Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve.<\/em><\/p>\n
You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.<\/em><\/p>\n
You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.<\/em><\/p>\n
Martin Luther King Jr.<\/p>\n
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I look at service and the consciousness of serving as being the highest one on the planet that we can see.\u00a0 Someone truly serving another human being with loving, is a joy to behold.<\/em><\/p>\n
John-Roger, DSS<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Being the member of the MSIA presidency most closely involved with Heartfelt over the past several decades, Paul Kaye made the decision to transition HeartFelt\/HeartReach to be fully volunteer run.\u00a0 This means Skyler Patton’s staff position at Heartfelt will be phased out by April 30th.\u00a0 Until then Skyler will be performing her usual role, while also\u00a0working closely with\u00a0Jeffrey Morgan and Paul\u00a0to transition the current activities she supports in HeartFelt into a volunteer-led model.<\/p>\n
As you all know and have experienced, Skyler has done a tremendous job of building Heartfelt. Among many of her skills she has introduced new and innovative programs that have served the MSIA communities throughout the world and assisted individuals\u2019 transition through some very tough times. Her intelligence, calmness, and loving and bubbly manner will be greatly missed by us all. However, she is leaving a very solid foundation on which we can expand, and we are very grateful for her service and dedication.<\/p>\n
We have received numerous emails about how sad people are that Skyler is leaving. Please don’t write to us about how sad you are. We get it. And it’s time to move on. This next phase of Heartfelt is going to require a group cooperative effort requiring MSIA ministers and volunteers to step forward and step up.\u00a0 We have also received many emails and texts of support and enthusiastic offers to get involved.\u00a0 Those have been really appreciated.\u00a0 We would like each ministerial board throughout the world\u00a0to\u00a0have an additional member whose sole role will be Heartfelt related. They will be interacting directly with their\u00a0local\u00a0MSIA\u00a0community, checking in on the elderly members\u00a0to make sure that their basic needs are being met, including\u00a0ensuring\u00a0they are able to\u00a0access their MSIA study materials, fill out their ministerial renewals, and attend\u00a0ministers meetings and John Morton events, online.<\/p>\n
We will be continuing to provide support and host the Heartfelt events you all know and love as well as continue with staples such as Circle of Light and the Heartfelt Bulletin, both on the global and local level. We are currently planning to bring back the popular Service Trainings in 2023, and are exploring ways to both encourage and empower local Heartfelt teams to start service projects in their area. We are reminded that HeartFelt started with simple acts of service. We plan to have monthly Heartfelt Rep meetings and continue to develop ways to stay connected globally. We envision and would like to create an online Resource Bank where people can share experiences, make available different outside resources, and learn best practices in serving those experiencing or who are affected by death, dying, aging, illness, dementia, etc.\u00a0 We are also already taking meaningful steps toward more fully integrating South America and Nigeria with the global Heartfelt community. In short, we envision a global network of service – connected and supporting one and other. Far from reducing and downsizing, our intention is “The best is yet to come.”<\/p>\n
Clearly all of this is going to take considerable focus and organization and we are delighted Jeffrey Morgan\u00a0has agreed to lead the charge, developing and launching a volunteer-driven model for HeartFelt and\u00a0coordinating\u00a0all this in\u00a0its initial phase, and hopefully longer.\u00a0Jeffrey has considerable experience in organizational design and is truly passionate about serving so we have every confidence he can be successful.\u00a0But he will need all of your support along with many others.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t already, please let Jeffrey and Paul know your current role within Heartfelt – representative, volunteer, dormant, I’m outta here, etc.\u00a0 You can contact us at\u00a0Jeffrey@msia.org<\/a>.\u00a0 \u00a0We are planning\u00a0an online Heartfelt meeting in\u00a0February to discuss\u00a0next steps\u00a0and identify priorities over the coming months.<\/p>\n
We will leave you with this beautiful shot of the garden area below Buddha Rock at Windermere. The greenhouse was donated to IIWP and is ready to be put to good use with plans for a larger garden underway.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Stay tuned to future Windermere newsletters for more updates.\u00a0\u00a0 You can subscribe here.<\/a><\/p>\n
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