Presiding clerk, Meg Meyer (Stony Run), announced that Hopewell Centre Meetinghouse (built 1759) needs major plaster restoration and will be hosting various fundraisers. She also reported that Carolyn Whorl, 88, member of Charlottesville Meeting, died. She and her husband Jay founded Langley Hill Meeting. Evelyn Bradshaw, 91, member of Alexandria and a staunch advocate for peace and social justice died. Her memorial meeting will be held on May 22 at Alexandria. Ross Sanderson, known for his love of Catoctin Quaker Camp will have a memorial meeting on April 19 at Stony Run. It was also announced that Laurie Perman, past presiding clerk of BYM and current Director of Pendle Hill was in an automobile accident and suffers from a concussion.

The Treasurer's Report was given by Marion Ballard. BYM is in the third year of their three-year audit cycle. The hard work of last year of clearing out 'funds' that did not actually exist has resulted in a clean, transparent balance sheet. The bottom line for 2010 shows that Revenues exceeded Expenses by $3,052!

The clerk requested, and the body approved, that Ted Heck (Richmond) and Susan Kaul (Bethesda), be appointed to the Naming Committee (which nominates the Search Committee, which looks for both Officers and for members for the Nominating Committee, which nominates members for standing committees). There is currently one vacancy each on Nominating and Supervisory, and an Assistant Treasurer is needed, if any feel led to serve in these positions.

Bob Fetter (Gunpowder) reported for Supervisory Committee. There will be a 1% increase in salary for full-time staff, plus a cost-of-living increase of up to 3% based on Department of Labor figures. Our General Manager, Riley Robinson, has been given another one-year contract.

Natalie Finegar (SSMM) reported for the Women's Retreat that the Retreat has requested it come under the care of a standing BYM committee. This committee is yet to be determined.

Young Friends (YF) wrote to the Trustees asking for clarification about the smoking policy for YF Conferences. Ramona Buck (Patapsco) reported that Trustees responded that both the law concerning drinking, drugs, and smoking and the policies of the host Meetings were to be followed.

Ann Riggs (Annapolis) joined us once again to tell us of the work Friends Theological College is doing in Kenya. Of importance was their students' ongoing education in HIV/AIDS. She said that if the Pastors in Africa don't take the lead in ministering to those infected, no one will. It was pointed out that this is true of all Quaker ministers, all over the world. There will be an International AIDS Conference in DC in 2012. Kenyans, and others from overseas, will be in need of housing and transportation. Ann also reported that now that they were an accredited college, they must raise the majority of their funding within Kenya. To that aim, they are restricted in what types of donations the college can receive. A profitable fundraiser they are engaged in is 'biomass fuels.' Please contact her, or FUM, to find out more.

John Smallwood (Langley Hill) reported that the Visiting Ministers' Vision Process is winding to a close with only a few Meetings yet to be visited. The traveling ministers began with making a one-page summary of their visits, but these reports soon grew to two and three pages. These reports should be available for all to view on the BYM Website http://www.bym-rsf.org. John called these visits both 'prophetic and practical,' saying that over and over the traveling ministers heard between and under the words actually used that Meetings were asking: 'what are our Meetings being?' and 'what are our Meetings called to do?'

FWCC has hired a new Executive Secretary, Robin Mohr from San Francisco. Robin attended Adelphi Friends Meeting while she attended University of Maryland. Robin is one of the founders of the Convergent Friends Movement. Convergent Friends have been defined as 'a willingness to be in relationship which is like bringing all the various flavors together to make a delicious sundae.' Or variously, as 'living your faith radically.'

Friends General Conference (FGC) has hired a new General Secretary, Barry Crossno from Dallas Friends Meeting.

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Corporation amended their by-laws to reduce the Board size from 44 members to up to 25 members. Also, they agreed that up to three members can be non-Quaker.

Friends United Meeting (FUM) has hired a new General Secretary who will begin in January. Colin Saxton comes from Northwest Yearly Meeting - an Evangelical yearly meeting. Colin has a Ph.D. from George Fox University. Sylvia Graves will stay at FUM until autumn, but there will be a few months not covered by a General Secretary.

Development Director Robinne Gray (FMW) reported that in 2009 BYM received three 'special gifts': a $50,000 challenge grant, a bequest from the estate of Emily Bayles Graham, and an unsolicited large gift. With those numbers backed out of the development ledger, BYM shows an increase of giving in 2010. She noted that more money was raised for the camping programs. She also noted that we will face two challenges in 2011: $20K is needed to replace the roof on the yearly meeting office. So far there has been a $4K anonymous gift, plus a pledge from Supervisory Committee for $6K more. The second challenge is the pond for swimming at Shiloh. It is the only BYM camp without a body of water for the campers to use. Last year a large amount of money was raised, but it is a large project and much more is needed.

Riley Robinson gave the General Secretary's report, saying that the staff consistently goes above and beyond what is expected of them. Riley attended a workshop on childhood development where he learned disheartening facts about children and streaming media. Childhood depression is on the rise. The best way to combat this is not medication (experts from Harvard said). Rather, gross motor activities engage the brain in ways our sedentary lifestyles do not. Of all the ways we use gross motor muscles (playing ball, running, etc.), swimming is the absolute best. He ended his report stressing the need for a swimming hole at Shiloh camp!