Category Archives: SD Local

What is the Quest Center for Integrative Health?

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Community Nutrition Night at Quest
 For three decades the Quest Center’s holistically focused medical/wellness approach has been helping those in need in the Portland, Oregon area.

Throughout our Fall Fundraiser we are sharing stories about how some of the projects we support got started. Below you can read about how Lusijah Marx’s project was inspired by a receiving in 1989 at the Subud World Congress.

Lusijah Marx:

Quest Center for Integrative Health

At the 1989 Subud World Congress, Lusijah Marx received very clearly that she should focus her dissertation on persons living with HIV/AIDS. Although she’d had little prior interaction with that community, the receiving was clear, and it changed the course of her life.

Lucijah Marx

It was the 1980’s, a time when the AIDS epidemic was causing panic and fear in many places. No one fully understood this new and unknown virus. Some hospitals would not treat people with AIDS symptoms, and those that did often isolated patients and dressed staff in masks and gowns, adding to the terror. As word spread that most of those who mysteriously fell sick and died were gay men and IV drug users, healthy people tried to distance themselves by regarding AIDS as an illness facing “others.” It was these “others” that Lusijah’s receiving at World Congress prompted her to work with. 

Quest Center’s “Community Nutrition Night,” funded by a grant from Susila Dharma USA, offers weekly dinners that nurture, support and empower the community through shared meals and workshops. 30-35 men and women living below the federal poverty line attend each dinner and accompanying workshop.

For her dissertation research, Lusijah looked at the positive effects of guided imagery and hypnosis on HIV+ men. One participant in her study was a young man named Lucas Harris. Only 26 years old, Lucas had been diagnosed with AIDS and told he had only a short time left to live. He deeply felt his desperate situation and made the decision to live each remaining day as fully as he could. Lucas joined Subud, knowing that it was Lusijah’s spiritual path and the path of others whom he respected. 

One night, after a particularly emotional healing session, Lusijah had a powerful dream. In her dream, she and Lucas had created a healing center where marginalized people could receive care in a community-focused model. The healing center offered alternative treatments such as acupuncture, and addressed lifestyle patterns such as smoking, drugs, eating, sleeping, etc. The dream also showed her changes that she needed to make in her life to have a bigger heart, and changes that Lucas needed to make in his life. The next day, she was astounded to learn that Lucas had dreamed the same dream, even the parts about needing to make changes within themselves. 

Though neither of them felt that they had the practical skills required to create such a center—Lucas had worked as a hair stylist, and Lusijah, mother of four, as a nurse and clinician—both felt strongly that they should give their best efforts to make the dream a reality. They started every day with latihan and the intention to be open to anything that would help develop the healing center. It took around a year as they tried to follow what they received in latihan, which included finding a lawyer to help them apply for 501(c)(3) non-profit status. Although they made mistakes along the way, they kept learning, they persevered, and eventually they were able to make their dream a reality.

Lucas died in March of 1996, but Lusijah has continued to work at Quest Center for Integrative Health, which has grown and seen many successes over the decades. Today Quest is a thriving holistic health center providing traditional, complementary and alternative treatments, as well as support for dying peacefully and living fully. It now has 71 employees and three locations, and is highly regarded by the local medical community as well as the Portland, Oregon community at large. Quest Center is a testament to the power of the latihan and all that can come about when we truly follow our inner receiving. 

Click hereto learn more about Quest Center for Integrative Health.

 

Brothers and sisters, let us praise
And thank the One Almighty God,
For we have received His grace
Which has enabled us to worship Him.

(from Let Us Be Sincere, song at Lebaran in Bapak’s House, Cilandak, December 11, 1969)

School Supply Giveaway Day in Tijuana

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Imagine having to choose between sending your child to school and providing basic necessities for your family. Sadly, this is the reality for many parents at back-to-school season. Required school supplies and uniforms must be purchased in order for children to attend school. Families with multiple children are especially burdened by the financial demands that come with a new school year. 

Tijuana Family Outreach Project, founded and directed by Mikail Collins of Subud San Diego organizes monthly gatherings for financially struggling families that have no other community support or services. School Supply Giveaway Day has become one of their most highly attended events. At the annual gathering, gifts of backpacks filled with school supplies are presented, a meal is served, and bonds of friendship are strengthened among neighbors. Muchas gracias to Tijuana Family Outreach Project for organizing these monthly gatherings filled with camaraderie and caring, enabling families to receive much-needed charity while maintaining their dignity.

Susila Dharma USA board member Diego Salgado visited this year’s School Supply Giveaway Day and met many local families. Following are testimonies of gratitude from some of the parents in attendance:

“There are many kids who do not attend school because their parents don’t have the means of sending them to school. Even though there are public schools, the parents are still not able to provide for their kids. They’re not able to buy their kids a uniform or shoes. God has provided the sponsors with a magnificent and noble heart. Maybe for the sponsors this is just a simple event but for a lot of us parents and the kids this all comes as a blessing. It is a very big help.” (Griselda, mother of two)

“A pencil or a notebook helps tremendously as many times parents do not have money to buy their kids supplies. I have been in situations in the past where I was not able to buy my kids school supplies. I am currently studying law so this makes us be 3 students at home. So, a backpack is a big blessing. Not only on the physical level but also on an emotional and a spiritual level as well. As a single mother I feel very blessed for my kids to be a part of Casa Matita.” (Griselda, mother of two)

“Seeing the kids smile is the biggest satisfaction… People come from as far as Rosarito and Tecate to attend… Parents usually make a family outing of that one day a month they visit. They also receive donated clothes and shoes, which are laid out before them to take as needed.” (Alma, volunteer and mother of three)

“Casa Matita always offers us support and backpacks for the kids and with several events throughout the year. We have been here for the Day of the Child and for Christmas, where gifts are handed out and a nice meal is prepared. The gatherings are very heartfelt.” (Gladys, mother of three)”

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Beautiful Portland

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“Distributing food to our Portland neighbors is an act of peace. Hunger fosters fear and violence—nourishment calms and comforts. Though I cannot solve the economic or housing crises that are crushing the lower economic tiers of residents in Portland, I can become a conduit for love, comfort and abundance by being a part of a network of volunteers offering consistent nourishment.”

Jennifer Skyler received the first grant from the Melinda Wallis Memorial Fund to support her efforts to distribute hot food to the homeless in Portland, Oregon.

Hi Elizabeth, Marilyn & Aminah,

Here we are in downtown Portland, serving the beautiful roasted veggies & beans & rice made by Subud Sisters, and the take-away food provided by Elizabeth! I’m wearing a grey ski cap and behind me you can see the line beginning to extend around the block. It was in the freezing temperatures & the wind chill made it in the 20’s, but still, folks lined up!

Our Subud brother Vien has been consistently supplying us with warm blankets & clothes donated by Portland Subud members. It takes a Beautiful village. Thank you all for your loving support!

Jenny

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The Melinda Wallis Memorial Fund

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SD USA has set aside money—$1000 in the first year—available to fund grant proposals submitted by Subud USA members to engage in small local charitable efforts that address humanitarian issues and interests that are “within the meaning” of the 501c3 tax status of SD USA.

Melinda Wallis, who held Subud USA together for so many years and constantly helped others both within Subud and in the broader community throughout her life.

Projects can address humanitarian, educational, environmental, or scientific goals. (If you are unsure whether your project is elegible, don’t be shy, ask us.)
The grants will be quite small, up to $500 each, and are available for one year only, not renewable for at least one year after the initial year.

To apply, submit a brief project proposal. Grant proposals will be reviewed by the SD USA Board on a first come, first served basis, so act now! Here is a link to the application form.

Who can apply? Individual Subud members, groups of several Subud members, or a local Subud center Center. (We encourage applicants to work collaboratively on proposals.) These proposals would then be reviewed and grants would be awarded by the Board of Directors of SD USA as they come in. These grants are not tied to the regular granting cycle of SD USA and the criteria for granting is less stringent than those we use for larger grants. We want these projects to succeed! So, if there seem to be problems in the application, we will try to work with the applicant(s).

Kids can apply, too! Members of the Subud community of any age can submit proposals, but those under age 16 should under the mentorship of a local adult Subud member.

Proposals should be submitted between March 1 – Dec. 31 of any given year. A brief progress report will be required from the recipient(s) at the end of the year.

Click here for the application form.

NB: If you have difficulty downloading this form through your browser, try right-clicking on the link (Windows), or Control-Click (Mac). Then select, “Download this Link.”

Contribute to the Melinda Wallis Memorial Fund

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