Spring Fever: HSC Director’s Report

SpringFever

As the fresh air of spring flows, I invite you to join me in breathing life into our community by taking note of some of the changes and opportunities that seem to to popping up like flowers.

For those who would rather hear about these things in person, or perhaps more in depth, I’ll be hosting a Director’s tea April 11th at 6:30. My goal is to host similar gatherings on a regular basis so we can stay connected.

Some highlights

The Kitchen:

Deborah Luscomb has assumed the role of Kitchen Manager. She and Linda Kreger have put a lot of time and effort in organizing our new kitchen and adding signage to optimize its use. Deborah is also organizing and making food purchases with a view to reducing food expenses, easing the burden on program coordinators, increasing kitchen efficiency, improving nutritional value of food served, and decreasing waste.

All of this will go a long way in supporting us in manifesting the Sakyong’s vision of “Food, Conversation, and Meditation”.

Other Building Matters:

We have been improving the sound system, which should improve accessibility for those with hearing issues! We have new speakers in the Main Shrine Room and an entirely new system where there wasn’t one in the Snow Lion Room.

Sincere thank you to Bruce Wauchope and Gordon Kidd who have put many volunteer hours and care into this.

We’ve installed overhead lights in upstairs offices where there were none! The staff are thrilled!

We’ve increased capacity by removing the wall that used to separate the two former International finance offices. It’s a large, bright place to practice!

Our storage is being sorted through and organized – we will be holding a sale May 21st so mark your calendars.

Other Great news:

We will be taking part in Doors Open Halifax in June bringing many new people through the doors of the Shambhala Centre. To learn more about this interesting event visit the website: http://doorsopenhalifax.com/

We will be used as a polling station in the Fall for the municipal elections.

An IWK support group will hold its meetings here for a number of weeks. This will include visits from a therapeutic service dog.

We will be offering a workshop on mindfulness at the Out of the Cold shelter, at their request.

We have revived soup for Open House, every other week! I am delighted to see this happening again, and appreciate any support you can offer to this effort. Thank you to Hung-Yeh Peisinger for her leadership in this area!

Extra exciting highlights:

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche will teach here in July, bestowing the first ever Red Jambhala Abhisheka! Stay tuned for more details. Dates are July 1st-4th.

After close examination of the yearly financials with Bob Hastey, I am happy to report that we are sitting pretty even. Through small changes and your support we do not predict a financial crisis anytime in this year. We are all feeling a great sense of relief and joy around this! If you have specific question regarding HSC finances please contact Bob at [email protected].

Thank you for your continued support, and I hope to see you soon!

With a Deep Bow,

Michelle