March 19, 2023
Honey Locust Sangha Care Taking Council (CTC)
Present were Patrice Watson (facilitator), Mike McGann (from Florida), Mark Watson, Mike McMahon, Jim Cox, Juanita Rice, and Tina Ray (briefly). Dave Watts absent.
Our meetings always begin with the reading of a prayer, or earnest intention, of offering and receiving thoughts and perceptions from our hearts and practicing harmony and awareness throughout the meeting. We then sit briefly together to ground our harmony. After a brief check-in, which included the joyous occasion of Tina's birthday, (or Continuation Day, no birth, no death), we turned to the agenda.
New Agenda Item #0. We received the news with delight that Gina Matkin, a member of the Order of Interbeing and a long mainstay of service, stability and generosity, has found it possible to again serve on the CTC. We unanimously agreed to hold in abeyance our general rule of starting new terms on CTC at the year's beginning, and to have Patrice respond "YES, PLEASE" to her generous offer QUICK before she can reconsider. Seriously, those who know Gina and her loving support of the Three Jewels for years were delighted that we could once again have a full CTC roster (up to 9 members), but especially to have her wisdom and warmth to sustain us.
Agenda Item #1. Update on the 2023 spring retreat and the 2024 spring retreat from the retreat committee, a report from Jim Cox, committee chair.
A. 2023 Spring Retreat. Response has been steady, with 22 having registered so far. We agreed that we need a larger enrollment in order to cover the costs, but that we can wait until the April meeting to decide if we needed to increase the registration and to raise enough money for room and board, Dana for the Dharma Teachers and for their airline tickets.
B. 2024 Spring Retreat. Mark Watson reported that Michael Ciborski has agreed to be our teacher during the dates the Creighton Univ Retreat Center had available for us, April 25-28, 2024. We will probably need to deposit $1,000 to hold the reservation. It was suggested that perhaps we could offer Thursday night of the 2024 retreat as a public talk or presentation, an idea which was well received for later consideration.
C. We also briefly discussed scholarships for those who have requested them and even encouraging people who might need assistance to apply. We know that many fortunate Sangha members have adequate money and would find true happiness in facilitating access to the Dharma, financially or in any way possible.
2. Treasury update. The current balance, excluding retreat fees, is $3579 (PayPal, $1254, US Bank, $3705, including $1380 in retreat fees). We had a brief discussion of right actions to encourage financial donations and were unified in encouraging facilitators to mention the many ways sangha members offer support to each other, and to point out that financial donations are only one way.
3. Zoom training update. We more or less postponed this agenda item, since Gina Matkin would be our trainor in Zoom protocol and she will be with us next meeting.
4. Sangha meetings. As part of our ongoing evaluation of the Monday night sangha meetings in hybrid format, everyone agreed that the action of going from person to person around the Studio circle with introductions has improved the experience. Our CTC discussion last week of the issue of keeping Zoom cameras on during meditation or not has actually improved understanding and that we could let the issue rest. We also tabled a suggestion that we should formalize a rotation of who does the tech work of setting up zoom hybrid equipment each week. It is not likely that we will have more leisure for the set-up time since the Yoga class that precedes our meetings is flourishing.
A good meeting, with efficiency and with encouraging information and pleasant discussions. We tried to allay Mike McMahon's fear of "just being like everybody else." "Not likely," we said in a loving tone.
Honey Locust Sangha Care Taking Council (CTC)
Present were Patrice Watson (facilitator), Mike McGann (from Florida), Mark Watson, Mike McMahon, Jim Cox, Juanita Rice, and Tina Ray (briefly). Dave Watts absent.
Our meetings always begin with the reading of a prayer, or earnest intention, of offering and receiving thoughts and perceptions from our hearts and practicing harmony and awareness throughout the meeting. We then sit briefly together to ground our harmony. After a brief check-in, which included the joyous occasion of Tina's birthday, (or Continuation Day, no birth, no death), we turned to the agenda.
New Agenda Item #0. We received the news with delight that Gina Matkin, a member of the Order of Interbeing and a long mainstay of service, stability and generosity, has found it possible to again serve on the CTC. We unanimously agreed to hold in abeyance our general rule of starting new terms on CTC at the year's beginning, and to have Patrice respond "YES, PLEASE" to her generous offer QUICK before she can reconsider. Seriously, those who know Gina and her loving support of the Three Jewels for years were delighted that we could once again have a full CTC roster (up to 9 members), but especially to have her wisdom and warmth to sustain us.
Agenda Item #1. Update on the 2023 spring retreat and the 2024 spring retreat from the retreat committee, a report from Jim Cox, committee chair.
A. 2023 Spring Retreat. Response has been steady, with 22 having registered so far. We agreed that we need a larger enrollment in order to cover the costs, but that we can wait until the April meeting to decide if we needed to increase the registration and to raise enough money for room and board, Dana for the Dharma Teachers and for their airline tickets.
B. 2024 Spring Retreat. Mark Watson reported that Michael Ciborski has agreed to be our teacher during the dates the Creighton Univ Retreat Center had available for us, April 25-28, 2024. We will probably need to deposit $1,000 to hold the reservation. It was suggested that perhaps we could offer Thursday night of the 2024 retreat as a public talk or presentation, an idea which was well received for later consideration.
C. We also briefly discussed scholarships for those who have requested them and even encouraging people who might need assistance to apply. We know that many fortunate Sangha members have adequate money and would find true happiness in facilitating access to the Dharma, financially or in any way possible.
2. Treasury update. The current balance, excluding retreat fees, is $3579 (PayPal, $1254, US Bank, $3705, including $1380 in retreat fees). We had a brief discussion of right actions to encourage financial donations and were unified in encouraging facilitators to mention the many ways sangha members offer support to each other, and to point out that financial donations are only one way.
3. Zoom training update. We more or less postponed this agenda item, since Gina Matkin would be our trainor in Zoom protocol and she will be with us next meeting.
4. Sangha meetings. As part of our ongoing evaluation of the Monday night sangha meetings in hybrid format, everyone agreed that the action of going from person to person around the Studio circle with introductions has improved the experience. Our CTC discussion last week of the issue of keeping Zoom cameras on during meditation or not has actually improved understanding and that we could let the issue rest. We also tabled a suggestion that we should formalize a rotation of who does the tech work of setting up zoom hybrid equipment each week. It is not likely that we will have more leisure for the set-up time since the Yoga class that precedes our meetings is flourishing.
A good meeting, with efficiency and with encouraging information and pleasant discussions. We tried to allay Mike McMahon's fear of "just being like everybody else." "Not likely," we said in a loving tone.