Ordination Retreat for Lona Kovacs
Donation protected
PLEASE HELP Lona Kovacs to attend her Ordination retreat at Akashavana in Spain in Spring 2022
Fundraising goal: $6,000
It is with great joy that we announce Lona’s invitation to attend the 2022 three-month Ordination Retreat at Akashavana Retreat Center in the mountains of Spain. This retreat will mark her joining the Triratna Buddhist Order.
However, Lona simply cannot afford to attend this remarkable and life-changing retreat without our help.
The cost of the retreat itself is approximately $4,700 (approx. 12 weeks), and the travel expenses will be approximately $1,300.
So we need to raise $6,000.
WHY Lona needs these funds for this retreat:
Lona was recently diagnosed with severe osteoarthritis, which led to a total hip replacement in May 2021. After twelve weeks of recovery, she has slowly returned to her various jobs. These include her plant design business, her line of homemade herbal remedies, fine gardening, teaching yoga, and being a retreat chef at the Aryaloka Buddhist Center; none of which provides any income while she is away.
Earlier this year Lona and friends fundraised for the hip replacement, which enabled her to meet the $8,000 deductible. She remains very grateful to friends and family for that support! Unfortunately, with medical bills and being out of work for so long, she does not have any savings or income to cover her expenses for the retreat.
WHY support Lona
Lona finds deep meaning in serving her community. She has pursued other career paths in the past but has always come back to putting her energy into service to others: work that she loves and is skilled at, but which is not highly paid. This ordination retreat will allow her to gather herself for the next phase of her life and then continue to be of service to the communities she belongs to.
About Lona:
Lona lives in Maine (USA) with her husband Suddhayu, an Order Member in Triratna. During the last two decades has focused on building Right-Livelihood projects that serve her community. She taught yoga in Dover, NH for 15 years, owning her own studio for six of those years. With Suddhayu, she stewarded a farm/CSA (community supported agriculture) offering organically grown vegetables, herbs, and cut flowers for seven years. She also waitressed at farm-to-table restaurants. Connections she made there led her to start her own business focusing on plant container design and installation for small businesses in the Seacoast area.
Presently, she continues to run her plant business while also working part-time as a fine gardener with an organic landscape company. This past fall, she relaunched her herbal medicine line, called Witch's Dream Botanicals, with great success at a local craft fair.
Thank you so much for considering this appeal on behalf of dear Lona - and please do give if you can!
Padmadharini, Sunada, Viriyalila and Viriyagita
(We are a team of 4 Order Members who have supported Lona through this process.)
AND FROM LONA HERSELF - Thank you so much for considering a donation!
My ordination invitation letter arrived in November 2021, during the full moon and longest lunar eclipse in 500 years! I do feel this is of auspicious significance!
As my kind friends launch this fundraiser on the Full Moon right before the Winter Solstice, may this light result in great prosperity and generosity!
With huge thanks to all of you. Lona x
Fundraising goal: $6,000
It is with great joy that we announce Lona’s invitation to attend the 2022 three-month Ordination Retreat at Akashavana Retreat Center in the mountains of Spain. This retreat will mark her joining the Triratna Buddhist Order.
However, Lona simply cannot afford to attend this remarkable and life-changing retreat without our help.
The cost of the retreat itself is approximately $4,700 (approx. 12 weeks), and the travel expenses will be approximately $1,300.
So we need to raise $6,000.
WHY Lona needs these funds for this retreat:
Lona was recently diagnosed with severe osteoarthritis, which led to a total hip replacement in May 2021. After twelve weeks of recovery, she has slowly returned to her various jobs. These include her plant design business, her line of homemade herbal remedies, fine gardening, teaching yoga, and being a retreat chef at the Aryaloka Buddhist Center; none of which provides any income while she is away.
Earlier this year Lona and friends fundraised for the hip replacement, which enabled her to meet the $8,000 deductible. She remains very grateful to friends and family for that support! Unfortunately, with medical bills and being out of work for so long, she does not have any savings or income to cover her expenses for the retreat.
WHY support Lona
Lona finds deep meaning in serving her community. She has pursued other career paths in the past but has always come back to putting her energy into service to others: work that she loves and is skilled at, but which is not highly paid. This ordination retreat will allow her to gather herself for the next phase of her life and then continue to be of service to the communities she belongs to.
About Lona:
Lona lives in Maine (USA) with her husband Suddhayu, an Order Member in Triratna. During the last two decades has focused on building Right-Livelihood projects that serve her community. She taught yoga in Dover, NH for 15 years, owning her own studio for six of those years. With Suddhayu, she stewarded a farm/CSA (community supported agriculture) offering organically grown vegetables, herbs, and cut flowers for seven years. She also waitressed at farm-to-table restaurants. Connections she made there led her to start her own business focusing on plant container design and installation for small businesses in the Seacoast area.
Presently, she continues to run her plant business while also working part-time as a fine gardener with an organic landscape company. This past fall, she relaunched her herbal medicine line, called Witch's Dream Botanicals, with great success at a local craft fair.
Thank you so much for considering this appeal on behalf of dear Lona - and please do give if you can!
Padmadharini, Sunada, Viriyalila and Viriyagita
(We are a team of 4 Order Members who have supported Lona through this process.)
AND FROM LONA HERSELF - Thank you so much for considering a donation!
My ordination invitation letter arrived in November 2021, during the full moon and longest lunar eclipse in 500 years! I do feel this is of auspicious significance!
As my kind friends launch this fundraiser on the Full Moon right before the Winter Solstice, may this light result in great prosperity and generosity!
With huge thanks to all of you. Lona x
Co-organizers (2)
Lona Kovacs
Organizer
Kittery Point, ME
Viriyalila Michelle Racine
Co-organizer