What is your meeting's ministry to the community and to one another? Our meeting's outreach is chiefly through our Peace and Service Committee. This is a small, loosely knit group fired chiefly by two or three concerned individuals who galvanize the rest of us. In 1985 Wilton has:

offered families in the community an excellent nursery school, conducted in the meeting house annex by the person who is coincidentally our Clerk.

held a large and wonderful potluck supper, on December 6, at which our guests were the pastor and members of the Community Baptist Church of New Canaan (adjacent town).

organized a series of meetings presented on six First Days in February and March called "Seeking Peace, Alternatives to Violence" not to be confused with the AVP prison workshop program of NYYM).

offered a five-part series of meetings following Meeting for Worship, Fall '85, called "quaker Being," an introduction to the Religious Society of Friends.

welcomed a local AA group to use our Meeting House library for their weekly lunch-hour meeting.

welcomed a summer "catch up" tutoring program to use our school rooms and grounds for three weeks, Summer '85

collected clothing and household goods and negotiated transfer of a used car for two families under our care who emigrated from Botswana under duress. Each of these families have moved on under its own steam.

collected clothing, toys, gifts of money for several needy families in Bridgeport and Norwalk for Christmas.

continued its support of a Friend form Kenya, Margaret Mudanyi, who is now a nursing student in Houston. If all goes well Margaret will complete her studies in December of '86, and plans to return to Kenya. Several of our meeting families have pledged to send, through our Education Fund, monthly remittances to pay her tuition and living costs. A wonderful concert/workshop was organized and presented in November by two members of Meeting to raise extra funds for Margaret.

Sewing Group continues to turn out work which is sent to AFSC in Philiadelphia for distribution.

members of Peace and Service composed and presented to Meeting for Business a letter addressed to Prime Minister David Lange (pronounced long-ee!) of New Zealand commending his stand against nuclear weapons and offering him a heartfelt Peace Award for Wilton Meeting. The letter was sent from the meeting as a whole.

Peace and Service participated in a Peace Festival in Wilton on June 30.

one Friend had the inspiration that Wilton Meeting should send support both moral and monetary to Friends at Matinecock Meeting following the fire that destroyed their meeting house in November. This was acted upon with promptness and enthusiasm.

members are keeping in touch by letters and visits with an elderly member of our Meeting now living at the McCutcheon Home in North Plainfield, New Jersey.

one of our members, an attorney, has presented a unit to the high school age group of First Day School on quakerism and the law. He ways he learned as much as they did!

in April a member of Peace and Service offered an all-day workshop at the Meeting House entitled, "Imaging a World Without Weapons."

on March 10 the Baileys from Scarsdale Meeting spoke to Wilton Meeting on, "Is Non-Violence Viable?" and related their experiences in Korea.

Peace and Service circulated a questionnaire to members and attenders to learn their leanings and interests. Not yet tabulated.

in September the Wilton Peace Minute was reprinted. This first came from Wilton Meeting in 1959 as a reminder then to Yearly Meetings the world over that 1960 was the 300th anniversary of the first Quaker Statement Against War.

Peace and Service has continued to circulate the Pledge of Resistance, against U.S. armed intervention in Nicaragua.

three individuals have taken part in AVP prison workshops.

The last two questions, 1) How is the Spirit moving among you in worship? and in new life?, and 2) To what extent does your life reflect the exuberance and attractiveness of the life in the Spirit? were considered more appropriate for consideration by individual members than for a collective report. Work of the Spirit cannot be measured, and we ourselves are imperfect reflections of God's love; nevertheless, there are numerous examples of caring for each other, for new attenders, and for the world in which we live, both in Meeting for Worship and in our daily lives. These are often quiet, occasionally exuberant, and generally result in a deeper spiritual joy.

The process of writing this report was: Ministry and Counsel discussed the questions, then two members semi-volunteered to draft it and to circulate it to committee members for their reactions prior to presenting it to Meeting for Business on February 9, 1986.

Sincerely yours,

Frances Salant for Ministry and Counsel

Wilton Monthly Meeting