This year's annual general meeting (AGM) was held on August 25, 2024. It captured reports and updates since the last AGM in June 2023.

Our community has undergone impressive changes over the past 14 months. Most notably, we launched the Bright Stream Temple (Koryuji), migrated to a new IT system with GoogleWorkspace, hired an Administrative Coordinator to support our operations, established an endowment fund for a more sustainable financial future, and implemented a wide range of organizational policies, processes and guidelines to keep it all together. Along with these accomplishments and milestones, Mountain Rain continued to offer a generous program of practice activities without a glitch, all thanks to our Guiding Teachers, practice leaders and dedicated volunteers.

We are heading, once again, into a period of change. A new team has been elected to Council and many volunteers are shuffling positions in service of our sangha. Now is a good time for us to reflect on our accomplishments and how we can continue to build on our collective efforts.

You may remember last year, the theme for the AGM was: “Laying the foundations for sustainable governance.” At the time, it felt relevant to talk about building foundations with a new strategic plan, a new temple, and massive gaps in capacity building. Today, it feels that we have many new initiatives that need care and nurture. From the apple seeds of our endowment fund, to the unknown harvest of our future with Koryuji, to our evergreen processes and systems, now is a great time to be tending the seeds we sow.

The work of this Council can trace its roots to the invaluable contributions of the last Council, and the one before it, and the one before it. In the spirit of community building, I trust that the next round of leaders will continue to build on the great work of the previous councils, officers and standing committees. That’s not a job for one person or group. It’s truly the work of a village.

MRZC Council for 2023-24
(Moe, Michele, Trudy, River, Vicki, Todd, Matt and Jacob)