Honey Locust Sangha
Omaha Community of Mindful Living
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Honey Locust Sangha
Care Taking Council (CTC )
Notes for October 17, 2021
 
Present members were : Patrice Watson, Facilitator; Dave Watts, Gina Matkin, Jim Cox, Mark Watson, Mike McGann, Mike McMahon,  Tina Ray, and Juanita Rice, note-taker.
With a full Hollywood Squares (9-person Zoom Window), we began our meeting with a long agenda, although there were only five separate items, and a decision to take a short break after 45 minutes.
The Buddhist Prayer for a  Harmonious Meeting was read followed by a brief meditation. Then we each checked in with status reports of what we were bringing today, with a common topic being appreciation for autumn weather.
 
Agenda Item 1: New Member Outreach
After Gina's announcement last month of her decision to step aside from CTC, we needed to look at how to replace her to have a full nine members. We want all members of the Sangha to be well informed of the process for applying to membership of CTC, and we approved sending out the all-member message that has been standard for the last couple of years. The letter describes the function of the Care Taking Council, its composition, and the process for members-at-large to apply, and what constitutes eligibility. Member terms expire at the end of the second calendar year, and Gina will stay on through the year's end (January meeting).
This topic generated considerable thought and discussion. The By-laws state that nine members will be the upper limit, which includes Order of Interbeing members (OIs, "brown-jackets," who have received the 14 Mindfulness Trainings) plus any current Aspirants (sangha members who have been initiated in the formal process to be considered for OI) and at-large sangha members.  in the past there were only 3 or 4 OI members so it was hoped that the other 5 or 6 members would represent some sense of diversity in the sangha. In the last two years, however, three more aspirants have been ordained into OI, which only leaves 2 seats for the "membership  at large."  There was some discussion that these by-law s might be reviewed at some point. For now, however, we decided to continue as we are. Gina has a copy of the letter from the last two years and will send it out. It should be noted that applications are held on "tap" for future openings should they arise at odd times.
 
Agenda Item 2; Posting CTC Minutes
A couple months ago there were different perceptions of whether the minutes posted were accurate records. For clarity, we approved a more explicit procedure.  First, a record of what was decided at the meeting, with the nature of the discussion where appropriate, is sent out to all CTC while memory is fresh. The note-taker will wait three days for additions or corrections or suggestions. If 3 days go by without comment that will be taken as "no corrections." When corrections/suggestions are made, the edited/corrected copy will be sent around once more, and again after three days approval will be assumed correct and only then will the notes be posted to the website and sent out to members.
 
Agenda Item 3: Planning Retreats and Days of Mindfulness
The Retreat Planning Committee reported that they would like decisions on three things: The planned in-person Spring Retreat 2022, a Winter Retreat/Day of Mindfulness yet this winter, perhaps January 2022. And first decisions on reserving the Creighton University Retreat space for Spring 2023. We learned that Sister Terry is still available and would be glad to work with us at  the Spring 2023 retreat as she has so often in the past. We voted to invite Sister Terry Cortes-Vega for the spring retreat; Mark Watson will let her know of our invitation. The space is already reserved for us, May 12-15.  If an in-person retreat is not possible because of continued pandemic dangers, we will work with Sister Terry to switch to an online event.  The idea of a Winter Retreat will be specifically described and intended as a Day of Mindfulness for the sangha, especially because the planning is late.  Finally,Mark reported that the Creighton Retreat Center has kept our usual spring retreat dates, the second weekend in May of 2023 open for us.  That year the weekend includes a Mother's Day Sunday. We asked Mark to confirm the reservation for now, and that in the meantime the Retreat Planning Committee consider looking for an alternative space where we could get dates within a couple weeks earlier or later, but that would avoid Mother's Day. We could, if necessary, cancel our reservation by about this time next year (2022).
 
Agenda Item 4: Yoga Path Rent
When the pandemic first made us suspend in-person meetings (@March 2020), the CTC debated continuing to pay rent to the Yoga Path studio which had been such a welcome and gracious home for Honey Locust Sangha and where our lending library, pads and cushions were stored.  At some point, we decided to continue to pay a "reservation fee" for our Monday night meetings and storage, keeping the studio as the home we would return to.  Last summer (June 2021) it looked like in-person gatherings could once more begin so the CTC voted to pay full rent for the coming 3 months. In-person meetings, however, were quickly abandoned again (July 2021) as the Delta Variant of the Covid 19 virus appeared. In the meantime we have continued the commitment we made with the payments and finally today, the end of the 3-month term, decided to reduce payments again.  Mark Watson recused himself from the decision but did preface the discussion with invitation for small-group gatherings to consider using the space again, with participants vaccinated and masked. This would most clearly apply to Friday Night Silent Sanghas and the once-a-month Women's Meetings. We had the recommendation of Mark, the studio proprietor himself, that we reduce sangha payments. We voted to reduce payments from $325 to $150.
 
Agenda Item 5:  Sangha Finances – postponed to next month.
There have arisen a few other questions about Sangha finances, including the extent to which we mention or encourage ways to contribute "Dana," how much is "plenty," etc. We decided only that we affirmed last month the CTC would like to have a report of the total on hand each month, and a formal financial report only once a year at the beginning of the year.  We also agreed we would publish those monthly amounts; this month's report is $5,000 more or less. Sangha money goes to keep the Yoga Path as a home base, to reserve and pay for physical retreat spaces.  For example, we will be making a $2,000 deposit for Creighton Univ Retreat Center for 2023, and we will pay the additional fee for the 2022 retreat space.  Teacher dana comes generally from specific retreat fees and contributions. We pay for MeetUp listings, small fees for PayPal and Venmo, etc.  Our by-laws state that we will keep a "prudent $1500 reserve."  Last month we voted to spend approximately $2,000 for a a flexible Hearing-Assistance system, adaptable by Bluetooth for earbuds/earphones and for retreat speaker systems.
 
Note-taker Juanita
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.