Highlights for the year
Tibetan Cultural event
On June 28, after several months of planning, learning and growing, TBBS and Sherab Chamma Ling volunteers held our first ever fundraising event with an event name and focus of A Tibetan Cultural Evening. The event was held in conjunction of the visit and weekend teaching of Shedhup Khen Rinpoche of Menri Monastery, India. Over 120 people attended and enjoyed the food, music, dancing and hanging out with monks in Tibetan style. We were honored to host Geshela’s adopted Cree brother Alex and his family from Alberta, who blessed our event in his tradition. Geshela invited Tibetan friends and community members from Vancouver and even a sister from Colorado to join us, they provided much of the entertainment and culinary skills and a very lovely group of local volunteers made the whole event a smashing success. Many special thanks to those visiting guests, and to those wonderful volunteers who jumped in and did SO MUCH to make the weekend and the evening event such a special time, you know who you are! We raised money for TBBS programs and we raised awareness in our community.
Unity in Community
- TBBS Sherab Chamma Ling set up an information tent at a Habitat for Humanity event that showcased Comox Valley nonprofit community groups called Unity in Community.
- Unity in Community was a great event, a beautiful sunny day; we raised some new awareness of our centre and activities, we got lots of ideas about ways to outreach and network into community as well as meeting with some of the dedicated volunteers of these worthwhile community building endeavors. The passion and service of people volunteering in non profits is always inspiring.
Nautical Days
Our Charitable Contributions
School Uniforms for Tibetan children
Geshela, Esther Hutton and Sarah Murray traveled to Nepal and distributed school uniforms to 100 children from the TISE Himalayan International School. This school is taken care of by Triten Norbutse Monastery. 100 students traveled to Kathmandu to celebrate Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak’s 100th birthday and they were happy to receive their new clothes. 225 Uniforms in total were donated to the school.
Strategic planning meeting:
In July the board met for a day of visioning and planning working on updating the shared vision and core values that will guide strategic decisions (like acquiring property) and organizational behavior. Geshela, Geshe Nyima, and the board brainstormed, drafted and approved a vision statement for the next 5 years, as well as working on supporting values/visions.
The new TBBS 2025 VISION STATEMENT is :
‘A sanctuary for discovering wisdom and compassion to relieve suffering for the benefit of all beings.’
Possible purchase of a permanent centre.
We have been seriously considering the purchase of a building in downtown courtenay for the site of a permanent centre for Sherab Chamma Ling. Geshela and the board have all walked through the property several times and agree that the location is desirable as it is very centrally located and with some interior modifications could be turned into a suitable location for a small sangha such as we currently have. We are working to raise enough funds to make this possible.