By BGR Staff
On October 2 and October 30, members of the worldwide Buddhist Global Relief community joined BGR founder Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi and the BGR staff for two “Buddhist Action to Feed the Hungry” online gatherings.
Since the earliest days of BGR, our main fundraiser has been our annual Walks to Feed the Hungry. Supporters in ten cities in the U.S. and in the U.K., Uganda, and India joined us for these beautiful events. When safety precautions related to the Covid pandemic last year prevented us from holding all but one of our Walks, we hosted instead a series of online “gatherings.” These gatherings proved to be a wonderful opportunity for American Buddhists and friends of Buddhism everywhere to come together in the Dharma and mobilize to take compassionate action to combat chronic hunger and malnutrition.
This year, we hosted two online gatherings for all of our BGR community members. Once again, one in-person Walk to Feed the Hungry was held on October 2, in Collinsville, Connecticut, led by Ven. Shim Bo Sunim. People from around the globe attended these online events for inspiring Dharma talks, moving stories from BGR’s partner organizations, and celebration of the generosity that brings us together.
Our Pacific/Mountain gathering, held on October 2, featured talks by Ven. Thubten Chodron, abbess of Sravasti Abbey in Washington State; Abbot Hozan Senauke from the Berkeley Zen Center; Rev. Jin Chuan from the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery; Rev. Kiyonobu Kuwahara from the Berkeley Buddhist Temple; Ayya Dhammadipa, founder of the Dassanāya Buddhist Community; and Ven. Lekshe Tsomo from Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women and the Jamyang Foundation.
Our Eastern/Central gathering, held on October 30, featured talks by Roshi Joan Hoeberichts, of Heart Circle Sangha, Ridgewood, N.J.; Ven. Khenmo Drolma, of Vajra Dakini Nunnery in Falmouth, Maine; Ven. Myokei Shonin, of Myoken-Ji Temple, Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of Houston, Texas; Rev. Greg Snyder, of Union Theological Seminary in New York; and Rev. Doyeon Park, of the Manhattan Won Buddhist Center, also representing the Buddhist Council of New York. Ven. Lekshe Tsomo joined us again to give a presentation on her project at the Visakha Girls’ School in Bangladesh.
We thank all who contributed to our 2021 Buddhist Action to Feed the Hungry event season. We are grateful to the many supporters who joined us for the gatherings; to the individuals and groups who created peer-to-peer fundraisers; to the teachers and speakers who inspired us with their words about “compassion in action;” to the sanghas and Buddhist organizations that joined us as Participating Sanghas; and to all who have supported our work through this fall fundraising season. Your generosity has provided a helping hand to thousands of people in need around the world. We could not do this work without you.
