Santa Cruz Center Report – November 2016

By Robin Hammar, Chair

3800 Old San Jose Road, Santa Cruz, CA 95073

(831) 476-3020

Latihan Schedule:

Men’s and Women’s Latihan:  Wednesday & Sunday

Wednesday: Quiet time 7:15 PM, Latihan starts at 7:30 PM

Sunday:  Quiet time 9:45 AM.  Latihan starts at 10:00 AM

ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP

  • 33 Active members: 17 women, 16 men
  • We have had 2 openings in Santa Cruz within the last 6 months. 1 woman, 1 man.
  • We have suffered 2 deceased this year; 1 man & 1 woman.

Active Women Helpers:  We currently have 4 active woman helpers.

Active Men Helpers:  We currently have 3 active men helpers. 1 honorary helper is available, but not formally active.

Committee:  SC’s Committee consists of Robin Hammar Chair & Counselor (new), Raina Snyder Treasurer (new), Ralph Davila and Rachmat Martin are our Co-Rental Coordinators, Rachmat is also is our Maintenance Consultant infrastructure steward.

Helper/Committee Dewan Meeting: We usually have several committee meetings a year, or one may be called to handle any pressing issue. These usually take place after our Sunday Latihan. Meetings are usually supported by all regular core members.

Group Culture:  We enjoy a core group of 10-12 long time Subud people who have many years’ experience in the latihan and Subud and are the real regulars at latihan. These take their responsibilities seriously. Radiant joy is usually the atmosphere after a Latihan here in Santa Cruz.

This year we have lost (in death) two long time Subud friends; Christie Maurer and Oswald Lake. The losses have been striking; however, the following unity consoling and loving. We have a trickle of inquiries and candidates that become aware of Subud with several each year deciding to be opened. Our group is fun loving and usually host several gatherings through the year at our house.

We occasionally sponsor a regional meeting and enjoy our regional helpers when scheduled. Our Subud group always relies on testing when an unclear issue arises, Bapak’s written guidance and of course, our membership experience, many who were here when Bapak was. Our members are interesting and creative gardeners, singers, therapists, performance artists, community activists with an accent on unity, Spirituality, life preservation and healthy Earth interests. Our people, facilities, and resources are used to enhance and build community here in Santa Cruz. In our meetings and gatherings we always banter around different ideas to enhance this priority.

Facility:

Our building is the evolution of the original Mt. School built in stages beginning in 1893. It is in sound shape. The grounds are minimally landscaped. Our entry foyer and stage/kitchen area are in long-delayed need of repair, restoration or completion. Details include floor replacement in the foyer, drywall texturing, paint, and trim in both areas. We need to raise funds for this and have hoped for some matching funds from the Region to preserve and enhance this special historic regional property purchased in 1973. A plan will be brought to the regional council soon.

A member volunteer has for 9 months looked-after the gardening and grounds and supervised occasional hired help, but she (Holly Rice) and her husband Jeff Stone are moving to Grass Valley this month. We will need to source another solution for this. A few times a year, Holly would organize a few members who were willing to share in potting projects, tidying up and caring for the House. We will miss this very experienced expertise.

We employ a house cleaner to maintain a clean presentable facility for ourselves and renters.

Finances:

Subud Santa Cruz is financially sound and has consistently paid all expenses and contribution commitments to the region on time. (Note: this is historically true for many decades, with the only exception of the one year in which all rentals of the space were canceled due to building renovation) Currently, our rental business is strong with multiple, repeat clients. It is competitive relative to the local facility market and demand for space continues to grow.

We are aware & concerned regarding payments that are in arrears (this was due to inability to rent our property for events while construction repairs). A motion to transfer arrears payments to the backend of our loan is being formulated for action by the Region.