GATHER

Gather Is Now Open!

Visit the Gather website at GatherOnTheGreen.org and check out this recent article on Gather in the Addison Independent!

There are lots of ways to get involved:

• Come visit us at Gather! 48 Merchants Row in Middlebury. We’re open Wednesday-Saturday at 11:00 and Sunday morning at 9:00 for a Gathering to share joys and concerns, followed by coffee hour. Check out the Gather website for the weekly program schedule.
• To volunteer, fill out this form and we will contact you to schedule days and times. There are lots of opportunities!
• If you’d like to support Gather, you can make a donation through our giving page.

What’s a Gather, you ask? 

We are creating a comfortable, welcoming, and free-of-charge gathering place that serves the neighborhood. Gather is a comfort zone for everyone, but especially those who deal with isolation, loneliness, or who could just use a listening friend. It is a hub of healing community. At Gather, people will find caring friends and neighbors.

While not a church or temple, Gather is based on some important Buddhist principles, because it is a project created by Bread Loaf Mountain Zen Community. Here are the principles that are important for us:

• There are no insiders and outsiders. Everyone, regardless of what they bring or need is welcomed in the same way.  There is no distinction between giver and receiver, helper and helped, server and served. We won’t slip into labels that separate us. Instead we’ll appreciate our similarities and differences.
• Everyone is welcomed to give and receive and be the gift. Come as you are, bring your whole self. Nothing else is needed. It is totally free. We aren’t selling anything or getting you to join anything. Gather is for everyone regardless of what you believe, care about, how you identify, or what you think about the world. Our only belief is that everyone deserves respect, kindness, care, and attention.
• Love all beings. This starts with being interested in each other, growing in empathy, seeing with compassion, and experiencing what it is to be with each other in ways that give life to our lives. Expanding the circle of belonging, bonding with neighbors, we experience the interconnectedness of life right here, close to home.

Gather is perfectly located in the town center or, as we say in these parts, on the Green – the big lawn where the town gathers. We are fortunate to have found a place in the middle of things. Each day we’ll simply open the doors with care, and be open to whoever shows up, accepting what is offered, what is received, what is requested, and allow actions to arise. We may have midday mindfulness, game nights, grief groups, community celebrations, recovery meetings, community acupuncture or foot care, cooking or quilting days, conversations over coffee and cake, study groups, and more.

Other opportunities include residency at Bread Loaf Mountain where you can support the day-to-day community events as part of our Zen practice!