Arthur facilitated a Zoom call for the Regional Meeting.
Council Members began to join about 7:50.
I – CALL TO ORDER
The Chair called the meeting to order at 8:15 with a moment of quiet. He asked the Helpers to offer an opening. Hani’a offered a prayer to be peaceful inside and out and to be at our best, especially at this time.
II – ESTABLISH A QUORUM
- Arthur Barrett, Los Angeles, PMC
- Dennis Oliver, Palo Alto
- Elizabeth Trudell, Community Resources Committee
- Halimah Collingwood, Arcata
- Hannah Kusterer, Walnut Creek
- Hasan MacNeil, Treasurer
- Henrietta Haines, Executive Director
- Jane Katz, Secretary
- Luqman Katz, Chair
- Meldan Heaslip, Marin
- Rachmat Martin, Santa Cruz
- Raphaela Riparetti, Vice Chair
- Rasjidah Franklin, Berkeley
- Rifka Several, Sacramento
- Sjahari Pullom, San Joaquin Valley
- Hani’a Hototo, RH
- Helena Mertens, RH
- Renata Reid, RH
- Absent: Michael Meyers, Sonoma, Harlan Gleeson, RH, Leo Horthy, RH, Owen Riparetti, RH
IV – APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM SAN DIEGO COUNCIL MEETING, JANUARY 25-26, 2020
Hasan moved to accept the minutes, seconded, unanimously approved.
V – ACTION ITEM – The Community Resources Committee Charter
A – Meldan questioned the need to test Committee and SubCommittee members. He did not feel it was necessary for this Committee.
B – The Charter was unanimously approved, no abstentions.
C – The Chair thanked Elizabeth and the team for all their work. This Committee is very important for continuity for this organization.
VI – OLD BUSINESS no old business
VII – NEW BUSINESS
A – Corona Virus, COVID-19
1 – A letter was sent to the membership in March, acknowledging the unusual financial circumstances anticipated because of the Corona Virus. Treasurer’s report was referenced, Hasan expects many centers to have less income.
2 – Palo Alto will, in spite of the Corona Virus, increase its pledge to the Region beginning for the month of March.
3 – Hasan has sent detailed emails to all centers, asked them to stay in touch, to let him know their status. Not all centers have responded as of yet.
B – Insurance
1 – Rasjidah asked about cancelling insurance for groups meeting in rented facilities. Henrietta says that several centers have done this: Monterey, San Francisco, Walnut Creek, Santa Barbara have cancelled their insurance. Guitterez Center is no longer used for Santa Barbara; that insurance is now cancelled. The current rental space for Santa Barbara will be cancelled, per Raphaela.
2 – Meldan and Rasjidah asked to cancel the insurance for Berkley.
3 – Subud CA pays insurance once a year, approximately $26,000 to $27,000. Groups can stop paying their monthly insurance. When they do, Subud gets a refund from Church Mutual at the end of the insurance year. When a Center begins to rent a space again, this insurance is very important. Henrietta needs to be notified to resume insurance, when groups resume meeting.
4 – Sjahari will notify Henrietta at a later date about San Joaquin Valley.
C – The Chair asked for a report from Centers regarding the well being of their members.
1 – Arcata: members are connecting by email, not doing latihan. Halimah texted members with the numbers for call-in latihans. The preschool that rents the Subud Hall there was closed for 2 weeks, is now opening again, considered an essential business. There is not a lot of communication going on, but everyone is fine as far as Halimah knows.
2 – Berkeley, all women seem to be healthy, doing latihan remotely and have information for Saturday Regional Latihan. Men also are doing fine.
3 – Arthur reports that LA is fine. Some people are doing latihan remotely, some on call-in, men and women. New kitchen is almost finished. Countertops on hold at this time, because the hall is closed to the group and renters.
4 – Marin, members are staying in touch. Doing latihan remotely, not calling in. Monthly newsletter will come out soon. Group knows about latihan times across the state.
5 – Palo Alto doing well, remote latihans normal time, joining Regional Helper Latihan on Saturday. The hall is closed.
6 – At San Joaquin, the mountain people are trying to stay home, the Valley people had already stopped renting a space, because they couldn’t cover the rent.
7 – Rifka reports that Sacramento is doing latihan at 10:30 am Regional time on Saturday and some members do a phone latihan at the usual time of 10 am Saturday. The Preschool is closed at this time; members have been asked to increase donations. The group can sustain itself, but can not meet loans and pledges, at this time. The group is resolving an issue with linoleum in the building, a contractor has agreed to replace all of it at no cost to the center.
8 – San Diego: Renata reports that members of the group have had health issues and some members have been out of town. Safia just came off quarantine and went back to work (as a nurse). North County Latihan is continuing remotely, and the Saturday latihan is joining the Regional. Some people are going to the hall independently at random times.
9 – Hannah says that Walnut Creek has become very small, all are retired. They were planning to schedule a meeting to discuss the situation, but the meeting was sidelined by the virus. Two women are doing latihan at the regular time, some men also.
10 – Rachmat reported that in Santa Cruz a small group is continuing to come to the center, 1-3 on a Sunday morning, still meeting because it is such a small group. As far as he knows, the local membership is ok. Regarding income, Santa Cruz had a very full rental schedule, but all rentals have been cancelled or put on hold. March and April, and increasingly May, are losing bookings. The Santa Cruz hall is one of the few places in the area that has not closed its doors. Church Mutual did an inspection, and approved work completed on the building, work that Church wanted done. Santa Cruz does not have a problem with payments for April and May.
11 – Santa Barbara had decided to stop renting the church they were using due to conflicts of time. Started a couple of phone latihans, joining the Saturday Regional Latihan.
D – Henrietta reports that there is a clause for loss of income in our insurance coverage. She suggests that the Council consider putting in a claim. If group reports come in on time, she thinks she and Hasan can probably put numbers together quickly. Henrietta and Hasan will determine whether or not this is a good idea.
VIII – Center Development Advisory Committee,
1 – Request For Quote
The CDAC had made a proposal for a Survey and other planning for Marin. This will be put off at this time, like Arthur’s project to evaluate the properties.
2 – Arthur mentioned that part of the federal relief package, will give some grants, low-interest loans, and loans without guarantors to nonprofits. He has read a rough overview at this time, but will forward the article to Hasan.
IX – COMMITTEE AND SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS
A – Property Management Committee
Reporting for the PMC, Rifka sent a status report on the electrical work which was completed very close to budget. Good job, Meldan!
B – Regional Congress Report
1 – Everything is on hold until further notice. The University of California at Santa Barbara is being very accommodating. The Region has until 2 weeks before the scheduled Congress to cancel, they will even return the deposit if we cancel.
2 – At the next meeting this should be assessed and next steps decided.
C – Community Resource Committee
Elizabeth and Henry continue to work on website and storage of document issues.
X – The Financial Report was discussed under the Corona Virus Covid-19 heading, VII. Anyone with questions can call Hasan later, Hasan enjoys communicating with centers.
XI – Care Support Status
A – Copies of the Guidelines and Application were previously sent to the Council. Guidelines and Application were written by Los Angeles with work from Henrietta and Raphaela.
B – USA sent an eblast announcing their Care Support Fund and within 3 days received $3000 in donations.
C – Los Angeles is ready to activate their Care Support Fund.
D – The Chair would like to make a $2000 matching fund to spur donations.
E – We expect to have a separate bank account for the Region, as will LA.
F – Elizabeth will send information to the membership when ready to go.
G – Helpers would be involved, one man and one lady liaisons. Testing could include testing beyond just yes or no. Recent testing was well received by a member applying for aid from the USA, most reassured that someone cared.
H – Renata asked for clarification regarding the Helpers’
role. She was disturbed at the idea that Helpers could say no, being given money should be based on factual information. She preferred to test about how the helpers could support the person at the time.
I – Raphaela added that giving money to someone carries certain responsibilities.
J – Hani’a would want to test about how to make the decision (are they in the right space to make the decision). Testing should be part of it, but should not have to do with whether or not you get the money. Receiving “no” would speak to someone not being worthy.
K – The previous Almoner’s Fund was done with testing.
L – Renata wondered if there should be criteria to demonstrate basic financial need, not be based on testing. Might criteria be based on a total point system, with Helper Testing being a portion of the criteria, but not 100%. What does their circumstance mean to the person testing? Helpers planned to talk and test among themselves for direction.
M – Henrietta said that Palo Alto and LA are the most wealthy groups. If LA has their own Care Support Fund, it would represent about half of the potential money in the Region. If she were a member in LA, she would be confused about donating to a local group or the Region.
XI – The Sacramento Council Meeting has been cancelled, another Zoom meeting will happen on May 27 at 8pm to replace that Regional Council Meeting.
XII – Meeting adjourned at 10:00 pm.
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