When I was reflecting on what happened in our Sangha in 2025, in preparation for Valley Insight’s state of the Sangha message, I realized that 2026 was particularly significant symbolically in our sangha’s history.
Though I know that Valley Insight’s Sangha and practice was already strong by 2006––we’d been meeting for about a decade by then––we took some big steps that year. We were recognized as a nonprofit in New Hampshire in June of 2006 and received our 501c3 certification from the IRS in December. So 2026 marks the twentieth anniversary of the creation of a solid worldly foundation for our Sangha. That foundation allows us to have bank accounts for Valley Insight, accept donations, and conduct other worldly business.
Sasana is a word in the Pali language that can refer to organizations and structures that support and make possible the expression of Dharma teachings in the world. Just as strengthening our own practice and our individual and collective lives in the Dharma is an ongoing process, so too is the cultivation of our worldly presence. And in that sense, too, 2026 should be a significant year as we prepare to envision what our sangha can aspire to in the next decade or so.
You might recall that as we emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, we held a series of meetings focused on creating a vision for the next steps our Sangha might take to help us grow in the Dharma.
We will begin a similar process soon to imagine how Valley Insight might evolve to meet emerging needs of our Sangha and our community and manage various external challenges of the next decade or so.
Two big developments
This is a good time to begin conversations about Valley Insight’s evolution. We now have more support for accomplishing a visioning process and we’ve received a gift that can allow us to support a more expansive vision for Valley Insight.
In early April, we welcomed our first staff member! Masaki Schuette joined us as our administrative assistant. She is just getting started learning about Valley Insight but will soon begin compiling our monthly email calendar updates and helping to make announcements about our various activities more prominent locally. She will also assist teachers with organizing sits, helping to arrange retreats, and taking on other administrative tasks. And Masaki will be essential as we move into more actively planning and organizing various aspects of our visioning process.
You may also be aware of the generous gift Valley Insight received from our beloved sangha member Debby Garretson. Debby, a Dartmouth faculty member, was part of Valley Insight for decades. As her practice deepened over many years, so did her interest in Pali, and she became a serious student of the language in which the early suttas were written. Debby died in March, 2025, and left her condo in West Lebanon to Valley Insight.
Debby’s will is currently being settled, and we anticipate that Valley Insight will become the official owners of the condo in May. We’re working with a realtor to determine its value and then sell it. We hope to conclude the sale by the end of the year and plan to invest the proceeds.
A vision for Valley Insight’s next phase
The board is now discussing what our visioning will look like. During the process, we will ask our Sangha what we could do to better serve our own needs and seek to identify emerging needs.