Members of the IMSB community have volunteered to serve in many wonderful ways. A new service opportunity is now in development: a Care Team that will tend to the needs of our own sangha members. The Team will consist of volunteers willing to provide care to their sangha peers who need practical support—be it a ride to the doctor’s office, a home visit when someone is sick or recovering from surgery, or other simple tasks.

How It Works

Providing Care
Any sangha member can volunteer for the Care Team. Simply fill out a Care Team Volunteer Registration Form available on the information table at the weekly Tuesday night sits. The form gives volunteers an opportunity to state how they might best be of service. Options on the form include activities such as giving car rides, cooking, walking a dog, buying groceries, or simply providing companionship. A member of the Care Committee will enter the volunteer’s data from the form into our database, which will facilitate matching volunteers with a sangha member in need. Volunteers who provide transportation services are asked to submit a copy of their driver’s license and auto insurance policy, which must be current and valid.

In the near future, IMSB intends to offer a day of training to all volunteers. Training will include application of Buddhist teachings, exploring the cultivation of compassion through service, and an examination of the trainee’s own relationship to caring, suffering, and service.

Requesting Care
Any sangha member can request short-term or emergency services by directly contacting the Care Committee. Contact can be made by placing a written request (with name and telephone number) in the Metta box, or by contacting email to Care Committee.

When a request for such care is received, a Care Committee member will work with the person in need to explore the best way to help. If the need is uncomplicated, the Committee member may informally arrange to have it taken care of through volunteers. If the need is complex, the Committee member will work with the person in need to set up a calendar for requested services on the website, lotsahelpinghands.com. The Care Committee Coordinator will invite volunteers with skills that match to sign up for a particular service. The volunteer will then contact the person in need to arrange the best way to provide the requested service.

Who Can Ask for Care
If you can answer “yes” to any of the following questions and consider yourself an IMSB member, you are eligible for assistance from the Care Committee:

• Do you come to sits regularly?
• Do you attend Events at IMSB?
• Do you volunteer at IMSB?
• Have you participated in any of the classes or retreats given by the teachers of IMSB?

IMSB policy is that the person in need should be the one who makes the request for help. If another sangha member senses that the Care Committee might be helpful in a certain situation, that sangha member should urge the person in need to directly request help from the Committee. In this way, we hope to maintain and respect any member’s desire for privacy

Care Committee Mission
Care Team Volunteer Registration Form