North American Retreat Center Project

As we begin to create places to go deeper into our meditation practices away from the distractions of our active modern lives, this website will serve as an entry way to the various projects underway in North America.

Current projects

Western	-	Western Retreat Center in California Purchased in early 2009
Central	-	Heartland Retreat Center in Wisconsin Purchased in December 2009
Eastern	-	Northeast Retreat Center Forthcoming... meanwhile, Connecticut center is used for retreats

Brief history

Finding a suitable place for a Retreat Center for North America has been an exciting and strengthening journey for the NA sangha over almost a decade.

The idea was first brought forth in 2001 when an initial donation of $10,000 was made for this purpose. From there we gradually began to search in California and in 2003 made our first offer in Mariposa, which did not come through. From there the search was opened up to all parts of the country for a short time but then became focused on a centrally located region, Colorado. Our RC search team became ever more proficient, a vision was created and several properties came close to fruition, ending with one that seemed to have almost every condition desired. However, in November 2008, with the shifting economic landscape and logistical realities, we realized we had to let go of this Colorado property.

At this point we decided to change our model, and instead of searching for one main Retreat Center for all of North America, started looking for multiple retreat centers, located in active regions. This way most of our sangha would have easy access to at least one retreat center.

Fundraising

Throughout these years the NA sangha has worked continually on raising the money necessary to purchase a property. These endeavors included monthly memberships, one-time donations, Walk-A-Thons, auctions, and a multitude of center sponsored fundraising activities. The money that had been gathered during the "single RC" period, will be shared in equal thirds between the West, Center, and East. Thanks to this tireless effort and amazing generosity, each region will receive $210,000 of initial seed money!

Project coordination

In order to maintain the unifying principle that the single Retreat Center model produced, Lama Ole and Caty formed a RC Coordination Team comprised of a representative from each of the regions that currently have retreat center projects. (Other reps will join when projects arise in other regions.) They are: Tasso Kallianiotis for the East, John Christopherson for the Heartland and Stephen Pullis for the West. The purpose of this team is to ensure that all North American RC projects develop in complete coordination and within our sangha's common vision for them.

Information about projects underway

For those interested in more information about the specific NA RC Project mentioned above, follow the links on the left sidebar. Since we do not yet own the property in the Heartland, this website is password protected. Please check at your local center for password and user information. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact the RC Coordination Team at: RCCoteam@diamondway.org