Sacred Drive

Fueling the Spirit of Change

Campaign Ended

Organized by Buddhist Peace Fellowship

$18,940

106 Supporters

54% of $35,000 goal

Jacoby Ballard

Fundraiser since Nov 2024

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$1,000

1 supporter

40% of $2,500 goal

Jacoby Ballard's Story

My crush on BPF started in 2017 with the Block Build Be retreat. Some friends that I now hold dear I met there. We had conversations I had longed for, and the diverse team of facilitators skillfully met the group through hiccoughs and openings. I acquired my first tarot deck after working with Slow Hollar at that retreat. We sat in silence each morning in an old barn. We laughed hard, and practiced disability justice, which was much less engrained 7 years ago than it is now. The Buddhist Peace Fellowship is both a spiritual and political home for me, and it has been around for 45 years, with so many important Buddhist teachers involved at different moments. I have served on the Board for 2 years now, and been part of BPF circles since 2017. It feels important and grounding in this political moment to have community with cutting edge analysis and soft, tender hearts. BPF always meets the political moment with spiritual depth, from sending a delegation to Standing Rock to "U Mad?!" following the 2016 election, to presenting the current course on grief following the second victory of Donald Trump. BPF has relationships with the teachers that I turn to: Kiara Jewel Lingo, Lama Rod Owens, Norma Wong. When I joined the board two years ago, I was struck by the efficiency of the internal process, and the commitment to change from inside the organization, outwards. I joined in a moment when we only had one staff and the board was transitioning from a working board to a governance board. Now we have a powerful staff/co-director team that are politically tuned into our social justice movements and spiritually grounded in practice. Which is to say, BPF does the work on all fronts: what is visible and what happens behind closed doors, and that is meaningful to me. I want to invite you to donate to BPF this season, to bolster the spiritual grounding of our movements at a delicate moment. BPF has 45 years of experience showing up for the political moment, and now is the time to show up for BPF.

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