Community Meeting Minutes, September 29, 2024

Community Meeting Minutes, September 29, 2024

Still Mountain Buddhist Meditation Center

Community Meeting Minutes

September 29, 2024

  1.  Board report –    Yair

            Board monthly meeting. The board’s monthly meetings are taking place on the first Sunday of the month, at Turner, after the weekly sitting and sharing.

             Coordinating Board, Teacher’s, and committee’s emails.  We have implemented a monthly email, so you have an idea of what’s planned, plus the reminder of the Sunday seating.

We are establishing a process to coordinate the Teacher’s emails and Committee and Board emails to you, so they are more consistent in appearance and information.

             Giving and Dana.  The board, along with the Teachers Council are moving forward with the process of teaching, allocating the monthly amount, and finding the institute where we want to donate the money to.

  1.   The teaching was done on Sunday, September 22nd by Karen and Bryan
  2.    The board decided to allocate $200 monthly for this purpose. This amount and monthly payment (vs Annually) will be revisited after a year, based on changes in SM financial situation
  3.   The board discussed the Buddhist Global Relief, led by Bhikkhu Bodhi, as the institute we want to work with. On Saturday, October 26th we’ll have a presentation of this institute and following that we’ll get to the final decision.

           Social Committee Report.  The board met with the social committee and heard ideas for future social activities for the Sangha. The committee asked to change its name to Sangha Committee and the board approved it. The Board asked the committee to check whether they can take the “Care” challenges (it was raised on previous Communities Meeting) under their wings. The committee is discussing it.

           Adding Venmo as a mean of donation payment.    The board responded to a query of a sangha member who asked to add Venmo as a mean of donation payment. Venmo is now available and will be added to the website.

          Election. In December Still Mountain will be electing one new Board Member as Carol Blotter’s  term is expiring.

2.  Treasurer report –   Dennis

       Financial standing as of 9/8/24

           Account                                             Current Balance

           Retreat Deposit                                 $3,427

          Checking                                            $7,566

          Savings                                               $8,165

          Retreat Scholarship                             $3,067

          PayPal                                                 $   586

          Total                                                   $22, 811

3.  I.T. report –    Carol B.

We have implemented a monthly email including future events such as the retreat with Jon Aaron at Columbiere on May 15-18.

We would appreciate any feedback about these emails and the others you receive.

We are establishing a process to coordinate the Teacher’s emails and Committee and Board emails so they are more consistent in appearance and information.  We hope to have this in place within a couple of weeks.  So your input is important.

The server and website have been running solidly.  Kenneth Gourlay is doing a great job for us.

4.  Teacher Council report – Ken M.

      -The teacher council recently enacted a charter or agreement reflecting their commitment to the Sangha and the council.  The charter reads as follows:

We, the teachers of Still Mountain Buddhist Meditation Center, agree to serve the center, to support the community through the practices and teachings of the Buddha, to be responsive to the needs of the Sangha, and to continue deepening our own knowledge and understanding of the path toward freedom from suffering.

We acknowledge that we teach from a place of spiritual friendship rather than from a position of spiritual authority.

The teachers agree to serve in this capacity in good faith which includes: 

Being sincere, open, honest and trustworthy

Being appreciative and supportive of each other

Demonstrating trust in the group process

Keeping commitments

Holding ourselves mutually accountable

Holding the intention to embrace what is best for Still Mountain

-There will be a Vipassana meditation retreat, led by teacher Jon Aaron, May 15 – May 18 2025, held at the Colombiere Center in Clarkston.  Details to follow.

-Yesterday, September 28, Still Mountain hosted a one day retreat with the theme of Wise Intention.  6 people attended. The next one day retreat will be held in January led by Karen Mori, Hugh Danville, and Curt Fish. 

-The Meditation Support  event will continues to be held on the 4th Sunday of the month.  The teacher council is reviewing the format of the 45 minute gathering as attendance has been very minimal.

-The teacher council will be discussing at their next meeting, October 1, offering a dharma support event during the election season. .

5.  Committee Reports

       a. Sangha Committee –   Arlene/Erica 

1.  We changed our name from Social Committee to Sangha Committee to better reflect the range of services we hope to offer.

2.  Erica will be co-leading the committee with Arlene.

3. We are working on a plan to follow up with people who may want extra support if they are ill/injured/recovering from surgery or are caregivers.  However, to do this we need to know who these people are.  We will need the community to let us know so we can follow up. We’ve asked for an email address so that any communication to the committee goes to all the members.

4.  We are exploring whether members of the sangha who are alone for Thanksgiving are interested in attending an “Orphan Thanksgiving Pot Luck Dinner’. 

5.  We’ve also asked for a place to post our minutes on the website.

6.  Other   

      a. Judi P spoke for Dorothyann informing us that now all of David’s books are listed alphabetically.  There is a sign out book.  The books are also listed alphabetically on the Still Mountain website.

Hopefully this will make it easier to find and use these books.

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