Volunteer Community at the Center for Spiritual Living, Santa Rosa

Thanks to Alistair Bleifuss of the Creek Stewardship Program of Santa Rosa for arranging for our official Ours To Protect sign, now on the fence along Spirit Creek, 2075 Occidental Road near Stony Point. Have you noticed these markers around Santa Rosa where there are bridges over our creeks? Research shows that people are more likely to care for creeks and other forms in nature if they can name them. What creek watershed do you live in? You're invited to these Spirit Creek Stewardship opportunities in 2012: Sunday March 25 1 to 4pm Spring Equinox Blessing & Creek Care Sat. July 14, 1 to 4pm Clean Our Green Sat. Oct. 6, 1 to 4pm, 6th Annual Spirit Creek Day PLUS: On Earth Day, Sunday April 22 , 1 to 4pm,

On Tuesdays at the Center guests are invited to join staff for prayer at 3 pm. Rev. Kim Kaiser leads the prayer today. Pamela Jasper keeps our fall rose garden in perfect shape. Volunteers transform the parking lot dividers for spring delights.

Photographs by Cher! Prayer Practitioner Bonnie Chase with friends. Sahar Pinkham leading the way. Michelle Keip, Lead Steward. We love our Center!

Photographs by Cher           Something for the whole family and for the wellbeing of our Center: Spirit Creek Clean Up provides education, entertainment and service opportunities. You can visit the Spirit Creek Stewardship page at http://www.cslsr.org/ministries/spirit-creek-stewardship for more information about this group’s activities.

Center Revenue Sources The Center receives income from several sources. Here is a visual picture of our revenue sources so far this year. Of the contributions we receive, the vast majority come from people who share their annual giving plan by completing a Giving Plan Card. Come to our Annual Membership Gathering on March 18, 2012 where we will have an in-depth financial update. Renovation and Renewal Update: Five years ago we established a long-range plan for the care of our facility. With your support we have stayed on track to keep our Center robust and beautiful. Pictured here are volunteers completing the build-out of our stage area. Upcoming Renovation Projects Some of the things scheduled for the near future include… Parking lot seal and stripe ......................... $31,000 Retile Sanctuary floor ............................... $60,000 Replace youth classroom wall divider ........ $6,000 Kitchen renovation.................

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A place for everything, and everything in it's place. Now where did I place Michael? - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Framing is all done! And they just keep going! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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Stage build out continued... - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The demo of our band area was started today to make room for a build out that will add 14 feet on to our stage. Not only making room for our musicians, but also allowing room for our choir to grow! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The people behind the clean green Behind the scenes at the Center for Spiritual Living, Santa Rosa you find adults and children chopping wood and carrying water. There is no question about it, our facility and grounds are maintained by many, many volunteers who engage in selfless service to beautify their Center. There is something for everyone to participate in.  Visit our Ministry of Service page to see what current service opportunities exist. My favorite stories are from couples that meet and marry as a result of being in the same service.  Brenda and Don Kobrin met in the construction service team activities some 12 years ago.  And there are many stories like theirs. I know, I know, you’re supposed to be selfless in your service contribution… but hey…..

About 20 enthusiastic adults and kids showed up to tend Spirit Creek for the "Clean Our Green" event on July 16. Besides our regular creek clean-up, this time the group's first activity was to observe and appreciate the signs of progress of our efforts over the past 5 years stewarding Spirit Creek. This sparked conversation about dynamics between native and invasive plants and animals, wilderness corridors, the joys of being in nature and more. We envisioned a dedicated network of creek stewards in groups like ours, all "adopting" a stretch of creek to care for and being responsible for the 92 miles of creeks in Santa Rosa. Other highlights of the event were Stephanie Lennox's joyful sharing of environmental education as we worked and Randy Urry's dip with nets into the headwaters which produced lots of bugs and "Surprise!" an abundance of crawdads hiding in the mud. Randy's sifting screens and magnifying glasses extended our lively hands...

The Center Leadership Team meets monthly to discuss administrative and facilities matters. Did you know that you can read the minutes of all the meetings of our Center online at www.CSLSR.org?

 Stripe'N'Seal started on repairing our parking lot today! The repair will be finished by tomorrow evening, pending weather, and all set for use on Sunday! ,

Each month the stage decor changes. This month's decoration was made possible by the creative contribution of our Young Adult Group. You can find out more about the Young Adult Group here . Thank you everyone for your help!! Hanging colored paper and cloth is fun and easy thanks to the railings and hanging silk screens the allow us to create something new and different every month: Later this year we will see the build-out of the stage to accommodate our musician's section of the stage with more room for their equipment.