From the Palo Alto Subud Report to the Regional Council, January 2014
By Lianne Card
Life of the Center Report Summary:
Our mighty committee of Chairman Brianna Ferreira, Treasurer Elizabeth Trudel and Rental Coordinator Dennis Oliver have accomplished an extraordinary number of projects and goals this year.
Thanks to committee leadership, and with Irena Olender as a bridge with the Regional Dewan, our center participated in staffing many roles at the Regional Congress at the Sofitel Hotel over Memorial Weekend. Other major center efforts have included: refinishing the historic redwood plank floors upstairs, replacing the downstairs carpets, and preparing for repainting of the exterior. The floor projects required extensive moving of contents and coordinating with contractors and renters to minimize down time for the building. To prepare for repainting the exterior, Brianna and team insured that members had an opportunity to decide the colors in a very democratic way. We voted on swatches and combinations of color and trim as depicted in renderings. Members decided on blue with a crème trim as a variation of the traditional Subud blue and gold. Painting will proceed soon.
In the last quarter, group social events included Bapak’s birthday Indonesian feast at the Olivers, the Eid celebration at the hall, and a Labor Day BBQ and swim time at the Helmers. In addition, the Clarks made a special effort to involve our young families by holding several Saturday BBQ’s after latihan and providing babysitting so that parents could attend latihan. These events reinforce the connections both between young families and our larger community. And the kids love it!
For the past year, the center has been using Googlegroups to communicate about coming events and other news. Thanks to Naomi Onaga, we are in process of a web site redesign. Brianna has been sending out a monthly email newsletter to recap and inform the members of upcoming news.
In general, thanks to our committee, and the ongoing work of our helpers, we continue to put our house in order in all ways and to position ourselves for further growth.