January was sure a busy month. With all the New Year’s activities, traveling and eating, I thought Feb would be a good time to take a breath and settle into the New Year….boy was I wrong. We have the BCA national council mtg at the end of the month and need to gear up for that. Besides approving the national budget, there aren’t too many ‘big’ decisions this year. The BCA dues will stay around $107 per member which is good but there are also plans to install Solar panels at IBS. We haven’t rec’d all the info on this project yet but we’ll get it before the national council mtg and make a decision there.
FYI-the BCA dues that I mentioned earlier comes out of your annual SJBC membership dues. For example, if you pay the $720 per year for a family then $214 comes out of that and goes directly to the BCA, since the BCA counts each adult as a member where the Church membership is for an immediate family. This is why we (SJBC delegates-Janice Doi and I) will push the BCA to plan and stay within their budget like any other person/family would have to do.
As for other things going on this month, the Jr YBA is having their annual Spaghetti Dinner on 2/7. This is always a fun event to see everyone and catch up. The BWA is also having their Botamochi and Chirashi fundraiser on 2/21, come on out and taste some great recipe’s that have been handed down through many generations.
The Generations campaign continues to gain momentum. Pls see my campaign update for more info but I’m constantly surprised at the generosity of our Sangha members. Thank you very much.
While it may seem like things are always rosy at the Temple, we continue to struggle with membership. It’s not like we don’t have families out there to join, in fact we have a great pool of families that attend our activities, services and join our organizations but they haven’t joined yet. We have been working on creating a ‘build it and they will come’ community feeling and based on the good number of people who come to Dharma School, Boy/Girl Scouts, Judo, Kendo to name a few, its working but I still don’t understand why they don’t join the Church too. I’m hoping over this year people will recognize the value of joining the Church and sign up. We continue to be a great gathering place and refuge for the community and will continue with our efforts.
I don’t want to leave you with a downer feeling, so let’s finish by talking about the SUPER BOWL!! We’re having our first Super Bowl party at the Church on 2/1! Come on out and have some beer, good food and one of Sensei Sakamoto’s famous Tri Tip sandwiches. Pls see the flyer for more info.
Thanks for reading and take care.
In Gassho,
Todd Tsudama
JAN