Betsuin Board Bullets
San Jose Betsuin Board of Directors Meeting
February 05, 2015
submitted by Joyce Iwasaki
The intent of the Betsuin Board Bullets is to highlight Board actions, decisions, special events and projects. Please contact the Betsuin board officers, directors or the ministers to for details on any item.
Motions
It was moved/seconded/passed to accept the January 2015 minutes as corrected.
It was moved/seconded/passed to allocate $352,446.25 from retained earnings to the building fund which is the value of 3 Betsuin CDs.
It was moved/seconded/passed to inform the Sangha and all annex users that the annex renovation project will begin in August 2015.
It was moved/seconded/passed to approve 100% of the annex renovation, upgrades, construction features, if and only if, we have a solid pipeline of pledges or commitments over the next eight months.
It was moved/seconded/failed to allow the 2015 Nembutsu Camporee participants to participate in two activities (zipline and rock climbing) since these two activities are not covered in the Betsuin’s liability insurance. If these two activities were to be available to the participants, added insurance would have to be put into place. Coast District is hosting the 2015 Nembutsu Camporee at Walden West in Saratoga.
Ministers’ Report – Rinban Fujimoto
The date for the Spring Ohigan Service may have to be rescheduled to coordinate with the guest speaker who has yet to be identified. Dr Paul Arai was originally scheduled to be the Ohigan speaker but now has a rare opportunity to have an audience with the Dalai Lama in India.
EcoSangha Report – Al Hironaga
The EcoSangha participated in the Super Bowl XLIX Party Fundraiser by providing 27 rolls of spam musubi for the snacks.
The EcoSangha is again sponsoring an “Art Using Recycled Material” contest for all age groups. Entries judged to be the best will be awarded monetary prizes. Deadline for submission of entries is 4:00 PM on April 5, 2015.
The EcoSangha has started to plan for the next Earth Day to be held on Sunday, April 19, 2015. The guest speaker at the services will be David Mas Masumoto, an organic peach, nectarine and grapes (for raisin) farmer, a newspaper columnist, an author of seven books, and whose farm and family has been featured on the late Huell Howser’s “California’s Gold” program.
Garden Committee – Al Hironaga
In February, the Garden Committee planted the beautiful Japanese maple tree that was donated by Paul Sakamoto.
Youth Department Report – Larry Handa
Girl Scouts: Two Senior Scouts, Emily Kobayashi and Megan Nakamae, earned Gold Awards.
All Scouts Picnic: All Scouts Picnic will be held on Saturday August 22, 2015 at Yuki Beach. Boy Scouts will be at that site from August 21 - 23. Service activity will most likely be litter pick up.
2015 Nembutsu Camporee: The website is set up and registration forms are available. Deadline to register is April 15, 2015. Cost is $225 if registered by March, $235 by April15. Event takes place June 26-28, 2015 at Walden West. Betsuin took out an insurance policy for liability.
Special Events Report – Steve Ichinaga
New Year’s Luncheon
Thanks to the New Year’s Committee co-chaired by May Horio and Cindy Iwamura, this year’s party was another fun and entertaining event.
The bento lunch was provided by Kubota Restaurant and the always popular Miso Shiru prepared by the chefs of the BWA.
Our special entertainers this year were Mas Nishimura and Curtis Takahashi who dazzled us with their musical talents. As always, everyone had fun with our audience participation sing along to kick off the New Year.
To top off the event, the Sangha Crafters Asian Zodiac Quilt Raffle generated $1767.00 for our Generations Campaign.
Thanks again to all of the committee members, Sangha Support, Sangha Crafters, Choir and Board.
FEB