BGR recently donated funds for two ventilators to the Mahabodhi Maitri Mandala hospital in Bengaluru, India. Additionally, BGR provided $16,000 in other kinds of financial assistance to organizations in India and Sri Lanka delivering aid to people afflicted by the virus.
On Memorial Day weekend Buddhist Global Relief held its first ever online retreat, conducted to support BGR’s poverty relief and education work around the world. Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi guided the retreat along with new BGR Board members Ayyā Dhammadīpā of Āloka Vihāra in Placerville, California, and Rev. Jin-Chuan Shi of Berkeley Buddhist Monastery. The retreat was well attended, with 160–180 people from around the world joining live on Zoom and others catching up with the recordings of the sessions on the BGR YouTube Channel.
Please consider designating BGR as a beneficiary for a portion of a fund, trust, or life insurance policy. Legacies through future gifts will benefit the needy long into the future. We expect BGR to continue to thrive, and the gift you give by naming us as a beneficiary will directly benefit hungry people, give poor girls the chance to attend school, and enable women to start right livelihood projects to support their families.
On February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s forward momentum towards becoming an open and free democracy was brought to a crashing halt. Under the false pretext of fraudulent elections, the military arrested political leaders such as Aung San Suu Kyi, and took over the government. In a flash, the country was returned to the dark and repressive days of military juntas past.
In an interview on Democracy Now!, Ricardo Salvador, director of the Food and Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, raises the question: Why, when the planet is producing more than enough food to feed everyone, do millions still face chronic hunger and starvation?
Buddhist Global Relief is happy to inform the readers of our newsletter that we have recently added two new members to our Board of Management. One is Bhikkhuni Dhammadīpā, a nun at Aloka Vihara, in Placerville, California. The other is Bhikshu Jin Chuan, a monk at the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery. Here are brief bio-notes on these two additions to our Board.
On December 6, BGR’s new European partner, Mitgefühl in Aktion, held its first online international gathering. Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi was invited to be the keynote speaker. What follows is an edited version of his presentation.
Before the pandemic began, there were about 135 million people in the world who faced crisis levels of hunger. According to a report by the UN World Food Programme’s executive director, David Beasley, that number will double over the next year, to some 270 million who will be “marching towards the brink of starvation.”
This year, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented Buddhist Global Relief from holding most of our Walks to Feed the Hungry. In place of the walks, BGR launched a network of online events to mobilize Buddhists and friends of Buddhism everywhere, in the U.S. and abroad, to join us in taking compassionate action to combat chronic hunger and malnutrition.
On December 6, BGR’s European sister organization, Mitgefühl in Aktion, conducted an online event that featured BGR team members and project partners as guest speakers.
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