Honey Locust Sangha
Omaha Community of Mindful Living
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Caretaking Council (CTC) Notes April 24, 2022
 
Present: Patrice Watson (Facilitator). Mike McMahon, Mike McGann, Mark Watson, Jim Cox, Dave Watts, Catherine Stremlau
Absent: Tina Ray; Juanita Rice was present only briefly: Patrice was pro tem note-taker.
 
Our ceremonial beginning was observed: Patrice read the prayer for harmony for Loving Meetings;  A short meditation followed and a brief check-in.
 
 Agenda Item 1: Update on the spring retreat.
 Everything is set. 26 registrants for in person; 4 for zoom. Registration for in person closes on the 28th. After it closes, the committee will send a new email reminding those about signing up for zoom.
 
Agenda Item 2: Treasury update.  PayPal has $4605.74 with $2739.87 of this for retreat fees. Minus the retreat fees the Sangha has $1865.87.  Checking has $4143.76 with $1375.00 of this for retreat fees. Minus the retreat fees the Sangha checking has $2768.76.
Catherine asked why the sangha does not have a budget. She also asked for more frequent updates on income and expenses. Others did not support any further complications to the treasury handling. We decided to create an item for future agendas, to discuss what types of information the CTC wanted recorded and reported, and how often.
 
Agenda Item 3: Discussion of the hybrid Monday night sangha meetings and ideas for improvement. 
            After some discussion, it was felt that the first problem to address was the feeling of confusion and starting late. These feelings were attributed to the novelty of setting up for a hybrid meeting. We can’t start setting up earlier. So we decided to accept  that meetings will start late, and ask Sangha leaders to be more conscious of helping with set up, and to help all attendees with any impatience they might feel. 
            We decided that, for the next 4 weeks, Patrice will always attend on Zoom and help the other zoomers understand and enjoy the time of setting up. Mike McGann will allways attend in person and will work the camera during check in. He will also observe the set up of the audio and visual systems, in hope of assisting in the future. Mark and Jim will always attend in person and will focus on setting up audio and visual systems without worrying about being late. The pressure that this hybrid meeting style puts on them was acknowledged, and we resolved to try and relieve this as soon as possible. Dave will always attend in person and help manage the set up of cushions and bells and all, and help the other attendees enjoy the process of setting up and patiently waiting for everything to be ready. 
 
Agenda Item 4: Cultivating harmony.
            We decided to have a special meeting on May 21st to look at our process during recent difficult discussions.
            An observation was made that our meeting always goes for two hours. Why don’t we make it official that it is two hours and then actually stop when two hours are up? This is a proposal which will be discussed and decided on at our next meeting.
 
Agenda Item 5: Policy on encouraging Dana / how much money does a sangha need? 
We did not get to this agenda item. 
 
 

 

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.

​You can donate (provide Dana) using the PayPal link at the left (you do not need a PayPal account) or send via Venmo to @HoneyLocust. Please indicate General Dana or specific event (December DoM, for example) in the text via Venmo.