Caretaking Council meeting Sunday September 17, 2023, 1:00 - 3:00 pm via Zoom
Present: Patrice Watson, Mike McMahon, Tina Ray, Gina Matkin, Dave Watts, Jim Cox, Mark Watson
Absent: Juanita Rice and Mike McGann
We began with a prayer from Patrice and a short meditation.
Treasurer reports a balance of $5236. There was no comment from the committee
Discussion of the Newcomer’s Group who is meeting on Zoom the first and third Thursday of each month. The group is facilitated by Amy Holmes. The core group seems to be made up of Amy, Marsha, and Paul with others joining on a less regular basis. They seemed to be doing well, exploring ways to implement a mindfulness practice into their lives. The only recommendation of the CTC was that the group begin with a short period of meditation to begin their gathering.
The CTC then explored how to assist with childcare so that parents could attend sangha together on Monday evenings. One member suggested we could offer a stipend to parents to help pay for evening childcare. We weren’t sure if the sangha could really afford such an expense or even what the expense would be. Or how we would administer such a system. It was agreed that we would table the topic for now and explore what other TNH sanghas might be doing in this area.
Monday evening sangha hybrid format was discussed. The council felt overall we had gotten the format down, with it being more seamless and inclusive to all attending. Special thanks to Dave (on visual) and Jim (on sound) who do most of the set up and also to members like Brian and Tina who take on random tasks like moving the camera and microphone. Patrice did ask that we work on training backup people to take on Dave and Jim’s job for evenings when they’re not able to attend.
On the subject of Zoom training, Gina will try to come up with a time to do training for all who want to know more. This will help as a backup and co-host on Zoom.
Patrice proposed that in the future, the CTC meet twice a year in-person in June and October, once in Lincoln and once in Omaha. The CTC agreed to make that commitment for 2024. Mike and Mark also suggested that at least at one of the in-person meetings, we drop any agenda and make it a half day of mindfulness.
The retreat committee, led by Jim, will reconvene now that summer is over and make recommendations for the Spring retreat along with a possible day of mindfulness in the Winter. Mike also suggested that a day of mindfulness in the Fall could be a possibility.
We finished at about 2:40 so Patrice let us out early
Present: Patrice Watson, Mike McMahon, Tina Ray, Gina Matkin, Dave Watts, Jim Cox, Mark Watson
Absent: Juanita Rice and Mike McGann
We began with a prayer from Patrice and a short meditation.
Treasurer reports a balance of $5236. There was no comment from the committee
Discussion of the Newcomer’s Group who is meeting on Zoom the first and third Thursday of each month. The group is facilitated by Amy Holmes. The core group seems to be made up of Amy, Marsha, and Paul with others joining on a less regular basis. They seemed to be doing well, exploring ways to implement a mindfulness practice into their lives. The only recommendation of the CTC was that the group begin with a short period of meditation to begin their gathering.
The CTC then explored how to assist with childcare so that parents could attend sangha together on Monday evenings. One member suggested we could offer a stipend to parents to help pay for evening childcare. We weren’t sure if the sangha could really afford such an expense or even what the expense would be. Or how we would administer such a system. It was agreed that we would table the topic for now and explore what other TNH sanghas might be doing in this area.
Monday evening sangha hybrid format was discussed. The council felt overall we had gotten the format down, with it being more seamless and inclusive to all attending. Special thanks to Dave (on visual) and Jim (on sound) who do most of the set up and also to members like Brian and Tina who take on random tasks like moving the camera and microphone. Patrice did ask that we work on training backup people to take on Dave and Jim’s job for evenings when they’re not able to attend.
On the subject of Zoom training, Gina will try to come up with a time to do training for all who want to know more. This will help as a backup and co-host on Zoom.
Patrice proposed that in the future, the CTC meet twice a year in-person in June and October, once in Lincoln and once in Omaha. The CTC agreed to make that commitment for 2024. Mike and Mark also suggested that at least at one of the in-person meetings, we drop any agenda and make it a half day of mindfulness.
The retreat committee, led by Jim, will reconvene now that summer is over and make recommendations for the Spring retreat along with a possible day of mindfulness in the Winter. Mike also suggested that a day of mindfulness in the Fall could be a possibility.
We finished at about 2:40 so Patrice let us out early