The Pastoral Care Committee of Bethesda Friends Meeting is concerned with the personal and spiritual well-being of its members and attenders. The committee also oversees a number of other functions, including the handling of membership, disbursement of certain funds, overseeing readiness for marriage and other clearness and support committees, and reconciling differences when they arise within the Meeting. The work is carried out by a Committee of 12 persons.

The Committee provides personal support to members and attenders through the weekly Friendly Ear at the Rise of Meeting, through the assignment of a Personal Friendly Ear to each member and attender in the BFM Directory, and through assistance during personal or family crises that arise. Since the last annual report, we have provided personal support to a number of individuals and families. For example, the committee provided meals and other support to one longtime member struggling with multiple personal challenges. We provided meals, some child care and other support to another family with a member healing from surgery. We formed a clearness committee for one member faced with difficult occupational choices. We supported a number of Friends who had lost immediate family members by sending flowers, cards, attending memorial meetings, helping to draft memorial minutes, giving rides to the doctor, or providing other forms of assistance. We recognize the varying needs that Friends have - some short-term and some longer-term - and try to respond as appropriate.

Since our last report, Pastoral Care has overseen the clearness and recommendation process for 6 new members, and the assignment of junior status to 4 children of members. At the request of the Meeting, we also undertook the lengthy process of contacting associate members to explore whether they wanted to become regular members of BFM (or another meeting) or to be removed from BFM's rolls. Many of the associates were in their mid to late 30s and had not been in attendance for years; most of them have moved and re-established their lives in other communities. This process resulted in 15 individuals either resigning or being removed from our Meeting rolls, and 2 moving to full regular membership status. During 2010, the Committee will explore how to establish more effective outreach to junior and associate members in order to assure that young Friends can weigh their options for membership earlier and more often.

Pastoral Care Committee members welcome each new member with a celebratory dinner or brunch, and each April we host a general welcome at a regular BFM monthly potluck for those who joined the meeting by convincement, transfer or (in the case of babies) birth. The welcome is extended through introductions, a short program, and a small gift to adults and children who have joined. We also provide copies of Faith & Practice to attenders who want to know more about Quakerism, and take part in Adult Religious Education sessions to develop a better understanding of Quaker customs, principles and paths to membership.

The Committee hosted a lively farewell for longtime members Bob and Jane Nutter in the late fall to send them off to their new home near their daughter in Salt Lake City. A farewell Minute was read and Friends shared stories of the Nutters during their years in the meeting. A celebratory cutting of the farewell cake generated a few more stories and recollections.

Pastoral Care also receives requests for camp scholarships to support young Friends who want to participate in one of the Quaker summer camp programs. Last year, the Committee recommended camp assistance to 5 children.

We wish to thank all of the members of Pastoral Care who give generously of their time and talent to Friends and attenders through the year. We extend special gratitude to our retiring members Gail Kohanek, Liz Hofmeister and Peg McMahon, and to Arlene Rodenbeck who served in the capacity of co-clerk for 2 years. Arlene's depth of knowledge of BFM's administrative and spiritual processes is greatly valued. She also agreed to remain on Pastoral Care until May 2010 in the place of a committee member who was out of the country. Shelley Kirilenko assumes the co-clerk position vacated by Arlene; joining the committee's continuing co-clerk, Carolyn Byerly.