SD USA received $5,950 in donations for the Portland Match. This plus Portland’s $5,000 match gives us a total of $10,950 toward our 2023 grants. Thank you for your support!

Great News from Anisha

Wonderful article from the Better India magazine about Anisha, one of our oldest SD projects. The headline reads:

“Couple Transforms Drought-Hit District by Helping 400 Farmers Go Organic.”

Click HERE to read the full article.

Farewell to our former SD USA chair

Thank You Dear Evan:

It is with sadness and respect for a life well lived that we bid farewell to our beloved friend, brother and SDIA Chair, Evan Padilla (December 3, 1947 to August 13th, 2022).

Evan was chairperson of SD USA for five years. He filled this job with positive energy, strength and love. His successor, Aminah Herrman shared,

“He saw something in me that I didn’t understand about my capabilities. SD work was the best Subud job I ever had and I’ve had them all?”

Evan’s work in SD continues on now through our current chairperson, Fauziyah Ishak. She learned through Aminah who learned through Evan.

Evan we miss you but you left your light, and your heartfelt belief that we can accomplish more than we think we can. God bless you on your new path.

Click HERE to see a video of Evan at the SDIA gathering at Amanecer, Colombia on July 2022.

The Portland match is on!  Double the power of your gift.  Through August 15, your donations will be matched up to $5,000.

What Does It Take to Make a Subud Portland Matching Fund for SD USA?
By Marilyn Schirk

It takes a team of dedicated Susila Dharma volunteers who are willing to sustain a prolonged effort to build an annual fund-raising tradition at their Subud Center for Susila Dharma USA. It takes a big-hearted generous cohort of far-sighted Subud members at the Center who understand the importance of the work done by Susila Dharma. It takes the work of many of our members to support events such as this year’s Book Sale for SD USA, last year’s Quarantine Cuisine cookbook, silent auctions, post-latihan refreshments, potluck dinners, etc., to build the seed money for the Match.

Most of all it takes the membership of all of Subud USA to answer the call to make donations for the Matching Fund every year. It is a constant source of joy and fulfillment for all of us who participate in any phase of the Match to keep Bapak’s vision alive for Susila Dharma.

Please consider joining into Subud’s own unique humanitarian effort by continuing your ongoing support for our Match or by becoming a new donor to the Portland Matching Fund this year.

Deepest thanks from all of us here in Portland, OR.

News from Sequoia Community Center

In 2021 Sulfiati Harris has received the “Tulare County Woman of the Year” award for her work creating the Sequoia Community Center. The work of this center continues to improve the lives of those living in this area of California by offering:

• Classes in the studio (that your SD donations helped to build)
• Safety Team meeting with the Fire Chief
• Tea time afternoon gatherings to chat and catch up
• Monthly Bookmobile visits

And more ……….

The SD USA annual report is now available

Please take a few minutes to review the humanitarian work that your donations support. You can read the report here.

SD USA has supported Anisha since 1999 when it was just an idea that teaching children how to grow organic and healthy foods in kitchen gardens would improve the lives of struggling and landless families.

With the help of Subud USA members and the Guru Krupa Foundation this dream has become a reality. Details below in a letter from founder and director Valli.

“Finally, we successfully met the district education officer Deputy Director of Public Instruction today and handed over our Kitchen Garden (KG) manual.

The Education Department called Anisha for implementing KG in the schools of our district and also requested our KG manual to distribute to all schools each school one manual, so 750 manuals given to the education department. And requested us to conduct KG training for science teachers in June 2022 for our district teachers, which we accepted and yet to finalize the date.

We were waiting for this call and it happened today. We are very happy to inform you of this the good news.

Regards,
Valli
For Anisha”

To learn more about Anisha visit susiladharmausa.org/anisha/

Update from A Child’s Garden of Peace

Did you know that a view of trees outside a school window has been shown to increase academic achievement and improve child health outcomes of low income children? Illene Pevec, founder and director of A Child’s Garden of Peace, knew this and decided to do something about it. In February 2022 SD USA granted $800.00 to help plant trees around area schools where trees are needed. Below is a report from Illene.

“We planted 9 trees on Arbor Day at Crystal River Elementary. The SD funding and donations from senior citizens funded 5 trees and Aspen Tree Company funded 4 and planted all of them. They are big trees that took a backhoe to unload them and put them in the place.”

SD USA donations and ICDP (International Child Development Program)

ICDP in Ukraine:

Thanks to your donations to the Ukrainian Relief fund SD USA was able to send $2,000 to support ICDP trainers in Ukraine who continue their work under very difficult situations. Some of the facilitators had to escape the destruction of their hometowns and found refuge in other cities. Some conduct classes with children in a bomb shelter (the bomb shelter is in the subway).

The emotional help this program provides will have lasting effects as they recover from the trauma this war has caused.

To learn more about ICDP please open the attached annual report.

Zakat Report

Donations of $7,190 have been distributed to 8 SD projects. Thank you for your donations have arisen from the sincerity of your fast.

“Indeed, generosity and charity go hand-in-hand with the worship of God. Why is that? It is because the fruit that comes from human beings worshiping God is generosity.”                                                                                                 Bapak Muhammad Subuh (63 WAS 2)

We pray that everyone observing the Ramadan fast receives God’s grace and blessings. For those wishing to give Zakat* donations this year will be split between Anisah Center in Malaysia and Beautiful Portland in the USA.

Anisah Center

Anisah Center provides free education for the Rohingya refugees in Northern Malaysia who are not permitted to attend public school. The school was founded by Subud member Nadya Holland who was touched by the plight of these children who arrive traumatized after fleeing genocide.

Besides providing an education, the school offers a safe place where students learn and heal from the events they have witnessed. The school supports 25 students, but more are waiting to attend. Your donations will allow more children to receive the education that is so important for their lives.

With the end of Ramadan the school provides extra food to the families it serves. To learn more about this project, please visit www.subudwinstonsalem.org/anisah.

Beautiful Portland

Beautiful Portland was founded by Jennifer Skyler in 2018. Currently the project distributes approximately 1,000 pounds of food a week to families experiencing food insecurity, the elderly, the disabled and houseless individuals.

Around 400 people are impacted by this outreach. Your donations will be used to sustain the work they are doing and also help support an urban neighborhood model of “Gleaming Growing & Giving,” a prototype to begin to empower urban neighborhoods to become more food self-sufficient.

*Zakat is a charitable donation traditionally given at the end of Ramadan. Unlike regular donations to SD USA during the rest of the year (disbursed annually as grants to projects), zakat donations are passed on immediately to the projects. As always, if you wish to earmark your zakat donation for a different project indicate your preference with your payment.

Editor’s note: Our last newsletter incorrectly spelled the last name of Melinda Wallis. The correct spelling is Wallis.