When Susan Orr was the Sacramento Dharma Center’s Board President, she signed-off her emails with the single word: Onward! – expressing her cheerful optimism that we would succeed in our quest to buy a building. And it is onward that we continue to go, though without our beloved Susan, who died in 2018. And as of this year, without Linda Dekker, who served SDC so selflessly from its inception through 2021.
Our founders thought of the Dharma Center as a legacy project, something precious they could leave to future generations – a home for Buddhist practice. Our current Board is committed to preserving and extending their legacy. One goal is to leave the property debt-free by paying down the mortgage. A second is to nurture younger leaders who will carry on managing, improving, and defining what the Dharma Center will be.
To accommodate the needs of younger leaders, the Dharma Center will need more paid staff and services. This is already happening and stretching our budget, and these needs and costs will undoubtedly increase. This is the reason why paying off the mortgage – our biggest single expense – remains a top priority.
Asking for Your Help
Two years ago, we began a five-year fundraising campaign to pay down the balance of our mortgage, which now stands at just under $300,000. We’ve had two tremendously successful campaigns, raising over $70,000 each year, all of which went to pay-down the mortgage to its current level.
The goal is to keep replicating this success. This year two donors have together offered $1 to $1 matching funds, up to $25,000. This sets our campaign goal at $50,000. We humbly ask for your support to meet or go beyond this goal.
‘The Way is to Volunteer’
The Sacramento Dharma Center (SDC) thrives due to the effort of volunteers and committed donors. Among the people who check those boxes, Barbara Colton stands out. Barbara, stepped into the role of SDC Board President in early 2019. She will finally “term-out” of her Board position early next year, so we asked her to look back at her spiritual path and her motivation for such long service.
SDC: Please tell us about your personal path of practice.
Barbara Colton: I came to the Dharma late in life, beginning with yoga practice in the 1990’s. My first meditation retreat was at Chochmat HaLev, a Jewish spiritual center in Berkeley. Though my spiritual bones were not very strong, I persisted and began to attend retreats at Spirit Rock, the Insight Meditation Center in
Massachusetts, and started going to Sacramento Insight Meditation (SIM). I completed the two-year Dedicated Practitioners Program at Spirit Rock, which included five long retreats, as well as the Heavenly Messengers Program with Frank Ostaseski, which provided support for my work then as a hospice volunteer.
SDC: What motivates your spirit of service?
Barbara Colton: I’ve learned that if you want to get involved in something, the way is to volunteer. Shortly after I joined SIM, I volunteered to set up the meditation hall; eventually I was on the SIM board. I wanted to experience how a board could work based on Dharma principles. When the SDC Board President position
became vacant, I told the Board that “president skills” were not my strong suit, but I would do it. I hoped to improve my leadership skills and to contribute to the ongoing health of the Board according to the Dharma.
SDC: What are your hopes for the future of SDC?
Barbara Colton: The Dharma Center needs to have a sense of identity that new people can understand. We are working on that. We produced a poster explaining the role of SDC and we are working on another one as the run-up to this fundraising campaign. All our efforts are so that SDC can to continue to exist and be a Dharma home for people who come here.
SDC: You have been a consistent donor to SDC. Would you talk about that?
Barbara Colton: One of the important teachings for me is Dana (generosity, giving). I’ve learned that it is important to support those things that one believes in. SDC is an expression of that. For me the Dharma started out as a conceptual scaffolding. Through my practice I’ve come to experience the truth of the teachings. The Buddha’s insights are profound. For me the Dharma works, and I would like there to continue to be a home for people to explore how the Dharma works for them too. I think the crude expression is ‘you put your money where your mouth is;’ or more accurately for me, ‘put your money where you want to be
(silent, on a cushion.)’
SDC: Do you have a message for prospective donors?
Barbara Colton: People can see and enjoy the investments we have made in this building: the new bathrooms, the remodeled West Hall, new roofs and solar panels, the North Garden area, the fledgling trees in the ‘back forty.’ What they can’t see is the $3,000 per month mortgage payments, our biggest single expense. Donating to pay down the mortgage is the most effective way to ensure the future of the Dharma Center.
Thank you,
Kenny Bender
For the Dharma Center Board
Making a Donation
To make a contribution of any amount, please press the button below and you’ll be connected to the Dharma Center donation page. Thank you!
P.P.S. If you are 70½ or older and have a Traditional IRA, you can donate to the Sacramento Dharma Center by making a “Qualified Charitable Distribution” from your IRA, and you won’t have to pay taxes on the money you withdraw. This article explains how to do this:
https://www.investopedia.com/taxes/can-i-use-money-my-ira-donate-charity/
Or mail your donation to Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA 95826, and indicate “Mortgage Pay Down” on your check.Thanks!
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