You are warmly invited to practice Dana in the generous giving of food this holiday season. EBMC will be hosting a food drive in support of Alameda County Community Food Bank from November 20th – December 19th, 2017. Food donation barrels will be located in the Community Kitchen.
The Buddha taught that giving is a spiritual practice if it meets three criteria:
Before giving, the donor’s mind is joyful. Please look carefully at the Food Bank’s list of most needed food and think about what would bring health and happiness to the recipient of your gift.
In the act of giving, the donor’s mind is clear and bright. You’re invited to place the food into the container mindfully, as an offering to honored guests.
After giving, the donor’s mind is completely satisfied, free and peaceful.
https://eastbaymeditation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/linh-pham-222636.jpg40006000Candi Martinezhttps://eastbaymeditation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/EBMC_logo_top-space.pngCandi Martinez2017-11-17 10:56:102017-11-17 10:56:10Holiday Food Drive & The Beautiful Practice of Dana
Application deadline extended to Nov. 15, 2017! #EBMC‘s White and Awakening in Sangha (WAS), is designed to build the awareness and skills of white practitioners toward the creation of a truly inclusive sangha. Four Month Program for White Practitioners: February 4 – May 19, 2018. For more information and an application form, go to http://bit.ly/2z9ZTJe . If you have questions about the program, or would like information, please contact us at: WAS-2018@eastbaymeditation.org
The core teaching team is: Baruch Golden, Crystal Johnson, Gregory Mengel, JD Doyle, and Kitsy Schoen
[photo credit: “Misty Sunshine” by MT Chamblee]
https://eastbaymeditation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/EBMC_logo_top-space.png00Mushim Ikedahttps://eastbaymeditation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/EBMC_logo_top-space.pngMushim Ikeda2017-11-03 12:11:392017-11-03 12:11:52Application deadline extended: White & Awakening in Sangha (WAS)
Click here for a “helping handbook” for individuals, families, and small businesses affected by the North Bay Wildfires. While created by an attorney team, its intent is to be put into use by helpers and survivors. The e-version is linked below, too. Please share widely.
A note from the Pro Bono Counsel at MoFo:
Morrison & Foerster has created this resource to help with legal needs post-disaster.
It is available online in English here: https://media2.mofo.com/documents/171024-northern-ca-fires-helping-handbook.pdf The translators are working away at a Spanish version, and we are also getting this printed (in English and Spanish). In the meantime, we would love for you to share this widely with your networks electronically.
If you have specific questions about the resource, Rachel is your best contact:
Rachel Williams
Pro Bono Counsel
MORRISON & FOERSTER LLP
rachelwilliams@mofo.com
https://eastbaymeditation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/bigstock-growing-tree-65289670.jpg600900Mushim Ikedahttps://eastbaymeditation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/EBMC_logo_top-space.pngMushim Ikeda2017-10-30 11:37:452017-10-30 11:45:49Helping Handbook for People Affected by the North Bay Wildfires
Gift economics! Quick guide on expanded ways to give to East Bay Meditation Center and, separately, to the Teachers: TO DONATE TO #EBMC‘s TEACHERS, you can give by cash or check in the “dana” boxes marked “for the teachings” at EBMC events, and some teachers have PayPal accounts. Anything you contribute through the EBMC website goes to the meditation center, not to the teachers.
TO DONATE TO THE MEDITATION CENTER, you can offer financial contributions to support East Bay Meditation Center in three ways: (1) online at our website, www.eastbaymeditation.org for a one-time gift or a recurring monthly donation; (2) by cash or check made out to EBMC; (3) using our new wall-mounted iPad Square units in the main temple space.
When EBMC opened our doors on Broadway at 22nd in Oakland in January 2007, we were told by other organizations that we couldn’t survive on a donation-only (gift economics or “dana”) basis. More than 10 years later, we’re still in Oakland, still growing, offering more amazing programs taught by diverse teachers, and it’s because of the community’s generosity …. because of YOUR generosity! Thank you, Sangha!
https://eastbaymeditation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/dana-boxes.jpg15362048Mushim Ikedahttps://eastbaymeditation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/EBMC_logo_top-space.pngMushim Ikeda2017-10-24 13:07:352017-10-24 13:07:35Expanded Ways to Give to EBMC and to Our Teachers
“Love & Resistance” with Sharon Salzberg, Larry Yang and Konda Mason, formerly Oct. 23 (Monday) has been postponed, with #EBMC‘s regrets, due to effects of the wildfires in California. Everyone who purchased a ticket should have received an email; if not, email admin@eastbaymeditation.org, please. If you’re not on our email list and wish to receive announcements about upcoming events, please go to http://bit.ly/2maos53 and fill out the online form.
Folks who are not requesting refunds from purchased tickets — thank you for your generosity! Fifty percent of those funds will go to EBMC and the other half will go to UndocuFund Fire Relief for Sonoma County (http://undocufund.org ) for direct relief to undocumented families.
Participate in the first community-based neuroscience study between EBMC and UCSF called the EMBODY study. We are looking for diverse meditators who 1) are 25-65 years old, 2) have consistently practiced meditation for 5 years in their lifetime, and 3) are interested in brain activity during meditation measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participation would involve 1) phone interview and online surveys, 2) 3-hour visit to UCSF Mission Bay, including 2 hours in a MRI scanner, and 3) receiving a picture of your brain and $75. Travel costs are reimbursed. People of all genders, sexual orientations, races, ethnicities, and ability status are encouraged to participate. E-mail embodystudy@ucsf.edu or call 415-514-8445 for more information.
People should not participate if they have magnetic metal in their bodies, would not be comfortable in an MRI scanner, and are having difficulty paying attention to experiences (such as breath and thoughts). For an informational pamphlet on this study, click here.
https://eastbaymeditation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/ebmc_embody.jpeg151303Mushim Ikedahttps://eastbaymeditation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/EBMC_logo_top-space.pngMushim Ikeda2017-09-28 11:04:562017-09-28 11:10:47Want to increase diversity in the neuroscience of meditation?
For the first time in its ten years, East Bay Meditation Center is offering the Bodhisattva precepts and vows through two class series open to all, ending with a one-day retreat and the Bodhisattva vows ceremony in early December. Click here more information and registration links
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Andrew White helps a neighbor down a street after rescuing her from her home in the upscale River Oaks neighborhood after it was inundated with flooding from Hurricane Harvey. SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGE
If you’re in Houston, on the Gulf Coast, or in one of the places inland that’s experiencing massive flooding and other catastrophic impacts from Hurricane Harvey, you’re likely too busy to read this right now. But if you’re elsewhere in the state, you may have—like us—found yourself glued to the news coming out of affected areas. People are suffering. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We don’t know how long it’ll take before those places are safe again. We don’t know if they’ll ever return to normal. Because according to the National Weather Service, nobody alive has ever seen a storm like this in Texas.
But even if you are far from the devastation, there are ways to contribute. There are organizations that need support—now more than ever—that will ensure that people impacted by the storm have the resources they need to keep their lives functioning. Here’s a list of some of them, and what they’ll be doing to help:
To Help Kids
The Texas Diaper Bank, which is based out of San Antonio, is putting together relief kit for families with very small children who need access to clean diapers in the midst of flooding and evacuations. Diapers take up a lot of space in a delivery truck, which means that other relief organizations have to decide between bringing diapers or food to affected areas. The Texas Diaper Bank fills in that need.
The Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi weathered the storm well, never losing power. It’s accepting financial donations now, and if you live in the area and want to help, you can also donate blood. They serve a large area, and people from many affected parts of the coast are likely to need their services.
To Help Animals
We all saw the photo of the dog carrying the full bag of food around after the storm, right? Good boy, Otis. And there are a lot of pets who were uprooted by the storm. The SPCA of Texas is taking in hundreds of animals transferred from shelters on the coast who aren’t safe where they are right now. You can donate to the organization to help defray the costs—or you can open your home and foster a displaced animal until it can be reunited with its owner.
If you’re in Austin and want to work with a local org, Austin Pets Alive! is doing similar work, and has similar needs—cash, to keep operating, and volunteers to foster animals. They can also use certain pet supplies: large plastic or metal bins with lids to store food, leashes and collars, cat litter, large brooms, cat-specific beds, and liquid laundry soap. (The organization says they’re good on crates and pet food now, and don’t have much space to store them.)
To Help People With Medical Needs
Even as relief organizations work to help large numbers of people, it’s difficult sometimes for them to provide for people with special needs. Portlight, which has provided inclusive relief to people with disabilities for twenty years—including in Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy—is working to ensure that people who require medical equipment and assistive technology have what they need after they evacuate, and to make sure that those same folks are able to get to safety. They accept donations via PayPal.
Direct Relief USA offers prescription drugs and other medical supplies to those who need it in emergency situations, and works with clinics and primary care doctors to ensure that people are able to get what they need when they need it. They’re accepting financial contributions.
To Provide Food
Here’s a list of food banks in both affected areas and in places where those affected are likely to spend some time in the immediate aftermath of the storm (via the Houston Press):
The Houston Coalition for the Homeless is facilitating shelter for homeless people in Houston, including offering up-to-date information about which shelters currently have space, who’s the best fit for each one, and how to get there safely. They’re accepting financial donations to continue their work.
To Help Those Displaced
If you’re not in one of the affected areas and you have a spare room, you can host someone by listing your home on Airbnb for free, with no service fees to anyone. Right now, most of the listings are in Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio. If you’re in any of those cities—or another part of the state that’s not experiencing flooding—you might consider listing your space so displaced people have more options.
In Dallas, Trusted World is operating three shelters for evacuees. They need donations, supplies (clean clothing, non-perishable food, toiletries, diapers, and baby formula), and volunteers to help sort out the things that people have dropped off.
Global Giving is trying to raise $2 million to help those affected by the storm. As of this writing, they’ve raised $43,000, but the campaign had just launched. The organization provides food, gas, clean water, hygiene products, and shelter in the short-term, and then funnels the remaining resources to local organizations to facilitate long-term recovery.
HEB doesn’t accept donations, but it’s worth being aware that the supermarket chain provides emergency response services, mobile kitchens, and disaster-response units to affected areas. (They also announced on Sunday that they’d be collecting donations at the register for the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, and Feeding Texas.) That’s especially important as a number of stores in affected areas (including the entire Houston area) are closed. You can learn more about which stores are closed—and which ones have reopened—here.
https://eastbaymeditation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/EBMC_logo_top-space.png00Mushim Ikedahttps://eastbaymeditation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/EBMC_logo_top-space.pngMushim Ikeda2017-08-28 16:56:192017-08-28 16:56:19Here Are Ways You Can Help People During Hurricane Harvey
We, the EBMC Leadership Sangha, invite you to our community meeting on Saturday, September 23rd to inform and share in ideas for how EBMC’s strategic plan should guide our collective journey for the next ten years.
Facilitating our meeting will be our consultants, Jonathan Garcia and Laura Moran, who have been leading a strategic planning process that is inclusive, mission-driven and visionary. Over the last few months, they’ve engaged in various touch points with many in our community, conducting focus groups, individual interviews, online surveys and now, this community meeting.
During this gathering, we will learn more about the purpose and process for developing the strategic plan and engage in small and large group discussions about how EBMC can build on our current strengths and opportunities while addressing challenges that empower us to fulfill our mission over the short and long term.
We encourage all members of the EBMC community to attend. A more detailed agenda will be sent out as we approach the community gathering.
We look forward to seeing you then! Thank you!
The EBMC Leadership Sangha (board of directors),
Noliwe Alexander, Melissa Green (co-chairs), Amanda Ream, Carol Cano, Jinky de Rivera, Jenn Biehn, Kevin Durkin-Ortiz and Melissa Crosby
https://eastbaymeditation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/bigstock-Tree-Hand-Illustration-For-Div-188541328.jpg16001600Candi Martinezhttps://eastbaymeditation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/EBMC_logo_top-space.pngCandi Martinez2017-08-22 23:18:132017-08-22 23:18:13Help shape EBMC’s future! Join our Community Meeting on September 23rd!
