Erika Weissinger, CA Regional Congress Chair, opened the California Region annual member meeting at 3:15 pm on May 25, during the joint 2018 Regional/National Congress in Vancouver, WA. About 25 people were present.
Financial report – Henrietta Haines
Henrietta presented charts showing income sources for the region. The income from rental of Subud houses is a substantial part of the Region’s income.
The largest percentage of Region’s money is held in the property fund, which exists for purposes of making loans to centers to buy or maintain property. Each center has its own bank account; these collectively represent the next largest amount of Regional funds. Regional expenses for administration, insurance, Congress, helper travel etc. are supported almost entirely through center pledges. These pledges have been fairly flat, and it would be helpful if those centers who can afford it would increase their pledges to the Region.
The Property Management Committee (PMC) provides support to centers which manage these properties and their “centerprises” which help pay the bills and make repairs. The property management committee is currently carrying out inspections by a professional engineering firm to assess the total maintenance needs of the current houses.
Discussion and questions:
Do we as a Region keep track of cost of repairs which have been made for reference? Farah Hess: PMC does an annual survey to gather information on each property and keep track of what projects have been done.
Doug Card: when he was on the Regional Committee, helped develop a spreadsheet with categories for building maintenance. Farah: plans to make use of that to capture the information from the inspections.
Hanafi Fraval: LA spent $139k doing substantial repairs a couple of years ago. How does the Region initiate improvements at the Center level? How does that interaction work? Robert Mertens: the PMC is now reaching out actively, especially to help identify hidden maintenance. Henrietta: the inspection reports will be sent back to the centers for review.
Diana Roth: Sometimes building maintenance is too difficult and the time may come to sell or lease and make a big change and take on a simpler solution. Farah: the Chico group came to this conclusion and asked the Region to sell the property for them.
Robert Mertens: the Chico situation developed over a long time. As the Region, through the PMC, takes a longer term view, there could be a more proactive approach which looks for ways to repurpose or add value to a property. We are beginning to look for syndication of funding for new initiatives (through donations).
It was noted that groups can come to MSF for funds to establish a house.
Hilaria Dette, WSA treasurer from Germany, asked whether Subud CA could be open to sharing it’s resources with regions outside California.
Ethan Harris: how does the Region support funding for helpers at the local, regional and national level? Henrietta: the Region makes a substantional pledge to Subud USA which helps support national activities.
2019 Congress Chair
Erika invited suggestions from the floor for the role of Congress Chair. Erika does have a possible candidate who would be a co-chair, but we need to find someone to be the other co-chair. Please send ideas to Erika. Testing for this can be done locally or with the RH’s by phone.
It was suggested that the position of Congress chair be defined and promoted. Elizabeth Trudell noted that this can be done in conjunction with disseminating the Charter of Congress Development team, which is currently being reviewed by the Council. Dennis Oliver noted that there is also a set of guidelines for running Congress developed by the 2017 congress team.
Initiatives
- Venezuela Food Connection
Henrietta spoke briefly about the Venezuela Food Connection, which has now shipped 1 ½ tons of food. She asked that those present in the room sit for a group photo waving to the Venezuela group – a nice photo was taken as seen below.
- Family Camp Badger for Subud families
Sulfiati Harris is offering camps two-three times a year; had one in April and the next is planned for October. Sulfiati is doing some fund raising- if families want to come, she doesn’t want money to be a deterrent. This exposes Subud kids to each other, so they can form relationships and also feel the vibe of people in Subud. Please spread the word to people who might like this. This adds to the mix of ways for us to build community.
Lucia Cargill is seeking volunteer board members for her non-profit organization American Overseas Medical Aid Association, including a treasurer. Please contact her if interested.
Reports from Centers/Groups
Representative from center and groups shared brief highlights.
- Berkeley, Rashidah Franklin
A few active members manage to pay rent on a latihan space and most women are helpers. Many members also go to Marin on Sunday and sometimes have a pop-up latihan at Erika’s house.
2. Arcata, Halimah Collingwood
Although Arcata seems like a place that should attract Subud people, it is quite a small group with 10 active people. They have several young families which is wonderful, although those members may not be able to come to latihan regularly. The Subud house has two long term tenants, a pre-school and a Quaker group, which cover expenses and allow them to continuously upgrade the property. Sanderson Morgan added: they are looking forward to the results of the inspection and better information about what needs to be done. This is a great place to retire!
3. Palm Springs, Michael Menduno
Palms Springs did have 4 families but Laksar Reese is moving to LA and the Tarantinos are having some health problems. The group has been renting space in a Unitarian Church one day a week; have suspended this for a few weeks while they regroup with fewer members.
4. Santa Cruz, Rachmat Martin
He has been concerned for some time about declining membership. In Santa Cruz have 15 semi-active members coming to latihan twice a week, but only about 3 men and 5 women come regularly. Some elderly members can’t make it. Rachmat is property manager and feels that they have preserved and maintained the building originally built in 1893.
5. San Diego, Renata Reid
San Diego is growing, with four new women members since January, and one new male member who joined last week. They have 35-40 active members. Next weekend are hosting their second Subud Artist and Friends exhibit in conjunction with the annual Art on Adams weekend event. A satellite latihan is happening regularly at Bustami Pollards’s house on Wednesday.
6. San Joaquin Valley, Sulfiati Harris,
There are 17 members in Badger and Visalia. Latihan held in the valley once a week, and at Badger 2-3 times a week. Members tend to be quite active but the two halves of the group lack opportunities to be together. Many are quite involved in the small self-supporting community of Badger (pop 400). The local community is familiar with Seven Circles Retreat Center. Events there like summer camp, after school program and arts program connect them to the community. The United Universalist Church has invited the group to share info about Subud with them.
7. Walnut Creek, Hannah Kusterer,
They have a small group of 10 regulars and 4 occasional which meets in space rented in a church once a week. Have opened 2 new members in the last year. It is a small, friendly group.
8. Sebastopol, Michael Myers,
About 3 years into their substantial renovation of the building and have a large loan from the Region which they are servicing. Have about 10 active members, and a minimal committee. Rent out 3 small offices in the building on an ongoing basis to small local business. The back hall is rented by a dance business which sublets it for various yoga and dance activity. The owner of that business is also the rental coordinator for their main hall, which is mainly rented for Feldenkrais and for performances. County has revoked their welfare exemption for property taxes, so tax expenses have gone up. They got a grant from the MSF to install a French drain to reduce mold. They are working to a plan to improve handicapped access. Following the Sonoma fires, they donated the hall for a fund raiser for animals displaced by the fires. They are grateful for donations from other Subud Centers to get them through months when rental income was low due to the fire.
9. Palo Alto, Dennis Oliver,
Have 60 on the roster but have 25-30 members who attend latihan regularly. Have a regular rental income of about $2500/mo from small business such as meditation and music classes, plus a Spanish language pre-school program, which sustains property maintenance and supports a substantial pledge to the region.
10. Marin, Meldan Heaslip,
Center attracts people on Sunday morning from around the Bay area. Lovely site but building needs a lot of attention. About 10 members who come regularly. Alicia Lerrigo is now Chair and Councilor and is energizing activities on several levels to get maintenance going and do maintenance.
11. Los Angeles, Hanafi Fraval,
A satellite latihan is active in Topanga Canyon, at a lovely location use primarily for wedding, which attracts 4-8 men and 6-9 woman on Tuesdays. The Wilshire Center has seen a transformation in the last few years, replacing the roof and fixing floors, interior and exterior painting, modernizing the ground floor office space and putting up street signage. They are currently recruiting a new rental for that space at $5-6,000/month. The property is is a valuable building on Museum row on the metro line on Wilshire Ave.
Have opened 10-15 new members recently. Younger members don’t hang out after latihan but do get together with each other separately. Also have an informal group in Claremont. Some older members have organized a telephone weekly latihan.
12. Sacramento
Farah noted that Sacramento has about 20-25 members. There was no committee representative there to speak about the status of the Center.
The Future of Subud
In discussion about the future, there was suggestion to have a workshop on Subud “facing the new reality”. This would be an opportunity to ask whether we are doing what God would have us do in relationship to younger members and for spiritual outreach to the world. Discuss how to be ready to accept change and use new ways to communicate.
Recommend that this also be proposed for The World Congress.
Note: Erika took the action item on this and an initial version of the workshop was added to the schedule on during this Congress.
Below: Sending greetings to our brothers and sisters in Venezuela
