Presented to the Meeting for Business on July 22, 2007

During the 2006 – 2007 Friendly Eights season, the Friendly Eights Committee continued to offer informal gathering opportunities for small groups of members and attenders to enjoy dinner and fellowship in one another’s homes.

As in the past, two separate programs were offered: one for adults and one for families with children. Pot-luck dinners were held during the months of October, November, January, February, March and April on the third Saturday of the month for families and on the third Sunday of the month for adults. Those interested had two opportunities to sign-up for any or all of the dinners – first during the month of September and again throughout January. Friendly Eights dinner registration was promoted through the newsletters and bulletins and during and after Meeting. In addition to in-person sign-ups after Meeting, for the first time, participants could sign up through the BFM website or by email. At the time of registration most participants indicated their ability and willingness to host dinners in their homes.

Participants were randomly assigned to dinners with the help of a computer program. The Friendly Eights Committee mailed participant lists and contact information in advance of the dinners to all parties and asked the hosts to contact their guests to confirm attendance and coordinate menus. A Committee Member was assigned to each month’s dinners to liaison with the hosts and to help troubleshoot cancellations and other issues.

The number of participants who signed up for dinners in 2006-2007 as compared to 2005-2006 was slightly up for adults and slightly down for families. There were 28 adults in the fall and 34 in the spring (as compared to 25 and 34 in 2005-2006) and 14 families in the fall and 18 in the spring (as compared to 16 and 21 in 2005-2006). We don’t know how many actually participated in the dinners, but at least in the case of families, it was probably a much lower number. We will try to track the number of actual participants in 2007-2008.

Through informal feedback with participants, the overall impression of the Committee is that the adult dinners have gone well, but the family dinners have been less successful. Issues include:

• Families (and sometimes hosts) canceling at the last moment.
• Families often have difficulty committing to the get-togethers far in advance—kids get sick, important school/sports/etc. activities get scheduled after the F8 dinners have been scheduled.
• everal families complained that they were assigned to dinners repeatedly with the same families, thwarting their goal of meeting new people.
• Often the dinners involve children of very different ages who don’t have much in common and therefore don’t find the evenings especially enjoyable.
• It is often difficult to accommodate more than two families in one house, depending on family size, which contributes to the above issues.

The Friendly Eights Committee has decided to try several new and different approaches for the family groups for the upcoming year. Rather than small, in-home gatherings, in October, any interested families will meet together at a park for a picnic. In November, they will meet at a restaurant (possibly the Cactus Cantina on Wisconsin Ave.). In January, we will return to the traditional model where small groups meet in people’s homes. Instead of the traditional sign-up process for family dinners, the coordinator will send an E-vite to everyone in the Meeting with kids. The E-vites will be sent a week or two before the gatherings rather than months in advance. After each of these gatherings, we will solicit feedback from participants to help guide our planning for the spring.

In fact, the Committee agreed that, going forward, all monthly coordinators will follow up with hosts to see how the dinners went, especially in terms of who ended up coming, how the logistics worked, etc. This is important if we want to have some idea of how many people actually participate as opposed to how many sign up.

The only change the Committee proposed for the adult dinners was to make greater use of email rather than snail mail. Going forward, the dinner participant contact lists will be sent by email rather than snail mail, except in those cases where participants indicate they prefer snail mail or they don’t have access to email.

As requested by the Ministry and Worship Committee, the Friendly Eights Committee discussed how it relates to the Spiritual State of the Meeting. The Committee felt that Friendly Eights plays an important role in the BFM in helping to further a friendly atmosphere and in helping members and attenders get to know each other better. The Committee thought that the new approach to the family groups may help make new-comers feel more welcome and enable them to participate in the gatherings more quickly.

At the end of 2006, Jean Harrison and Sharon Stoliaroff completed their terms on the Friendly Eights Committee and Kathleen Schafer and Susan Stevenson joined the Committee. Ulrike Lichti and Jane Thurber completed their terms as co-clerks, and Susan Stevenson was asked to become a new co-clerk. At the May meeting, the Committee discussed its composition and agreed that it would need four new members when Ulrike and Jane go off the committee in January. It would be helpful if at least three of the new people were interested in focusing on the adult groups and if one would be willing to co-clerk the Committee.

The Friendly Eights Committee volunteers to provide back-up child-care on all Sundays in October.

The Friendly Eights Committee is enthusiastic about trying some new approaches in 2007-2008 to enhance the F8s experience so it will continue to fulfill its mission of building relationships among members and attenders of BFM. The Committee welcomes comments and suggestions from all members and attenders.