Moving with Care & Intention towards Reopening

It has been remarkable to see our collective resilience as a community since we needed to close our physical doors and transition to online programming only 20 months ago. At the same time, we know that many are looking forward to in-person connection with dharma friends and family. As we have seen, conditions surrounding COVID-19 are ever changing and EBMC’s priority is to ensure that we continue to cultivate a place of refuge for all, with special care for traditionally underrepresented Sangha members.

Staff and volunteers are collaborating on safety guidelines and setting up equipment so that we can offer in-person and online programming as safely as possible. Part of this process was gathering feedback from our community safety survey in August 2021 that garnered nearly 500 responses. Thank you to everyone who took the time to help us make more informed decisions about how to move forward with reopening our center.

While we do not yet have a definite date on reopening, we wanted to share with you that we are actively working towards it – hopefully starting early 2022. We will do our best to keep you updated on the latest developments, expectations and requests.

We are also keeping in mind that virtual offerings have nourished many people’s spiritual practices, including people who do not live within travel distance of our physical location and/or who are unable to come to in-person gatherings because of illness or caregiving responsibilities. These online offerings will not be going away, and we will do our best to meet the needs of those who have come to prefer gathering online even after reopening.

We offer gratitude for your continued support and solidarity as we collectively move towards uncertainty with brave, open hearts. May we all be safe, healthy, and whole – learning from all the challenges that have arose from this time apart.