Workday Cancelled This Saturday, July 17

With the various weather apps declaring 100 percent chance of rain tomorrow, we’ve decided to cancel the workday. Stay tuned for a future date.

Roshi Out-of-Town This Weekend

Roshi and his wife Angela will be in Vermont this weekend attending a funeral.

The Quarterly Calendar Is Back

Summer Calendar 2021. You can also check the online calendar for the most up-to-date information, as changes do occasionally occur (e.g., a sitting cancelled, etc.).

Extended Sitting and Dharma Talk This Sunday

Here is the schedule for the Extended Sitting this Sunday, July 18. During the second block (8:30 – 10:30 am), Donna Kowal will be giving a Dharma talk. As always, we do ask that sitters commit to stay for all of the two or three rounds of sitting in any block they come to.

New Trustees

Three of the Center’s six trustees are elected by the Center’s members, two are elected by the Board of Trustees, and one is appointed by the Center’s Spiritual Co-Directors, Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede and Sensei John Pulleyn.

At the Center’s Annual Meeting on May 28, ballots were counted, and Luka Häkkilä was elected to a three-year term by the Center’s members, replacing Betsy Friedman. And the previous weekend, the board had elected Rebecca Gilbert to fill the seat being vacated by Kathy Collina, who was completing her term limit of nine years on the board. Finally, Chris Pulleyn, who has served for many years as the trustee appointed by the Center’s Spiritual Director, has announced her intention to step down, in view of her being married to John, who is now the Center’s Spiritual Co-Director. Roshi and Sensei will be appointing Chris’ replacement on the board. Many thanks to Betsy, Kathy, and Chris for their many years of service to the Center!

Sangha Interest Survey Results

First, a big thanks to everyone who completed the recent interest survey, which was designed to get your input on future Sangha events and activities. We received feedback from 97 of the 99 people who opened the survey link, with an outpouring of offers to volunteer at the Center – including folks interested in helping out with organizing online activities.

We learned that the two strongest areas of interest are educational programming on Zen Buddhism and informal social get-togethers. Also, many of you shared ideas for fun or otherwise enriching activities, such as workshops on painting, playing the fiddle, learning non-violent communication, field trips to Ganondagan and other sites of interest, and ping-pong matches. The survey also revealed that Saturdays and Sundays tend to be ideal in terms of people’s availability to participate in both in-person and online activities. 

In addition to reviewing the survey results, the Sangha Programs Office team (Donna Kowal, Dené Redding, and Mitchell Greenwood) is in the process of preparing to launch new programming and creating a volunteer database.

Speaking of Which …

We’re building a network of volunteers to draw upon in the months and years ahead. If you’d be interested in volunteering at Arnold Park and/or Chapin Mill in any capacity, email Donna at donna@rzc.org. Let her know what your availability typically is and how you might be able to contribute – for example, clerical and other office work, data entry, marketing and promotions, social media, housekeeping, cooking, gardening, to name just a few possibilities. 

RZC Sangha Facebook Group

Would you enjoy being part of our private RZC Sangha Facebook group? This is another channel for Sangha members to connect, share upcoming events and other resources, and get to know each other. All are welcome to join! If you’re not already a member of the group, please click this link to verify your RZC affiliation and be added to the group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RZCSangha. If you have any questions or problems with the membership request process, please contact Luka at hakkila@wisc.edu so they can assist.