Update from the Meeting on Ministry & Council / February 1, 2022

Current guidelines for gathering at New Garden Friends Meeting

All group activities at NGFM are structured to be as inclusive and COVID-safe as possible.  Nevertheless, we urge all New Gardeners to be mindful of the update below from our COVID medical advisers. Please make decisions about gathering at NG and elsewhere based on your personal level of risk for serious COVID disease and the risks that your exposure to COVID could pose for members of your household or for your other contacts, such as co-workers and unvaccinated people.

• MM&C requests full vaccination and appropriate boosters for all individuals who participate in any in-person Meeting for Worship or other Meeting-sponsored activities when in-person activities resume. MM&C encourages New Gardeners to use these opportunities to faithfully practice the testimonies of Integrity and Community.

• Semi-programmed Meeting for Worship (MFW) takes place on Sundays at 11:00 am.  It is a hybrid of in-person worship outdoors and virtual worship by Zoom and Facebook Live. Those attending in person are asked to seat themselves in household groups, socially distanced from others, and to mask when entering or leaving the worship space, when singing, and when entering the building. Friends will be notified if weather is not conducive to outdoor worship; for the present, this means that Friends will be able to participate only by Zoom or Facebook Live on inclement Sundays.

• Unprogrammed MFW may take place at 9:00 am outdoors or indoors, depending on preferences of participants. Friends are asked to remain masked and socially distanced. If indoors, participants are asked to adhere to COVID-safe room capacity guidelines posted by each room’s door.

• Other small groups may also meet indoors at the Meeting House in numbers up to each room’s capacity.  For reservations, please e-mail Sharon Burton at [email protected]. Friends are asked to remain masked at all times in the building and to use restrooms one individual or family group at a time.

Update from the COVID Medical Advisory Group