Dear Friends,
We’d like to invite you to a very special online event. The Tibetan Children’s Education Foundation (TCEF), started under the nurturing umbrella of Feathered Pipe Foundation, celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. In honor of it, TCEF is hosting a Virtual Tibetan Culture Night Fundraiser. Please join us on November 21, 2020 at 8 PM Mountain Time. It will be fun and educational, not to be missed!
Two weeks ago, Feathered Pipe launched our podcast series called The Dandelion Effect. Our latest podcast features Sarah Bergakker and her work in using holistic methods to help first responders and nurses in dealing with stress. This podcast is incredibly relevant to the health crisis we find ourselves facing as country currently. We hope the podcasts will educate and empower you as we explore how to cultivate exponential growth of compassion through life, work, and interconnectedness, reminding us all how much we owe to the those on the frontline of the COVID19 pandemic.
The TCEF Story
Another incredible story of how a tiny seed of compassion blossomed and propagated is Karma Tensum’s and his intersection with the Feathered Pipe. Karma was carried by his mother from Tibet to India when he was 2 years old, and they arrived with nothing. The opportunity he ended up having through the kindness of sponsors of his education and a chance meeting with VJ and India Supera, ended up eventually enabling him to go to Harvard, move to the US with his family, and become the Executive Director of the Tibetan Children’s Education Foundation. He in turn has gone on to improve the lives of hundreds of Tibetans in exile though education, as well as enrich the lives of thousands of non-Tibetans through exposure to their intriguing and altruistic culture. You can read the full story of TCEF – “How India Supera and the Feathered Pipe Touched Tibetan Lives” here.
Karma and TCEF are near and dear to me. I was just 4 years old when I met Karma nearly 40 years ago as we traveled together on a harrowing adventure to Ladakh, India. Since then, our lives have been intertwined in many ways. In 2000 I joined the board of TCEF, which has been an incredibly fulfilling kind of work and incidentally turned out to be good training to become the Executive Director of Feathered Pipe Foundation. I’ve also been fortunate to have sponsored the education of a lovely Tibetan, Lodoe Gyaltsen who has completed his nursing degree and recently became a TCEF board member. To me, it just goes to show that seemingly insignificant bits of compassion really can make a difference for generations and spreading its seeds is truly a worthwhile occupation.
Please do join us for TCEF’s Virtual Cultural Night Fundraiser on November 21. Whether you are able to attend or not, please consider sponsoring a Tibetan child’s education, donating, and/or bidding on the auction items, which include gems like a weeklong workshop at the Feathered Pipe, Bollywood Dance Lessons, Buddhist Meditation Class, and a Tibetan Cooking Class. We hope to see you there and please spread the word to friends.
With love and compassion,
Crystal