This new blog will replace our email newsletter, which would go out over email every few months. Thanks to Shambhala Times and Shambhala International for making these blogs happen for Centers all over the Shambhala Mandala.

This is our shrine room now. A happy, calm place where many of us have sat looking out over linoleum tiles and up at a hanging ceiling for years. Our huge news is that all of this is about to change!

We are buying the building we are currently in – 408 S. Baldwin St – the whole thing. For the short term, we will keep on the renters upstairs, but over time, we will redo the first and then second floor to expand our center. This way we can have two programs at once (we won’t have to have dharma classes only after sitting on Monday or Thursday night, for instance), we’ll have more space for cooking and eventually, even an accessible bathroom. Finally, we will uplift the space we do have, right away.

For now, though, our focus is on acquiring the building (we are 75% there, with fundraising mostly done, and negotiations figured out with current owners). We need funds to finish gathering our downpayment – we still need about $5,000, before the end of the year.

Our first steps in remodeling will be to this shrine room, once it is ours to change. The ceiling under those hanging ceilings is tin – beautiful hand work from the Labor Temple days of the building. We will expose those and cover the old lino with new wood floor. Join in our efforts – through labor and donations – to make the space that has long been part ours into a space that is all ours!

For donations or questions, please contact center director, Miriam Hall
madisonshambhala@gmail.com
608-441-8868