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As we enter February, we are well in the swing of our winter training period and the Center is alive with activity.

Our Board of Directors met recently to discuss a host of issues, first welcoming new Board members Gabrielle Gerlits, Bob Troyer and Billy Wynne. All three bring a wealth of experience to our deliberations, joining Mark Tasker (Board President), Joyce McLaren (Secretary), and Paige Noon, along with Peggy Sheehan (Spiritual Director), Merilee Schultheiss (non-voting member as Head of Zendo) and Yosi Lutwak (Treasurer).

With our year-end fundraiser concluded, we are happy to report raising over $4200, and we will be moving forward with purchasing additional support cushions along with other items and improvements around the Center. Our deep thanks to everyone who contributed!

By way of further ensuring the financial well-being of the Center, the Board also voted to increase sesshin fees to $45/day for ZCD members and $55/day for non-members (previously $35 and $50, respectively). As our retreats remain among the cheapest at Zen centers nationwide, and cost far less than those at most dedicated retreat centers, we trust this will not present too great a burden for participants. Along the same lines, zazenkai fees will now be set at $25 for members and $30 for non-members. If these costs do present a financial burden to you, contact your teacher about reduced rates.

In other changes, please join us in offering our congratulations and best wishes to our longtime office manager and resident caretaker Joel Tagert, who recently submitted his resignation in order to assume a position as resident manager at Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center. Joel has been a member of the ZCD for twenty-five years and has served as office manager for the last seven, and we receive this news with both regret as well as gratitude for all he has accomplished, recognizing that his new position represents a tremendous opportunity for him to develop professionally and more fully engage with the larger Buddhist community. Moving forward, it is our intention to solicit interest in the office manager position from within the sangha; a job posting will follow shortly.

Some may notice that our large taiko drum was moved from the zendo last December. While a very beautiful instrument (made by Miyoshi Daiko in California), it was really too large and too loud for our new zendo, and so the decision was made to sell. We are very happy to report that Honolulu Diamond Sangha has agreed to purchase it, and we are currently working on getting it packed, weighed and shipped to Hawaii. No doubt it will sound fantastic booming through the Palolo Valley!