Honey Locust Sangha
Omaha Community of Mindful Living
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Honey Locust Sanga Caretaking Council Minutes – April 18, 2021

Present: Patrice Watson (Facilitator), Jim Cox, Gina Matkin, Mike McGann, Mike McMahon, Tina Ray, Mark Watson, Dave Watts (Juanita Rice was briefly present until technology issues had “other ideas”) 

The CTC meeting began with a reading of Thay’s Meditation Before Meetings and a meditation to bring us all to the present moment. 

After a lovely check in, we discussed the following:

Diversity and Inclusion web Resources – since we lost our lovely Juanita due to technology issues, Gina provided an update on the status of this project. 
Gina said that she and Juanita continue to receive some communications that lead them to believe that there is confusion over the purpose of the DEI Web Resources Project. She reiterated that the purpose is to provide a space for people to learn more about “marginalized” groups (such as BIPOC, LGBTQA+, etc.) through their own voices via poetry, essays, fiction, or other creative works. 
Juanita and Gina have amassed quite a collection of works but will need some time to organize them for presentation on the website and that this likely will not happen in the next month. She said she and Juanita will report back in June with where they are. 

Diversity/Equity/Inclusion Statement for Web and for Honey Locust – the small group who offered to meet to discuss the DEI Statement (Jim, Mike McM, Dave, Juanita, Gina) met and discussed possible statements that would articulate the Sangha’s commitment to DEI issues and continued work toward advocacy, healing, and reconciliation. 
The following statement was humbly offered as a possibility: 

“We acknowledge that we are a part of systemic fear, intolerance, oppression, and social injustice.  We commit to working toward awareness, reconciliation, healing and peaceful coexistence with all beings.”

It was suggested that this would be followed by some specific commitments to action and an offering of the ARISE Sangha as a resource for further information and opportunities for practice from the Plum Village tradition. The CTC were supportive of this statement but no vote was taken at this time. This will be brought back in a more complete form before being posted on our website. 

May 2021 eRetreat Update – Mark provided the following update
HLS spring eRetreat with Brother Michael Ciborski will be held via Zoom from Friday evening 5/14 to Sunday afternoon, 5/16. Confirmation emails with instructions and a Zoom link will be sent to all who registered after the registration deadline (May 8th). 
Honey Locust and Lincoln Sangha have received the retreat email invitation via their respective listservs and it appears other groups are also finding out as we have some registrations from Iowa, Wisconsin, and other places as well. Information and registration link can be found here: https://mailchi.mp/d004ece2944e/mindfulness-retreat-in-the-tradition-of-thich-nhat-hanh-4842122?e=081903c130 
Br. Ciborski has said he will NOT be conducting a 5 Mindfulness Ceremony at this retreat. It was suggested that this be clearly communicated to registrants as some may be hoping to receive the 5MTs at this retreat. Dave mentioned Plum Blossom Sangha (Sister Terry’s Sangha) will offer the Five Mindfulness Trainings Transmission Ceremony on Zoom on May 2 from 4:00-6:30 Central Time. The email about this was forwarded to the CTC and this will be announced at Sangha for those who might be interested. We can forward the information to interested people. 
Much gratitude was expressed to the retreat committee: Mark, Juanita, Patrice for their diligent work on this

Sangha Member Directory – There was a request from a Sangha member for us to consider creation of a Sangha Member Directory to help facilitate connection among members of our Sangha and so we can reach out to others who may need our support.
There were questions about privacy of information that might be obtained. How would it be shared and with whom (with everyone or only those who “opt in”)? How could we keep it out of the hands of marketers, etc. (it was brought up that even printed Church Directories sometimes end up being used for such things as marketing, spamming, etc.). 
An additional concern was who would be included. Would anyone who comes to meditation be invited to participate and then have access to everyone’s contact information? How often would we update and share it? 
Mike McMahon offered that he thought getting another Sangha members information could be relatively easy for anyone who wanted to reach out and get it. He offered to be the contact for the Sangha. If someone wanted another Member’s email address, he would reach out to them (via his access to the listserv information) to see if it is ok to share. If so, he would then pass on the information. He offered to share his email address since anyone who is on the listserv would have access to it from his posts anyway. If this method of connecting Sangha members becomes too laborious, we could rethink this. 
It was also suggested that the person who is suggesting the Directory idea could be invited to our next CTC meeting to address some of the questions being brought up. 

Honey Locust Sangha in person gatherings – discussion of resuming outdoor Elmwood Park gatherings
It was asked/suggested that now that the weather is warming up, if there might be interest in resuming the Elmwood Park gatherings on Monday nights at the same time as our Zoom gatherings. 
Mark Watson offered to be the organizer for these and put out an email inviting people who wanted to attend when the weather was warm enough. Mark would also take responsibility for facilitation (or finding a facilitator) for the Elmwood Park gatherings. Mike McGann offered to support this effort in any way needed and to serve as a backup for Mark. 
Dave has also offered to facilitate the Friday evening Noble Silence meditations at Elmwood Park. Information on that will be sent to the listserv as it become available. 
We had a short discussion about post-COVID gatherings at the Yoga Path and whether we would be able to continue to offer Zoom and in person gatherings. This discussion was tabled until our June meeting. 

Honey Locust Taxes Filed 
Mark Watson let us know he has filed the annual 990N postcard required for our non-profit tax status. 
Additionally, the Biennial non-profit corporation report with the State of Nebraska. There was a $23 fee for filing.

There will be no CTC meeting in May due to our Spring Retreat with Br. Michael Ciborski. Our next meeting is scheduled for June 20th via Zoom from 12:30 – 2:30 pm. 
Meeting adjourned at 2:20 pm. There was harmony in the Sangha.
Notetaker: Gina Matkin
The Honey Locust Sangha / Omaha Community of Mindful Living is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All funds donated help to fulfill the mission of practicing and raising awareness of the mindfulness practice in the Thich Nhat Hanh / Plum Village tradition.

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