Support My Labyrinth Vision for Pomona

My Labyrinth Journey

In the year 2000 I walked my first Labyrinth at the dA Center for the Arts in Pomona. Between 2000 and 2022 I walked a half of dozen Labyrinths, but it was in grad school when my relationship with Labyrinths busted open after walking the two Labyrinths at Pacifica Graduate Institute.

I learned about a global Labyrinth movement called Veriditas that was started in the mid 1990s by the Rev Dr Lauren Artress. The temporary Labyrinth at the dA had been offered by a Veriditas-trained Labyrinth facilitator, in fact.

After returning home from a school Residential in Fall of 2022 I learned about a Labyrinth that was at St Paul's Episcopal Church. I have spent the next two and a half years walking it as often as I can, amounting to over 250 walks. Most of these walks have been alone but some I have facilitated for the community.

In the Spring of 2024 I was able to complete my very first Veriditas Labyrinth training thanks to a scholarship offered by the organization. The training helped me to get a better sense of the Labyrinth in my life, seeing it for a massive tool for personal, community, and global transformation. I decided to dedicate my work to the Labyrinth, delving into all aspects of the 5000+ year tradition.

In August of 2024 while going through my mom's papers, I came upon an incredible find that gave me the biggest blessing from my mom who had been dead since September of 2010. I found a news clipping from 2008 about a Labyrinth being built at Tri-City Mental Health Center in Pomona. It was unbelievable that my mom would have had this paper--and she had never mentioned it to me! In 2008, I was an awkward and angst-ridden 27 year old, being the primary caregiver of my disabled parents in Upland. I was depressed, angry, and had no idea what I was doing with my life. Fast forward to 2024. I was living in Pomona with my wife. My parents had been dead since 2010 (my mom) and 2013 (my dad) and I had spent my 30s trying to work through grief and make something better of my life. In the spring of 2024, I had begun receiving therapy at Tri-City after the COVID deaths of many of my cats and a friend unalived herself. Part of my therapy involved the Tri-City Therapeutic Community Garden. I wanted to walk their Labyrinth when it reopened.

At the time my mom made the clipping, I wouldn't have even been able to receive treatment at Tri-City because one has to be living in Claremont, La Verne, or Pomona. I don't remember her even mentioning the article to me--which leads me to believe that she had set it aside for me to find when I really needed it. Which is what I ended up doing.

My mom gave me her blessing about my Labyrinth work. A Synchronicity that is next level, even compared to the synchronicities that I am used to living in my day-to-day life!

My Labyrinth Business

I am looking to bring my experience with the Labyrinth to a new level--as a professional business. There are two pieces to my GoFundMe:

(I still want this but am looking to get this in Fall of 2025. My focus is on $660 for room and board at the Summer School.). 1. A Portable Labyrinth - $2299.00

Having a portable Labyrinth would allow me to bring my Labyrinth wherever I go. I take part in a lot of different events in Pomona, such as the Children's Festival, the Farmers Market, Pomona Pull-Ups, the 2nd Saturday Art Walk, and different spaces (Lopez Urban Farm, Growing Roots Garden, the Latino and Latina Roundtable, Tri-City Mental Health Center and Wellness Center, the Pomona Chamber of Commerce) but with a portable Labyrinth I can have an offering for community members. I would love to offer my Labyrinth at schools and other local events. Having my own portable Labyrinth would be a game changer.

Achieved! <s>2. Labyrinth Summer School - $1665.00</s> (plus additional hotel stay for 7 days - $110 a day)

<s>This year's Labyrinth Summer School in Burlingame CA! And it is over my mom's birthday!! July 24th - July 29th. My mom's birthday is July 29th. This feels like a circular moment back to the clipping that my mom saved for me nearly twenty years ago. This in person event would let me meet other Labyrinth facilitators in person (my class last year was virtual) and receive advanced Labyrinth training. I need to be there. This training could give me more tools to better serve my community.</s>

2A. $660 for room and board during Summer School (actively fundraising for).

<s>My asking is for $5500. This covers the cost of the vinyl Labyrinth, the Summer School, the hotel, and any additional fees.</s>

My asking is for $660 to cover the room and board at Summer School.

This is a part of my vocation, my calling. You are not just helping me, you are also helping everyone in my community. There are seven Labyrinths in an 11 mile radius and the only Veriditas-Trained Labyrinth Facilitator in the area is me. I can be a better bridge and steward of the Pomona Valley Labyrinths with my very own portable and vinyl Labyrinth for community demonstrations and the advanced Labyrinth training. All of the work that I am doing is so I can pour it back into my community by helping the people of the Pomona Valley get better in touch with their innate desires, vocations, and creativity.