Author Archive for karuna

Cocktails a Huge Hit for Karuna

Published
by
karuna
on December 10, 2007
in Community
. 0 Comments

The view from the pool was our very own Manhattan!! Even the weather was perfect after looking like rain all afternoon, and even sprinkling prior to the 6.30 commencement.

“Cocktails at Gumerache” has been our most successful cocktail party so far.

Our heartfelt thanks go to Susan Davies and Christine Dittmer who have organised all the Karuna cocktail parties in the outdoor areas of beautiful Brisbane homes. Sadly, Susan and Christine are making this their last cocktail party and taking a well earned rest.

We most gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the following:

  • Tricia and Darrell Butcher - venue
  • Pane e Vino (D’Arienzo family) - food catering and wait staff
  • Castlemaine Perkins - beverages
  • Marie-Louise Theile - compere for the evening
  • de pasquale - design
  • Platypus Graphics - printing
  • First response - security

Donors of the experiential auction prizes:

  • High-flying wine experience - a private helicopter flight to Maleny for a VIP wine experience at Maleny Manor incl. wine tasting, lunch and fine wines from Settlers Rise Winery
  • Four days in Paradise - a four-day luxury stay on Moreton Island in a private Cowan beach house with transfers by barge or ferry and a Black Pearl Epicure hamper for a gourmet beach picnic
  • “Luxury in the Rainforest” experience at Bloomfield Lodge for three nights for (2) incl air transfers from Cairns.
  • Gold Coast hinterland weekend of spa, health, gourmet food and wellbeing at Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat. With stunning ocean and valley views for (2) people
  • Celebrity Golf with a Pirelli “retyrement” experience. Golf game for (2) joining Pat Rafter and Alfie Langer at Indooroopilly Golf Club, followed by lunch and return of your newly-shod vehicle (with calendar) courtesy of Bob Jane T-Mart, Enoggera.

Raffle prize donors: Gambaro’s Seafood Restaurant, River Canteen restaurant, Darryl & Lewis hairdressing, Cosi Dolci, Baguette Restaurant.

cocktails.jpg

The Karuna Christmas Raffle

Published
by
karuna
on November 29, 2007
in Community
. 0 Comments

The raffle has been drawn. Thank you to everyone for your support

This year Karuna is raising money by holding a special Christmas Raffle to be drawn on the 8th of December, 3pm at Karuna’s Christmas Market and all proceeds will go towards supporting Karuna’s important work in the community.

Tickets are $2 each or three for $5 and are available from Karuna House or call 07 3632 8300 and request a book of tickets to sell.

1st Prize - Mountain Bike
This great 20 inch, 18 speed ‘Cheetah’ Mountain Bike should make someone very happy on Christmas morning!

2nd Prize - Huge Christmas Hamper
Containing a full array of delectable treats to fill your table for Christmas day (including 3 bottles of wine).

3rd Prize - Medium Christmas Hamper
With lots of lovely goodies to make for a very yummy Christmas!

4th Prize - Christmas Tree Skirt
This exquisitely handmade tree skirt will liven the base of any Christmas tree.

5th Prize - Christmas Hamper
What would Christmas be without a great big cuddly teddy bear?

raffle.jpg

First Introduction to Buddhism Weekend for 2008

Published
by
karuna
on November 22, 2007
in Courses
. 0 Comments

Our previous Introduction to Buddhism weekend courses have met with a great deal of success with much praise from all those who have attended. It is a pleasure to announce these new dates for Karuna’s strongly experiential weekend involving discussion and meditation in an open and relaxed environment.

Please download the Introduction to Buddhism flyer for more details.

The Karuna 2007 Annual Report

Published
by
karuna
on November 5, 2007
in Downloads
. 0 Comments

Download the full Karuna 2007 Annual Report in pdf format.

We are very proud to present this year’s annual report. 2007 has been a special year for all those involved with Karuna Hospice Services. Below is an extract, or you can download the full document above.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
2006/07 marks the tenth and final year that I will serve on Karuna’s Board of Management. I will also be retiring from the position of Chairman, which I have had the privilege of holding for the past eight years. Over the years, I have witnessed Karuna mature from a relatively small organisation into one that is continually growing in relevance and reputation in the community.

Karuna continues to respond to an ever increasing demand for its services and this is reflected in the progress made during the year in review. I am pleased to report that 2006/ 07 was one of the most successful in Karuna’s 15 year of operations.

HOME CARE PROGRAM
During 2006/07, Karuna cared for 344 families. With support from the community we were able to build our nursing team to 7.7 (FTE) and as a result we were able to increase the number of families we cared for each month to 56. Increasing the nursing pool also meant we were able to reach a milestone and extend our geographical boundaries to the south side of Brisbane.

COUNSELLING AND SPIRITUAL CARE PROGRAM
Over the past year, Karuna’s team of counsellors and spiritual carers provided support to 480 families experiencing a recent bereavement, 138 clients and their families living with a life limiting illness and 124 people with other issues relating to end of life.

WORKPLACE TRAINING AND EDUCATION
As part of our commitment to supporting the development of the palliative care workforce for the future, Karuna continued to offer education and training opportunities for students, nurses, counsellors and General Practitioners. In 2006/07 Karuna offered 10 student nursing placements and 4 clinical placements for qualified health professionals. In addition, Karuna developed a comprehensive specialist palliative care training program for registered nurses in collaboration with the Centre for Palliative Care Research and Education (CPCRE) and the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

LIFE EDUCATION
The demand for Karuna’s unique Life Education courses continued to grow during the year. In response to this demand Karuna offered ten courses, attracting over 150 participants to the program. The most popular courses are Introduction to Buddhism, Open Heart Peaceful Mind and What Happens When We Die.

Karuna’s June 2007 Appeal Letter

Published
by
karuna
on October 1, 2007
in Downloads
. 1 Comment

Download the Karuna June 2007 Appeal in pdf format

Our story actually began a long time ago,but I will start on May 10th 2002, the day Philip and I moved into What If Farm.

We called it What If Farm after my propensity to start every sentence with ‘what if?’ What if we put up fences? We could have lots of animals.What if we built a barn? What if we went organic and grew our own vegetables? What if? What if? What if?

It became our mantra and What If Farm became the realisation of our dream. On September 21st 2002, Philip and I were married on the deck that he built (What if we built a deck? We could get married there).

This was a very happy time in our lives but two months later all that changed when Philip was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer.

Philip’s determination to ‘beat this thing’ was incredible.We applied our “What if?” mantra and we tried everything we could lay our hands on.

Throughout these first few years I heard of Karuna many times. Friends talked of the amazing support they had received from Karuna, our dear friend Maria, shared her strong association with Karuna with us. Karuna kept coming into our conversations and our consciousness.

Philip continued to work, we kept looking for answers, we kept hoping. Hope became the lifeline we sent out. But in December 2005 one of his tumors compressed his spinal cord. Paralysed from the chest down, Philip lay in the emergency ward of the Royal Brisbane Hospital. Emergency spinal surgery was scheduled. At 3.00 am the hospital staff suggested we say goodbye, his chances of surviving the operation was slim, the possibility that he would ever walk again was even slimmer. Philip survived and walked out of hospital 7 days later, but our world changed at that moment.

Joan Wilson Jones

Continue reading ‘Karuna’s June 2007 Appeal Letter’

Art Market A Record Success

Published
by
karuna
on September 24, 2007
in Community
. 1 Comment

Saturday 15 September saw our 4th Annual Pre Loved Art and Jewellery Market open to the community at 8am in bright sunshine. Donations of high quality art and jewellery from our Karuna community flooded in and bargains for all were eagerly snapped up. Our treasure at the Silent Auction stand this year was a Pro Hart original!

Cappuccino and cake kept shopping energy high and our tireless volunteers ensured customers were happily supplied with plently of art and jewellery to carry home.

Sincere thanks to 6RAR Enoggera, Stafford and Windsor Rotary clubs along with our Art and Jewellery committees and all our Karuna staff and volunteers for our best market so far.

Art Market 2007

Director’s Message on the 2007 Visit

Published
by
karuna
on September 19, 2007
in Updates
. 0 Comments

With so much going on at Karuna over the past twelve months, it has been one of the most memorable years in Karuna’s history.

One of the most significant developments has been the implementation of a new management framework designed to support the expansion of our existing services and the enhancement of our counselling and spiritual care services to benefit more people in the community. A major focus will also be on developing our marketing and fundraising plan to strengthen the development and expansion of our services.

These initiatives are the result of a recent strategic review which highlighted the opportunity to provide our services to the broader community in response to the growing community need for specialized palliative care programs, including grief and loss counselling and spiritual care.

We are all very excited about the changes that are taking place and we are confident they will improve our ability to continue to provide support for people in the community for many years to come.

Of course we wouldn’t be able to continue our work without the wonderful support from our donors and volunteers. Thank you to everyone who contributed to our June appeal; you have helped us raise in excess of $100,000. We are so grateful for your support and appreciate the kindness you continue to show Karuna.

I am happy to report on another significant highlight for Karuna this year, which was the much anticipated visit from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. During his visit, His Holiness graciously accepted our request to become Karuna’s Spiritual Patron. His Holiness’ patronage will strengthen our spiritual foundation and continue to provide inspiration in our work.

On a final note, I would like to thank Karuna’s co-founder Hilary Clarke for her dedication in helping to build Karuna and in particular the Karuna Community over the past 15 years. We all look forward to her continued support as a valued Karuna volunteer.

Yeshe Khadro

Embracing Kindness

Published
by
karuna
on September 19, 2007
in Community
. 0 Comments

Kindness was the theme for His Holiness’ visit and Karuna created Kindness Week to give as many people as possible throughout Queensland an opportunity to participate in the visit.

Over 10,000 students from 13 schools participated in Kindness Week. 500 students from these schools attended the public talk at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre and 50 student representatives were given the opportunity to meet His Holiness prior to the talk.

Another major activity during Kindness Week was the sale of Prayer Flags through all Loot Homewares stores throughout Australia. This campaign raised in excess of $10,000 for Karuna Hospice Services and we are very grateful to Loot Homewares for this wonderful support.

We would like to extend our most sincere thanks to everyone who was involved in Kindness Week and everyone who helped us host His Holiness while he was in Brisbane.

Dalai Lama's Helicopter Through Prayer Flags

Front Yard Music: The Karuna Concert

Published
by
karuna
on September 5, 2007
in Events
. 2 Comments

Download the Karuna Concert pdf flyer

Free Event

QPAC springs out of doors with its first Front Yard Music Concert. From September to November, Brisbane audiences are invited to free outdoor music on QPAC’s Melbourne Street Grass Plaza. Relax in a laid back environment where food, drink and amenities are within easy reach. Bring a blanket, bring the kids and experience aural bliss in Brisbane’s renowned spring weather.

The Goodbye Notes specialise in acoustic pop and ballads, sung by the amazing Barbara Fordham. They perform a collection of stories told through well-crafted pop tunes with a gentle edge.

Yani is a veteran of the local music scene and one of the original Women in Voice artists. Her repertoire includes jazz, blues, pop, funk and world music styles.

Linda Neil strums the violin like a guitar and sings her own heartfelt and sometime whimsical compositions. This rare Brisbane appearance is supported by versatile West End keyboard and cabaret anchor man Gary Nunn.

Bloke’Apella are a men’s a cappella quartet, whose style draws on pop, gospel, Anglo-Celtic tradition and some foreigh language songs. Perhaps their most distinctive feature is comic pieces, with the emphasis on parody.

karuna-concert.jpg

The Jade Buddha to be Completed by Early 2008

Published
by
karuna
on September 5, 2007
in Spiritual
. 0 Comments

Download the Jade Buddha pdf flyer

The Jade Buddha Project is one of the largest and most magnificent Buddhas ever carved from gemstone-quality true jade. The Buddha, including lotus and alabaster throne will be nearly 3.5 metres (11.4 feet) tall. The Jade Buddha will be carved from the great boulder known as “Polar Pride.” It will be a wonder of the world. It will be carved by January 2008.

The Jade Buddha will be toured to major cities in Asia and Australia before being set up in The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Bendigo, Australia.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche said “It will illuminate the world and bring inconceivable peace and happiness and help prevent the destruction that is happening so much in the world, including war.”

Achievements to date:

  • Paid US$300,000 deposit on Polar Pride.
  • Shipped Polar Pride from Vancouver to Northern Thailand.
  • Completed photo study of Buddha in Mahabodhi Stupa, India.
  • Prepare 3 prototypes for review by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
  • Raised US$50,000 towards payment of year one instalment to miners (total instalment US$100,000
  • Raised over US$35,000 towards carving of Jade Buddha (total cost US$108,000).

Become a Jade Buddha Carving Benefactor

This is a unique once-in-a-life time opportunity to be part of a massive holy object for the world. We are seeking 108 Carving Benefactors to each contribute AUD$1080 (SIN$1335). Each will have their name carved into the throne of the Jade Buddha (and probably gold-leafed). These names will be part of the statue for as long as it exists.

We already have over half the Carving Benefactors. The Buddha will be carved by early 2008, so names must be finalised by December this year. We allow up to 22 characters (including spaces) for the names.

Carving Benefactors can securely donate online. Also magnificent jada mala gifts can be obtained by donors.

See details at: www.jadebuddha.org.au