Administrative Director – December News

 

Hello friends,

How is it nearly December? It’s hard to believe that Meg Vigerstad and I have been in our directorship roles for 2 months now. Thank you for all your welcoming and encouraging words, they spoke to me deeply and showed how important the Centre is to you. My dedication is to lead with compassion and clarity, with a focus on financial stability. Your support is appreciated. Having worked in Shambhala since 2003, so many names are familiar yet I am still committing faces to memory. Please stop by to introduce yourself – my door is typically open – let’s have a cup of tea and a chat! 

Children’s Fun Day

In the past, Craft Day has been put on by various volunteers and included many great  hands-on crafts. Maybe it’s just my family, but my boys (now 11 & 13 and avid readers and video game enthusiasts) have never had a long attention span for craft projects. They enjoy the planning phases and the making of messes, of course! Since our current population includes many younger children who aren’t ready for sophisticated crafts, we’ve opted to change things up this year.

I am very excited to be taking the lead on arranging a Children’s Fun Day on December 7th from 1-4:30, in lieu of the Craft Day. We will be offering fort building, board games, arts & crafts, story-time, snacks and even a fiddle dance party! This event is open to families and children of all ages – we will have different activities set up throughout the main level that will appeal to different age ranges. We are suggesting a donation of $10 per family to help offset the cost of materials and food.  If you would like to volunteer your time to run a craft project of your choosing or oversee an activity station, please let me know! 

Finance

We are experiencing heating issues in our upstairs shrine rooms. The electricians have charged us nearly $500 just to diagnose the problem, and we are still awaiting the parts and repair, which will have their own price tag. In the meantime, we have purchased 2 space heaters to help maintain the comfort in those rooms. We welcome you to continue using these shrine rooms and ask that you remember to turn off the heater should you use it!

Software

We are looking into implementing new donation manager database and payroll processing software (which should reduce expenses by almost $200 monthly) as well as switching to a new accounting application that will line up better with the year end financial reports requested by Shambhala Global Services. I am eager to start working with the new donation software, as it can integrate with the Shambhala Database, meaning less chance for input errors around donation receipts.

Community Room Art Gallery

Thank you to those who have donated to our Community Room Art Rails project. We are nearly 50% funded! Our community space and the main shrine room are open Monday, Wednesday and Fridays from 11-2 plus we have Open Meditation weeknights from 5-6 and Sundays from 9-12;  if you haven’t had a chance to stop in to visit the Connie Clause art installation, please come this week before the display changes! December brings a collaboration from Jim Lindsey, Joe Szostak, Doug van Hemmesen and Charles Blackhall.

Pay It Forward

We are finishing up our month of collecting non-perishables for Feed NS. I invite you to stop by the Centre with an item for our donation to the food bank. Our focus for December will be collecting towels, underwear, toiletries and warm hats and mitts  for Phoenix Youth Programs. Thank you for your consideration!

As the calendar marches towards 2020, I look forward to a new year at the centre and hope that you join us! Please be sure to subscribe to our weekly SunSpot newsletter as well as following our Facebook Page and Monthly Calendar to keep up-to-date on our activities!

With warmth,

Aimee Silver

Aimee Silver | Administrative Director (interim)
1084 Tower Rd | Halifax | Nova Scotia | B3H 2Y5 | Canada
902 420 1118 Ext 113 | [email protected]
Office Hours: M/W/F 10-4pm AT