Inside Dharma NEWs

July, 2010

Insider Art at Subterranean Books!

 Inside Dharma's fundraising arm, Insider Art, will be hosting an exhibit and sale of art created by current inmates. The free opening reception will be Friday, July 30 from 7-9pm, at Subterranean. Books, 6275 Delmar Boulevard in University City. Hats off to Carol and Will for all of their work to produce this event, and kudos to all of the contributing artists. The exhibit will conclude Sunday, September 26 at 6:00pm. All proceeds will benefit Inside Dharma.

November, 2009

Insider Art a Success!

On Saturday, November 14, Inside Dharma hosted the fourth annual Insider Art event, a fundraising sale and auction that features paintings, photos, sketches, sculptures and other art objects created by incarcerated men and women from Missouri and beyond.

The eventr was well attended, and it featured live music by Native American flutist Lura Koch and a theater performance by almuni of Prison Performing Arts.

Proceeds from the event will pay for dress-out clothing, books, practice supplies, the Inside Dharma newsletter and much more. Our thanks to the volunteers who made the event possible, and to all of the contributing artists.

Visit the Insider Art Web Site HERE



July, 2009

Inside Dharma’s most recent and most exciting project has been Start Here, which was conceived by Kalen and then executed very ably by several individuals, foremost among them Carol Corey, who gathered a plethora of information, designed and laid out a beautiful publication and even set up a web site to provide resource information to the entire prison outreach community. This information includes phone numbers and other access to shelters, housing, food banks, soup kitchens, employment assistance and many other vital resources for those returning to the community.

Visit the online version of this resource at StartHereSTL.org

June, 2009

On June 5, 2009 Inside Dharma held its first ever Friends and Donors Dinner, an event designed to acknowledge the important roles that supporters have had in the success of Inside Dharma since its inception.

 
Our supporters come from many different areas, interests and walks of life, and it was wonderful to gather them together to meet each other, to discuss Inside Dharma’s purpose and activities, and to celebrate the development of the organization.

Gathering in the evening at a conference room at Maryville University in St. Louis, attendees were treated to a catered dinner, dharma talk and slide show of Inside Dharma accomplishments.

Kalen addressed the assembly of about thirty supporters, sharing a history of Inside Dharma’s beginnings and future, and board member Victoria Fortner spoke to the importance of the work we do. Shoshin shared the many success stories and current activities of Inside Dharma, with a set of slides and graphs to illustrate our work.

 The evening also included special awards for long-standing, pivotal supporters without whom Inside Dharma may never have progressed past the idea stage. The special awardees were presented with bird houses made and painted by hand by members of our sangha at NECC at Bowling Green. These gifts were received warmly, and there were many oohs and aahs in appreciation of the artistry of the birdhouses.

 Following the dinner and presentations, friends and donors lingered and socialized for quite a while.

 The Board of Directors of Inside Dharma agreed afterwards that the Friends and Donors Dinner achieved its several purposes, including:

•  Building a sense of community and common purpose among our supporters.
• Articulating the history and success of Inside Dharma in a way that attendees could share with others and encourage wider support.
• Acknowledging the generosity of the many people who have worked so hard on behalf of Inside Dharma’s mission.

 Given the success of the event, there will certainly be discussion of making this a more regular occurrence. In the meantime, count on Inside Dharma to continue to focus on bringing the Dharma to correctional institutions and engaging in Buddhist action on the form of spiritual and material support to those incarcerated and recently released individuals who strive to walk “The Middle Way.”

March, 2009

On March 14, 2009 our own Rev. Kalen McAllister received the 2009 Engaged Buddhism Award from the Buddhist Women’s Conference.

Kalen was selected from among many, many activists nominated, and she was recognized at the fourth annual Buddhist Women’s Conference at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. Kalen was invited to address the conference, and she  received a $1000 award to further support the work of Inside Dharma.

 Here is an excerpt from one of the nominations:

" Kalen’s Buddhist practice is selfless compassion in action. In building…and running Inside Dharma, Kalen has always led by example and demonstrated her beliefs instead of just talking about them…

 Kalen has made countless long trips to prisons all over the state of Missouri and parts of Illinois to help start, maintain and instruct Buddhist practice groups where once there were none. Kalen leads a remarkably spartan existence, directing all of her energy and resources to those in need. Kalen visits clothing vendors when they are liquidating inventory so that prisoners will have “dress-out” clothing when they are released. She has met released prisoners at the bus station with clothing and sandwiches when they arrived empty handed in St. Louis with no friends or family to support them. 

A fierce believer in the potential Buddha in all beings, Kalen reaches out to convicted sex offenders, murderers, thieves and drug addicts and treats them as beings worthy of compassion. With boundless generosity and concern, Kalen gets to know offenders who ask for help, and she keeps in touch with them after they are released, sometimes checking on them just to see how they are doing, and often connecting them with employment and housing opportunities that they might never have found on their own.

 In addition to engaging on an individual level, Kalen has made herself known to the chaplains of Missouri’s correctional institutions and to the Department of Corrections, and she was instrumental in winning the right for Buddhist prisoners to conduct group services and activities in Missouri’s prisons. In this way I believe that she has played an historic role in the spread of the Dharma in Missouri…"

Contact us

Inside Dharma, PO Box 220721, Kirkwood, MO 63122

Kalen, Executive Director: kalen@insidedharma.org
Shoshin, Editor/Webmaster: shoshin@insidedharma.org