The following files were recorded in Victoria during an evening talk and retreat presented by Tuere Sala from her home in Seattle. The title of the retreat was “Approaching the Liberating Gift of Anger”
The following files were recorded in Victoria during an evening talk and retreat presented by Tuere Sala from her home in Seattle. The title of the retreat was “Approaching the Liberating Gift of Anger”
VIMS Council Meeting Minutes Thursday, November 25th, 2021
6 p.m. Online Meeting Hosted in Victoria, B.C.
Present: Brock Brown (chair), Brian Chapel, Rhonda Duncan, June Fukushima, Kevin Keliher (secretary) and Bruce MacRae.
Absent with Regrets: None.
Agenda Items:
1) Review and Approve Agenda: Motion from Brock to approve agenda. Carried.
2) Approve Minutes of Previous Meeting September 30th, 2021 Motion from Brian to approve minutes. Carried.
3) Business arising from the Minutes and Updates:
a) We sent a small gift to Heather Martin (re-usable Bag with”Gratitude” printed on it) along with a card and our messages of gratitude. A tribute and thanks to Heather was included in the October VIMS Newsletter. Thank you to Sandra Joy for writing the tribute and to June Fukushima for collecting and sending the personal thank you notes and gift.
b) October 16th Margo McLoughlin one day Zoom retreat. Gratitude to volunteers: Joanna Stonechapel – Registrar, Metta VanderVliet – Retreat Manager. Gratitude also to Suzan Denis as Zoom Tech Host. Zoom Participants: 33
c) June to check with Wei Wu that she has not counted Goward House rent in Margo’s retreat.
4) Financial Updates
a) Coast Capital Account Statements Accounts September 30th 2021
Chequing: $3,403.51
Savings: $13,789.14
TOTAL: $17,192.65
Accounts October 31st, 2021
Chequing: $3,713.07
Savings: $13,790.31
TOTAL: $17,503.38
September and October 2021 Financial Reports to be amended by Wei Wu – Brock Brown Retreat did not incur a cost for Goward House rental.
b) June contacted Pat Conroy, a Victoria area accountant who agreed to help file the T2 for Victoria IMS for the reporting year 2020. T2 is completed, costing $630. Motion from Bruce to approve expense ($630.00) for Pat Conroy’s services to complete and file the 2020 T2 with CRA; and June Fukushima, Treasurer sign the T2 on behalf of the Victoria Insight Meditation Society. Carried. Follow-up requirements may result once the CRA receives the T2 Motion from June to contract Pat Conroy to complete and file T2 with the CRA for 2021. Carried. Motion from Bruce to approve that Victoria IMS reimburse Brock Brown $150.00 for the purchase of two camera stands to be used at upcoming retreats at Goward House. Carried.
5) Sunday Night Community Sit:
a) After some discussion it was decided to restart the sit in 2022
b) To be held at Helga Beer Yoga Studio, 7:00-8:15 p.m.
c) In-person meditation on a trial basis on the 1st and 3rd Sunday in January and February. Brock Brown facilitator.
d) COVID-19 protocols for small group gatherings will be followed:Fully vaccinated participants agree to: i) Sign form upon entry indicating name & contact info, ii) Wear mask at all times, iii) Practice social distancing iv) Re-evaluate at end of February and cancel if COVID situation worsens. Bruce moved that Victoria IMS re-start the Sunday Night Sit as outlined above. Carried v) June will contact Helga Beer to confirm rental of the yoga studio.
6) 2022 Budget and 2021 Gifts
a) A deficit budget is presented $2,037.00 Net Loss (Dana – Expenses) $1,000.00 Scholarship Fund $3,037.00 TOTAL Deficit b) 2021 Gifts Given the anticipated surplus funds for the 2021 financial year, consideration was given to donate to charitable organizations that provide free resources to the VIMS community. Three charities were identified: Dharma Seed ($200 USD), Birken Forest Monastery – Video Production Fund ($250 CDN) and Metta Forest Monastery – Book Fund ($200 USD). Motion from June to approve Victoria IMS Budget for 2022. Carried. Motion from June to send donations to the three charities mentioned above. Carried.
7) Communications – Newsletter, Website, and Constant Contact.
a) Constant Contact invitation for Margo’s retreat is scheduled to go out January 24th, 2022.
b) Discussion regarding people signing up for hybrid retreats. June will look into using Constant Contact for in-person participants to sign up (possible max 30) and give the free lu.ma computer program a trial for online retreat registration.
8) Board Changes: a) Brian Chapel has announced he will be stepping off the board after the 2022 AGM. 9) 2022 Retreats:
a) All events at Goward House unless indicated otherwise.
2022 Upcoming Retreats Date Teacher Confirmed (Y/N) Venue Booked Format Notes
Feb 19/20 Margo McLoughlin (Y) Goward House Hybrid
Mar 19/20 Tempel Smith (Y) Goward House Hybrid
Apr 9/10 Tuere Sala (Y) Goward House Hybrid Friday evening Talk via Zoom
May 21/22 Scheduled retreat cancelled Might fill this spot with another teacher
Jun 25/26 Bonnie Duran(Y) Shoal Center Hybrid David Axon Manager
Sep 17 Brock Brown (Y) Goward House Hybrid
Oct 15/16 Christine Feldman (Y) Goward House Hybrid
Nov 12/13 Ajahn Candasirii Goward House Hybrid Nun coming from (Y) Scotland, Katherine Leslie Manager
Next Council Meeting: Thursday, January 13th at 6 p.m.
VIMS Council Meeting
Thursday, September 30th, 2021, at 6:00 p.m. Online Meeting
Present:
Brock Brown, (Chair), Brian Chapel, Rhonda Duncan, June Fukushima, Kevin Keliher (Secretary) and Bruce MacRae.
Absent with Regrets: None.
Agenda Items:
1) Review and Approve Agenda
Motion from Brock to approve the agenda. Carried.
2) Approve Minutes of Previous meeting August 19th, 2021
Motion from Rhonda to approve the minutes. Carried.
3) Business arising from the Minutes and Updates:
Heather Martin has let us know that she is retiring from teaching. She will, therefore, not lead the January 22nd & 23rd 2022 weekend retreat for VIMS. We will include a tribute and thanks to Heather in the October VIMS newsletter. Council names will be listed on a card June/Brock will send to Heather.
Brock’s September 18th, 2021, hybrid one day retreat on Zoom with a few people participating live at Brock and June’s home. This was a successful format meeting the needs of both the teacher and participants.
Gratitude to volunteers: Kiko Brown – Registrar, Louise Takeda – Retreat Manager, Brian Chapel – Zoom back-up. Gratitude also to Suzan Denis as Zoom Tech Host and for supporting the hybrid experience.
Zoom participants: 21, Live participants: 3
4) Finances:
Review and Acceptance of August 2021 Financial Reports circulated by email.
Motion from June to approve the financial report for August 2021. Carried.
Accounts Reporting August 31, 2021
Chequing: $3,533.51
Savings: $13,788.01
TOTAL: $17,321.52
It was recently discovered that Non-Profit Organizations must file a T2 tax return whether they owe money or not.
Motion from Brock to approve June F contacting CRA to determine if we must file a tax return. Carried.
We will consider at a future meeting donations to Non-Profit/Charitable Organizations and will consider the 2022 VIMS Scholarship Fund.
5) Sunday Night Community Sit: Still on hold.
6) Communications: Newsletter, Website, Constant Contact.
7) Retreats:
Completed Retreats for 2021 | |||
Date | Teacher | Format | Duration |
Jan. 23 | Heather Martin | Zoom | One Day |
Feb. 20 | Margo McLoughlin | Zoom | One Day |
Mar. 13 | Adrianne Ross | Zoom | One Day |
Apr. 17 | Tuere Sala | Zoom | One Day |
May 16 | Tempel Smith | Zoom | One Day |
Sep 18 | Brock Brown | Hybrid | One Day |
Upcoming Retreats | ||||
Date | Teacher (Confirmed
Y/N) |
Venue Booked | Format | Notes |
Oct 16, 2021 | Margo McLoughlin (Y) | N/A | Zoom | Manager: Metta
Registrar: Joanna Zoom: Suzan/Metta |
8) Retreats:
Upcoming Retreats | ||||
Date | Teacher (Confirmed
Y/N) |
Venue Booked | Format | Notes |
Jan 22 & 23, 2022 | Heather Martin (Y) | N/A | Cancelled | |
Feb 19 & 20 2022 | Margo McLoughlin (N) | Goward House | Decide by Dec 2021 | |
Mar 19 & 20
2022 |
Tempel Smith (N) | Goward House | Manager: Joyce
Joyce to inform Tempel deadline to confirm Nov 30 |
|
Apr 9 & 10
2022 |
Tuere Sala (Y) | Goward House | Apr 8: two-hour talk Goward House | |
May 21 & 22, 2022 | Ajahn Punnadhammo | Goward House | Hybrid | Manager: June F |
Jun 25 & 26 2022 | Bonnie Duran (Y) | Shoal Centre | ? | Manager: David A |
Sep 17 2022 | Brock Brown (Y) | Goward House | ? | |
Oct 15 & 16 2022 | Christina Feldman (Y) | Goward House | ? | |
Nov 12 & 13 2022 | Ajahn Candasiri (Y) | Goward House | ? | Nun coming from Scotland. Manager: Katherine Leslie |
All retreats at Goward House, unless indicated otherwise.
New COVID-19 guidelines (September 2021): Indoor gatherings require, mask wearing, social distancing, and have someone at the entrance scanning participants vaccination card and their Government ID. Goward House will have their own requirements.
Discussion of the ‘hybrid’ model for 2022 retreats. Tentative plan: Zoom Webinar format. This would involve two cameras at Goward House: one on the teacher, and the other on the retreat manager. The retreat manager would be a slight distance from the teacher and have a separate set-up. The sound person (Bruce) would switch the cameras from manager to teacher. When receiving questions from those in attendance at Goward House, the teacher will be asked to repeat the question for those online.
9) Next Council Meeting: Thursday, November 25th, 2021
Victoria IMS Council Meeting Minutes
Thursday, Mar 25th, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. Online
Present:
June Fukushima, Brock Brown (Chair), Brian Chapel, Bruce MacRae, Kevin Keliher (Secretary), Rhonda Duncan
Absent with Regrets: None
Agenda Items:
Volunteers: Registrar – Joanna Stonechapel; Manager – Joe Barrett; Support team – Brian Chapel, Bruce MacRae; Co-ordinator – Brock Brown; Tech host – Suzan Denis
Number of Participants on the day: 55
Payment of $600. Made to Suzan Denis for Zoom hosting two retreats.
Jan 23 Heather Martin – Zoom one-day – Completed.
Feb 20 Margo McLoughlin – Zoom one-day – Completed
March 13 Adrianne Ross- Zoom one-day – Completed
April 17 Tuere Sala – Zoom one-day, Registrar Kiko Brown, Manager Carol Mousseau
May 16 Tempel Smith – Zoom one-day, Registrar Josephine Tobin, Manager Metta VanderVliet
The following 2021 retreats were determined when we were planning for in-person retreats at Goward House (before Covid and our Zoom method of offering retreats). This schedule will likely change.
Discussion of VIMS Summer/Fall offerings given the uncertainty of the Covid situation.
Sept 18 Brock Brown one-day Retreat: It was agreed that if provincial medical directions allow, we will test out a one-day retreat led by Brock. This will occur at Goward House and include an online zoom connection for people in remote locations to join in.
Victoria IMS Council Meeting Minutes
Thursday, May 20th, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. Online
Present:
June Fukushima, Brock Brown (Chair), Brian Chapel, Bruce MacRae, Kevin Keliher (Secretary), Rhonda Duncan
Absent with Regrets: None
Agenda Items:
Volunteers: Registrar – Josephine Tobin; Manager – Metta VanderVliet; Support team – Brian Chapel, Bruce MacRae; Co-ordinator – Brock Brown; Tech host – Suzan Denis
Number of Participants: 78
Payment of $575. Made to Suzan Denis for Zoom hosting two retreats.
Thank you to Sandra Joy for volunteering to edit and compile the reports.
b) Officers for 2021-2022. Motion from Bruce to accept the current slate of officers.:
Brock Brown – President
Bruce MacRae – Vice President
Kevin Keliher – Secretary
June Fukushima – Treasurer
Brian Chapel – Director
Rhonda Duncan – Director
Carried.
Victoria IMS Council Meeting Minutes
Thursday, August 19th, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. at 4013 Magdelin Street
Present:
June Fukushima, Brock Brown (Chair), Brian Chapel, Bruce MacRae, Kevin Keliher (Secretary), Rhonda Duncan Absent with Regrets: none
Agenda Items:
Jan 23 Heather Martin – Zoom one-day – Completed.
Feb 20 Margo McLoughlin – Zoom one-day – Completed
March 13 Adrianne Ross – Zoom one-day – Completed
April 17 Tuere Sala – Zoom one-day – Completed
May 16 Tempel Smith – Zoom one-day – Completed
Sept 18 Brock Brown – Hybrid daylong (9 a.m. – 4 p.m.) at Goward House with limited attendance and using Zoom to make the daylong accessible online. June & Brock did a successful test of Wi-Fi at Goward House. It is at the low end of what is acceptable for Zoom. Motion from June to purchase Wi-Fi Booster. Carried. Dry run to be held first week in September. Brock will consult with Suzan Denis regarding our plan and her role to coordinate this event off site. Brian Chapel will be her off-site back-up. Aim for 20 participants in-person. Registrar to give participants two options in-person or online. When in-person numbers reach 30, that option will then be closed leaving online attendance only. Ask attendees to be fully vaccinated, masks to be worn in close quarters (e.g., 2nd floor lunch lounge area), masks optional elsewhere. No tea station, bathroom single-use.
Oct 16/17 It was agreed to postpone Howie’s retreat.
2022 Schedule
The following dates have been confirmed with the teacher and the venue booked
· Next Council Meeting: Thursday, September 30th, 2021, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Brock and June’s.
VIMS Council Meeting Minutes Thursday, January 20th, 2022 at 6 p.m.
Online Meeting Hosted in Victoria, B.C. Present: Brock Brown (chair), Brian Chapel, Rhonda Duncan, June Fukushima, Kevin Keliher (secretary) and Bruce MacRae. Absent with Regrets: None.
Agenda Items:
1) Review and Approve Agenda Motion from Brock to approve agenda. Carried.
2) Approve Minutes of Previous Meeting November 25th, 2021 Motion from Bruce to approve minutes. Carried.
3) Business arising from the Minutes and Updates.
a) VIMS Council agreed via email to change Margo’s February 19, 2022 retreat to an online only retreat given the current COVID-19 situation. The hours will be 9 am – 4 pm. Motion from Brock to approve suggested dana of $20 for Margo’s one day retreat.
b) As agreed, VIMS has made a donation of $250 to Birken Forest Monastery video production fund, $250 US to Dharma Seed (for dharma audio), and $200 US to the Metta Forest Monastery book fund.
c) As agreed, Brock purchased two camera tripods intended to be used for hybrid retreats at Goward House.
4) Financial Updates
a) Coast Capital Account Statements Accounts November 30th 2021 Chequing: $3,532.93 Savings: $13,791.44 TOTAL: $17,324.37 Accounts December 31st, 2021 Chequing: $1,967.37 Savings: $13,792.61 TOTAL: $15,759.98 VIMS will not incur a rental cost from Goward House for the February, 19, 2022 retreat. Goward House has given VIMS a credit towards future retreats. b) November and December 2021 Financial Reports circulated by email. Motion from June to approve November & December 2021 financial statements. Carried
c) VIMS T2 for fiscal year 2020 was filed by accountant Patrick Conroy ($630). Information for VIMS T2 fiscal year 2021 sent to Patrick Conroy.
d) June investigated the cloud version of Quickbooks and discovered it is not cost effective at this time.
e) VIMS sincerely thanks Wei Wu for her continued volunteer support in managing the bookkeeping through Quickbooks and providing timely reports. VIMS also sincerely thanks Kiko Brown for her continued volunteer support in preparing an Excel spreadsheet that categorizes the banking information for Wei to easily enter the data into Quickbooks.
5) Sunday Night Community Sit: a) Due to the COVID-19 situation the in-person Sunday Sit was not restarted in January.
6) Communications – Newsletter, Website, and Constant Contact.
a) The Constant Contact invitation for Margo’s retreat is scheduled to go out January 24th.
b) David Axon continues to respond to the victoriainsight@gmail.com emails. The VIMS sincerely thanks David for his ongoing commitment to VIMS.
c) Appreciation to Bruce for updating the website, producing the monthly Newsletters, and gratitude to June for managing the vims1retreat@gmail.com and vimsdana@gmail.com account.
7) Board Changes: Brian announced that he will not stand as a Board Member when members are acclaimed/elected at the 2022 AGM.
a) VIMS sincerely thanks Brian for his many years of service, providing wise counsel, and technical support.
b) Thoughts on additions to the board, and who would be in the role Brian has been playing (e.g., Constant Contact). We are considering the possibility of contracting out the registration set-up.
c) The next AGM has been scheduled for June 16th, 2022 at 6:30.
8) 2022 Retreats:
a) All events at Goward House unless indicated otherwise. 2022 Upcoming Retreats Date Teacher Confirmed (Y/N) Venue Booked Format Notes
Feb 19 Margo McLoughlin (Y) Goward House Online Kevin Keliher Manager Joanna Stonechapel Registrar
Mar 19/20 Tempel Smith (Y) Goward House Hybrid Joyce Elliott Manager. No Registrar yet.
Apr 9/10 Tuere Sala (Y) Goward House Hybrid Friday evening online only. May 21/22 Scheduled retreat canceled Might fill this spot with another teacher
Jun 25/26 Bonnie Duran(Y) Shoal Center Hybrid David Axon Manager
Sep 17 Brock Brown (Y) Goward House Hybrid
Oct 15/16 Christine Feldman (Y) Goward House Hybrid
Nov 12/13 Ajahn Candasirii (Y) Goward House Hybrid Nun coming from Scotland, Katherine Leslie Manager Appreciation to Brock for coordinating dates with teachers and finding Registrars and managers for the retreats and managing the relationship with Goward House. Next Council Meeting: Thursday, March 17th at 6:30 p.m.
The following files were recorded in Victoria during an online retreat presented by Tempel Smith from his home in Victoria.
The following audio files were recorded in Victoria during a one-day online retreat presented by Margo McLoughlin on the 16th of October, 2021.
The following audio files were recorded in Victoria during a one-day hybrid retreat presented by Brock Brown on the 18th of September, 2021.