2021/09/30 Vims Council Meeting

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.

  1.     A tribute and thanks to Heather Martin in the October Newsletter.

7)    Retreats:

  1.     Completed Retreats 2021
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

            

  1.     Upcoming Retreats 2021
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:

  1.     Upcoming Retreats 2022
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