I found this article in an old Subud USA publication. It gives a bit of Subud Seattle history, written by Sebastian Tedrow around 1974. He describes the building which was formerly owned by the ‘Deaf Lutheran Church’ and goes on to say “Almost every member has seen the place and expressed joy at being in the building!” I hope we will keep continuing that feeling of joy for many years to come!
July 4th will be a red letter day for SGS! We will have our first potluck in over a year (in Spring Street Park across from Spring Street Center) and our first in-person General Meeting in a long while, after Latihan! We hope you will feel comfortable attending. It will be great to see as many of you as possible.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
At the end of the year, I (Oswald Norton) will no longer be serving as your treasurer. Rayma and I will be spending gradually more and more time in the Los Angeles area with our daughter starting in January 2022.
The duties of the job:
It is extremely important for our group to have someone who can devote a couple of hours a week to doing this work. The processes are in place. It is not difficult.
When I took over the job from Sherwin O’Bar, I began documenting all of the duties for this position. Your committee has also worked diligently on making the job simpler.
This means that there would a simpler job for the new treasurer than the one I took over. And, there will be documentation that the new treasurer to refer to when the need arises.
My hope is that someone will step forward in the Fall so that I can have time to provide training and answer any questions.
If you would like to assume this position, please let me know now because we will need time to transfer over control of our finances. Due to ever increasing security needs in handling finances, the person who fills this role will need to go through a process with US Bank to have access to our information. I wish to assist in the transition process to make this possible. It will also require participation from our regional treasurer.
Your Brother In Subud, Oswald
May 22, 2021
If You Haven’t Donated, Now Is The Time
Your committee appreciates everyone’s financial support. Even though Spring Street Center is able to provide some of our income needs. It is not able to cover all costs. Your donations, on average, cover only 51% of our costs.
During May, we were able to complete repairs which will prevent further water damage to the interior of the building.
We were able to pay for this work after Jim O’Halloran was able to obtain a $6,000 loan from the region. We now need to repay this loan.
Our goal for 2021 is to have everyone contribute something toward the upkeep of our center. By giving a little each month, you become a part of a membership dedicated to preserving our building for the future. If you have not yet donated this year, please do so! If you need a reason to donate please read the rest of this report. Thank you!
Future Expenses
The extensive wet weather this year allowed water to permeate the window frames on bedrooms 2 & 3 and our small deck on the 2nd floor. Absolute Rot Repair Inc. completed the repairs in May and in the process, discovered that the shingles and under panel on the South side of our building should also be repaired withing the next 9 months. Due to the dramatic rise in costs for materials, we will need to obtain an estimate closer to the time that the work is scheduled.
Building Repairs Fund
We are looking for members who would be willing to contribute over and above their regular contributions so that we can both pay off our SPNW loan and build up savings for the next repair. iTrip bookings for the remainder of the year will be able to cover some of our costs, but we anticipate that we will need additional contributions from the members. Earmark these donations for the building fund.
Building Rentals
Though we had to block out 2 weeks for repairs, iTrip was able to booked 3 rentals in Spring Street Center during May.
Income of $4,989 for rentals from January through April was deposited into our checking account and helped reduce the amount we needed to draw on from SPNW to $6,000 of our $10,000 credit.
Due to continued limitations from the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been no Hall Rentals during the same period.
Donations
Donations through May were up over April. Thank You to those who contribute. We hope that members who have not donated previously will now consider joining those who do so already.
If you believe we can handle our expenses through member contributions, please consider this:
On average this year, donations have covered roughly one half of our expenses. The rest has been covered by our enterprise. Every dollar donated by a member is appreciated.
Important! New name for donation checks to Subud Greater Seattle
Use only “Subud PNW – Seattle Center” on any future donations to our center. Bank rules, recently changed, are delaying deposits. Please be sure to change the “Pay To The Order Of” section of your handwritten or automatic withdrawn check from your account and use this name. If you intend to make your donation to the Region, please earmark your check Subud PNW.
Thanks for those who have setup monthly donations
Thanks to all our monthly donators who have a recurring donation sent from their bank. You save on envelopes and stamps. And, you don’t have to remind yourselves to write a check. These regular checks really help us meet our monthly commitments to the region and pay for our use of our facilities.
If you’d like to know how to set up a recurring donation to our group through your bank, please contact me.
Currently SPNW income from groups is about $1100 monthly, while fixed expenses are $2200. We are falling short $1100 monthly. By June 1, we would be down to $100 in the operating fund, but the board just authorized a transfer from the general fund.
Sebastian Tedrow, Halstein Stralberg, Robert Westmoreland, Evan Padilla and Marston Gregory, May 18, 2021
The pandemic lockdown, now some 440 days in, at least had some good news for Subud Greater Seattle. We had an opening! Please meet Robert Westmoreland, who lives in Everett and was opened Sunday, May 16, 2021, after the regular Latihan. I asked him for a bio and he sent this!
I was born on March 27, 1956, in Gadsden, Alabama. Just before my 7th birthday, my family moved to Louisville, Kentucky, and that is what I consider my “home town”. I was very shy and bookish, and spent most of my time avoiding people (who generally make no sense to me) and reading books. I was raised a Southern Baptist, and at 10 or 11 years old I “made a confession of faith” and was baptized. About a year later, I realized I couldn’t honestly believe the religion I was taught and quit attending church. I have ever since been looking for some spiritual center of gravity for my life, with no real success.
In college, I majored first in Psychology, then switched to Linguistics. In the ’80s, I got a master’s degree in Applied Linguistics at the University of Hawaii, then got a job at the University of Louisville teaching English as a second language, which I did for about 8 years. In 1990, I scandalously married one of my students, a woman from Japan; in 2005, we were divorced. I am embarrassed to say that after 15 years of earnest struggle, I was not able to learn more than rudimentary Japanese.
During the ’90s, I studied at Indiana University for a PhD in Linguistics. Afterwards, for about a year I tried unsuccessfully to get an academic job in Linguistics, and eventually found a position with Microsoft working as a “linguistic tester” for the Office proofing tools. This is what brought me to Washington. While at Microsoft, I taught myself programming, and became a software tester. I worked there for about 14 years. During that time, I met my girlfriend Janet and we have been happily unmarried together ever since. I worked a few years at Starbucks as a software engineer, then about a year at Premera Blue Cross. I lost that job due to the Covid crisis, and decided to throw in the towel and retire. This should work so long as I am careful with my spending, the world economy doesn’t collapse, the government doesn’t up and cancel Social Security, and I don’t live much past 92.
So here I am. I read too much, listen to oddball music, like to cook (but nothing complicated), and volunteer a couple of days a month at a food bank.
Please introduce yourself when you next come to Latihan and welcome this Brother to our community.
At the last helpers’ meeting it was proposed that members of our group have a potluck in the park across the street from Spring Street Center on July 4th. Is this something you would enjoy? Please contact a helper to give feedback. Stay tuned for further details!
Upstairs deck resurfaced and no longer leaking!
Rooms 2 & 3 windows recaulked and repaired!
