 5:45 – 6:45 Dinner 7:00 – 9:00 Coordinating Committee meetings Sunday, April 12, 2015 8:15 a.m. Registration and morning coffee 9:00 – 10:00 Meeting for Worship 10:15 – 12:15 Meeting for Business in Worship 12:30 – 1:30 Lunch

 

Meeting space

Requests for committee meeting rooms should be directed to Barbara Joslyn ([email protected] or 845-787-4832). Please make requests by March 27, 2015. Committee clerks should be aware that rooms will be scheduled only if we receive your request.

Display space

If you plan to bring a display, please contact Fred Doneit ([email protected] or 845-297-5046). Please specify how much table space you need, and make requests by March 27, 2015. It will not be possible to get more tables at the last minute.

Meals and Snacks

Coffee, tea and munchies will be available Saturday and Sunday mornings in the registration area. We will join Oakwood’s boarding students in the cafeteria for Saturday lunch and dinner, and Sunday lunch. There will be a vegan option at each meal. See the registration form for prices.

Hospitality

Nine Partners Friends are welcoming overnight guests.  Please indicate on the registration form your needs regarding animals, stairs, food, and the like. Many of us live a significant distance from Oakwood, so the registration form asks how far you are willing to drive. Home hospitality requests will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis, and cannot be guaranteed, especially after the registration deadline of March 27, 2015.

If you prefer to stay in a motel, there are several within 1.5 miles of the Oakwood Friends School campus. These are listed below right, with the room rates they quoted us. If you prefer to search for other accommodations on the internet, Oakwood’s address is 22 Spackenkill Road, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603.

Children and Youth

The theme for the youth program will be “What Is a Quaker Life?” We will try to find a way to live in the world with our Quaker values intact. We will have visits with older Friends, play games, do some service projects, watch movies, and come together as a community. There will be one group for 7th–12th  graders and another for 2nd–6th graders. Child care will be provided to the youngest ones. Please send a registration form for each youth who will be participating. Childcare will be available only if requested in advance. Parents are responsible for any children registered after March 27, 2015.

Transportation—Driving to Oakwood Friends School

22 Spackenkill Road Poughkeepsie, NY 12603

(Note: MapQuest and Google may bring you from the south by Route 9D instead of Route 9. This is slightly shorter but more complicated. Google directions will tell you to enter the campus through the back gate.)

From I-84 take Exit 13 - Rt. 9 North, and follow Rte 9 for 9½ miles.  (Look for Friendly Ford—silver-colored building—on the right and move to the right lane when you pass it.) Take the exit to “Spackenkill Rd. - Rte 113”. The ramp will merge onto Spackenkill Rd. and the entrance to Oakwood Friends is 500 feet on the right.

From Manhattan or Bronx: Take the Hutchinson River Parkway to I-684 north, to I-84 west. Exit at Rte 9 North, and follow directions above.

From Long Island: Take Whitestone Expressway across the Whitestone Bridge - Rt. 678; this becomes the Hutchinson River Pkwy. Follow directions from Manhattan.  

From New Jersey:  Take the Garden State Parkway or I-287 to NYS Thruway (I-87) north. Take Exit 17 (Newburgh) to I-84 East, cross the Newburgh Beacon Bridge, continue east to Exit 13 - Rt. 9 North, and follow directions above.

From Upstate New York: Take NYS thruway south to exit 18 (New Paltz), go east on 299, 6 miles to Rt. 9W south. (This is a T-intersection.) Turn right, go about 2 miles, and follow signs to the Mid-Hudson Bridge toward Poughkeepsie. Cross the bridge, staying to the right, and exit immediately onto Rt. 9 South (toward Wappingers Falls). Follow Route 9 south for 3.5 miles to “NY 113 Spackenkill Rd” and take that exit. (It’s just beyond the overpass.) The ramp will merge onto Spackenkill Rd. and the entrance to Oakwood Friends is about 1,000 feet on the right.

Public Transportation

Metro North and Amtrak both stop in Poughkeepsie. To arrange to be met at the train station, please contact Karen Snare: [email protected] or 845-677-3021.

Motels near Oakwood Friends School

All of these are along South Road (Route 9). Quoted rates are per night. Two places said that rooms are selling out for those dates.

Hampton Inn (walking distance)
2361 South Road
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
845-463-7500
$144 (Mention NYYM Spring Sessions)

Cloud 9 (walking distance)
2349 South Road
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
845-462-7800
$79.99 (AARP or AAA rate $71.99)
(might be re-branded as a Red Roof Inn by mid-April)

Courtyard by Marriott (about one mile from campus)
2641 South Road 
Poughkeepsie, NY  12601
800-647-7576  
King bed: $139 Friday/$149 Saturday 2 doubles: $159/$169

Mercury Grand Hotel (about 1½ miles from campus)
2170 South Road
Poughkeepsie, NY, 12601
Phone: 845-462-4600
$69.99

Holiday Inn Express (about 1½ miles from campus)
2750 South Road
Poughkeepsie, NY  12601
Reservations Toll-free 1-888-465-4329
Local number 845-473-1151
King bed: $165, 2 doubles: $155 (AAA  or AARP rate $149 King; $140 double)

Questions:

Registration. If you have questions about registration please, contact Valerie Suter:  [email protected] or 845-661-8562.

For questions about other things, contact Karen Snare: [email protected] or 845-677-3021.

During the weekend of Spring Sessions, if you find yourself lost on the way, or need to contact the host committee for other reasons, you may call 845-242-1709.