Subud Pacific Northwest
Board Meeting Agenda
March 11, 2015
Attending: Alexandra, Oswald, Sherwin, Pete, Michael (DuBois), Ramon, Elisha, Beata
Alexandra called the meeting to order at 7:36 p.m.
Approval of the February meeting minutes:
Motion by Michael, 2nd from Beata, approved by acclaim
Chair reports:
Ramon – Seattle has received an MSF grant to build an access ramp, quotes are coming in now. Second local committee meeting coming up later in March. Helpers are scheduling regular dewan latihans.
Michael – Bellingham/Skagit Valley raised $900 at the annual bird walk. It was so successful that next year the group will need to get a van to help with transport! House notes: Need to do some joist repair on the house next year. On April 12 there will be a dewan gathering, and they have invited regional helpers for Jul 18 meeting.
Portland – No report because Bhakti was traveling in the UK.
Helper reports:
Beata – Regional latihans are going OK. Helpers are reaching out to BSV, and there is possible helper travel coming up to Ashland and Bainbridge.
Elisha – The Sacramento helper training was very exciting and useful. The international helpers addressed concerns about the publication, “Bapak’s Advice and Guidance for Helpers,” thoroughly and he expects a good outcome. The national and regional helpers can then follow their lead. For now, awaiting official followup from SUSA national.
Alexandra and Oswald commented that PNW needs some definitive direction about what is expected of the regional committee.
Housing Committee:
No update at this time from Oswald but he is organizing the committee members.
Insurance update:
Alexandra thanked to Seattle and BSV for gathering the info needed to get an updated quote. She has learned through conversation with the agent that the Portland house is under-insured, she will address the issue this weekend at the monthly Portland meeting.
Oswald and Ramon added that Seattle had increased its coverage and premium because it was under-insured too.
Menucha Pre Planning and 2015 Kedjiwaan Gathering:
Tabled until the dewan gathering
Regional Dewan Meeting:
(See notes below distilled from comments on the call, plus email input from others in the dewan.)
New Business:
Oswald said the Subud PNW website is down but only temporarily while development of a new page is underway.
Meeting adjourned at 8:35pm
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Building Blocks for March Dewan Agenda
1) Collaboration and Community Building
What is our collective vision for the region?
How do we work together as a team?
Getting to know one another, spending time together. How can we solidify and reinforce the feeling of cooperation and collaboration going forward?
How do we handle our differences of opinion in a non-confrontational way?
How can we assure that our actions represent the consensus of the group rather than our own personal agendas?
2) Testing questions that are generated as a result of the Community Building session… Perhaps we can also use some questions the helpers did at the recent gathering:
“Who is (name)?”
“What is (name’s) role as a helper/committee member?”
“How would God want (name) to be as a helper (committee member)?”
“What obstacles prevent (name) as acting as the helper (committee member) God would want him/her to be?”
“How do we work together as a dewan?”
“What prevents us from working together as a dewan?”
“How do we model collaboration in our roles as helpers, committee members, center chairs, etc.”
“What is the role of my center in Subud PNW?”
3) Communication
How do we reach out to our members both in our region and beyond? (Cascadia concept)
How can the committee and helpers support one another as they reach out so they convey a unified message?
What are the mechanisms to reach our members who are not able to go to group latihan? Newsletter/written communication/calendar of events/summary of what is going on? How often do we distribute?
How do we inform the membership when there are sensitive issues (ex. BAGH, who/how is the spokesperson? Who crafts the message? How do we ensure that we all know what is going out, to whom and when?
4) Finances
What is the financial health of PNW?
How can we increase our donations so that we can sustain helper and committee travel/outreach and support the maintenance of our centers for major upcoming repairs?
5) Activities
Menucha, Family Camp: how do we organize and promote these to maximize participation? How can we increase kedjiwaan activities without feeling overburdened financially, emotionally, etc.?
Should Menucha be THE 2015 Kedjiwaan activity, rather than putting another in the calendar?
Where should the March 2016 Regional Congress be?
6) Wings
How do the wings fit into our vision?
How do we support their goals, find adequate representation and grow their presence within our region?