About Sanghata
The Sanghata Board of Directors serve as stewards helping the community provide the basic needs – the requisites – of the monastics living at the Pacific Hermitage. This support allows the monastics to live in accordance with the Vinaya (Buddhist monastic code) and to teach the Buddha Dhamma in the Pacific Northwest. The requisites include: food, clothing, shelter, and medicine.
Sanghata receives and holds monetary donations given to the Pacific Hermitage; pays bills, and provides requisites as needed by the monastics. We ensure that financial transactions are carried out legally, fairly, and in consultation with the monastics. We welcome inquiries from the community about the Sanghata organization, our finances, the requisites for the monastics, and the role of stewards.
Board Members
- Scott Benge
- Chair
- scott@benge.com
- Scott is a retired business owner. He became a Buddhist practitioner in 2002 and has been inspired by the Theravadan monastic tradition. Scott has served on several for-profit and non-profit boards over the years. He resides with his wife Joan in Lake Oswego, Oregon.
- Mimi Maduro
- Vice-Chair
- mimi@gorge.net
- Mimi Maduro visited the Thai monasteries of Ajahn Chah in 1987 and has been a Buddhist practitioner since that time. Mimi lives in Mosier. She joined the Sanghata Board in January 2011.
- Carole Melkonian
- Secretary
- carolemel@gmail.com
- Carole began practicing Buddhism in 1980; first living at a Zen monastery for four years, then studying closely with Thich Nhat Hanh. Since 1986, she has been studying in the Theravada tradition, meeting the monks of Abhayagiri in 1994. She has been serving as secretary for the Sanghata Board since it began.
- Dave Forslund
- Treasurer
- pgardener@clear.net
- Dave encountered Buddhism in 2000 and was inspired by its knowledge of the human experience. He has been practicing in the Theravada tradition since 2004. Dave has served on the board at Portland Friends of the Dhamma and with Sanghata since its inception. He currently resides in Portland.
- Kathy Kacena
- Director
- kacena@gorge.net
- Kathy is the owner of Yoga Samadhi in White Salmon and has been teaching yoga for 14 years. She became interested in Buddhism during a meditation retreat in 2005 and has been practicing in the Theravada tradition since then. She joined the board in the fall of 2012.