Way to Go Meeting Minutes, April 17, 2023
Betsy chaired the meeting with13 present, and 2 joined in using Zoom.
After a time of sharing, Michael Mascall and Jody Rodgers told us about the Quadra Island Foundation, which has been in existence for 3 years. Michael and Jody shared how the organization started, how far they’ve come, and the intent of the foundation, which is to support a more resilient and self-reliant community. One of the goals of the Foundation is to establish an endowment fund, and the money generated through the ethical investment of this fund would be used to support Registered Charities in the community. The Foundation encourages donations, which often come through will and estates, as a way for people to give to their community. Although the money must flow to Registered Charities, there are ways to collaborate with the Charities that already exist so that organizations who are not Registered Charities, like Way To Go, can also use the funds to benefit the community.
The first item of business was a report from the Natural Burial Committee, which follow. A discussion followed. Carol Foort spoke of having a presence at the Farmer’s Market at least once per month during the summer. We would be on a casual list and if a table was available, we would see who was available. Betsy suggested we could ask for specific dates and still be on a casual list. Carol has a list of names of interested people whom she will follow up with. Mia said that we had been offered to run a concession during one of the Chicago play showings, but there wasn’t enough interest to pursue this. There was a discussion about the $1497.21 in the Way To Go treasury. Joyce offered to receive suggestions for how the money could be spent, and the Community-Led Death Care Coordinators could prioritize the items and make the decisions.
Natural Burial Committee Report
There are six of us on the committee: Sulyn, Carol Woolsey, Margaret, Vic, Matthew and me. I want to say it is a delightful group to work with. We’re working to get more of what we consider to be a natural burial available in the Quadra Cemetery.
It had been said that they were going to level the four graves in the natural burial area with machinery. Sulyn and I said we would go straighten it out with a shovel and rake. That seems to have been acceptable.
About 8 of us from Way to Go attended the AGM of the Quadra Island Cemetery Society on April 4 at the legion. It is clear that there has been poor communication between WTG and QICS. (not for our lack of trying). They feel that they have met our requests and in their minds we keep asking for more. They don’t like that. They feel that they work hard as volunteers and are doing a good job. They feel that the Quadra community is behind how they do things because there haven’t been any complaints.
It seems that membership only means that a member supports the QICS – membership does not give one a voice.
We don’t feel that we have agreed to a permanent solution. The development and definition of the natural burial area is a work in progress. We would like to work toward natural burial here on Quadra as outlined in the handout. To that end we asked for a meeting with someone from the board – or the whole board if they would oblige. We will have that meeting with Grant Hayden on April 27.
On a positive note, John said that they will replace the chain link fence with a wooden fence this year. They have the funds to do this.
We continue to work respectfully toward the goal of our desired natural burial area here on Quadra.