for the Practice of Tibetan Buddhism in the Gelugpa Tradition
Lama Zopa Rinpoche will be teaching right here Saturday — how amazing! Untold hours of planning, organizing, getting supplies, recruiting volunteers, and attending to countless details are going into this rare visit by our teacher. Huge thanks go out to Kim Lillig and Susan Potter, who have been working since February to make his visit a success.
Thanks go out this week to a group of heroes that withstood the astounding heat in the education building when the AC went out. We're sorry for the uncomfortable situation and praise you for a great job in giving kids mindful meditations on temporal conditions.
Sue Stern, Maya McElrath, Jorie Walker, Vincent Batts and Joey Gooch.
A very special thanks goes out this week to Joanna Smith. Among the many tasks Joanna takes care of for us at the Center, she has done an A+ job as a Program Assistant during the 2 year Discovering Buddhism course. Joanna not only filled the needs of the students with materials, communication and explanations, she assisted the teachers in what ever was required to make their class go smoothly.
This week we'd like to thank David Strevel for his untiring effort to help the office prepare to transition towards a new operating system. For many months, David has researched, discussed and helped our Center Manager make sure "Realm" is the perfect fit for our organization.
We can start sending our altruistic wishes spinning through the universe as we enter the gompa now, thanks to the prayer wheels by the door. Many thanks to Patrick McGinity for building the case to hold them and installing it on the wall! Remember to dedicate for the benefit of others when you spin them. Thank you, Patrick!
Here's a shout out to all of you who help without being asked and work diligently with no title or position to keep the Center thriving. We know you pick up trash in the parking lot, wash the dishes, empty and fill the water bowls, drive people who need rides, tidy up the cushions, return a bulletin to the stack, benefit the Center by circumambulating and a million more ways.
This week we want to honor and thank Shankha Mitra for his 8 years of dedication to the Board of Directors. Shankha brought his business and logical skills to the Board every month even serving as President for awhile. Thank you for your joyful effort and patience through the years Shankha. You will be missed at the board meetings!
We couldn't have visiting teachers without the help of our wonderful volunteers, who do all the hidden work behind the scenes. Big thanks to Suzy Boehm, Venerable Khando, Elise and David Strevel, Chris Baranski, Brian Dyer, Karen Mastroianni, David Machles, Joan Lacey, Sandy Carlson, Karen Edwards, Bob Brown and Jill Marie. Thanks to you all!
An enormous thanks goes out to the Family Dharma Camp volunteers! This year's camp was amazing and we couldn't have done it without the loving support of our Families that attended. Thank you to all the Sangha who came in support of the program and the leaders in our community that pitched in where need be.
There is no way this could have happened without the enormous amount of work, hours and
What a wonderful visit we had last week from the monks of Sera Mey Monastery, who performed a magnificent Medicine Buddha Puja and offered wisdom about the seven Medicine Buddhas on Sunday! Many thanks to all who helped make it happen: rearranging the gompa, setting up and taking down offerings, helping with their little shop.
Thanks go out to Paul Lochner this week for all the Dharma sort work. We have many holy images and text that collect in our office. These all need to be sorted to handle in different ways and Paul took this mission on diligently. Now we are all caught up and ready for Dharma burn to begin! Thank you Paul.
An enormous amount of gratitude goes out to everyone who helped make the Calm Abiding Teachings a success! This wonderful weekend of amazing teachings could not have been possible without the support and hard work of so many volunteers.
Thank you all for your joyful effort in making this weekend possible!
Compliments about our beautiful gardens are heard from gompa to parking lot! We have the following people to thank for the Spring Planting Day: Joey Gooch, Tsewang Topgyal, CJ Wilkerson, David Strevel, Craig Cornish, Donna Seese, Kyle Huber, Tashi Dolkar and Lobsang Dolma. Your efforts are enjoyed by us all!
Thanks this week goes out to Scott Miller for recruiting and organizing the All-Star-Mowing Team. They are up and running, ready to roll for another season of taking care of our beautiful grounds.
Thanks this week go out to Suzy Boehm and Sandy Carlson for helping out with Venerable Tendron's class last Saturday! Preparing for the teacher is not only good for the Center, it's good for the ones who help as well. Many thanks to all of you who fill and empty water bowls, tidy up the flowers, organize the gompa and greet folks when they arrive. It's quite a wonderful team all around!
This week we have Craig Cornish to thank for many things. Craig met a member during Buddhism in a Nutshell course where he asked that magic question, "What can I do to help?" He decided to sign up for the all-star-mowing-team and became a greeter on Sundays. Tuesday, he came in before Buddhism in a Nutshell to vacuum/sweep our whole Center and cleared away branches that were trimmed!
In preperation for Spring and our visit from Venerable Robina, Joey Gooch got a fantabulous Grounds team together consisting of: Steven Goldner, Steven Richardson, Paulette Veloon, Becca and Ellie Zuvich, Scott Miller and Rene LaReau. They cleaned up the limbs from the storms, planted in the gardens, cleaned and raked the walkway, and weeded around the stupa with great detail.
Venerable Robina’s recent visit would not have been possible without the help of many volunteers who shopped, drove, greeted visitors, assisted in the gompa, and did so much more. Big thanks to Ven. Tendron, Ven.
A whole bunch of joyful effort went into keeping the dynamic teachings of Venerable Robina available to us all at the Center while she visited us last week, and one of the ways in which our extraordinary volunteers helped with this was by driving Venerable Robina to and fro!
Thanks to Joanna Smith for her outstanding dedication as Program Assistant to the DB class. She is always prepared and knowledgable about the materials needed for the students while taking care of the specific needs of each teacher. Thanks also to Patrick and Bodhi for their efforts keeping an eye on the lobby as folks arrive. Thanks to a dynamic trio!
