STEPHEN & ONDREA LEVINE SUPPORT

April 2008,

Dear Friends,

You may know that our two friends and treasured teachers, Stephen and Ondrea Levine are currently facing significant difficulty. Their greatest needs are financial. Ondrea has Leukemia and the costs of her insurance and treatment have depleted their savings. Stephen's health is not the best and he is too frail to travel or teach. Good friends have set up a fund to assist them, and a number of us are reaching out to our communities to ask for support.

I feel a deep personal gratitude for Stephen. I love and honor him as one of my primary teachers. He has been an important mentor for over 20 years and a steady inspiration in our service the dying. Much of our work at the Metta Institute is influenced by his early teachings. When we were creating the Zen Hospice Project, Stephen was a trusted friend and guide. He regularly offered wise counsel, met with our volunteers and lent us his confidence, humor and kind heart when ours floundered. He taught me to trust in the Mystery, that when we acted with integrity from a clear intention, what was most needed would follow.

I remember a meeting in the early days of Zen Hospice. We were wringing our hands over how to raise the money we needed to care for men and women who were dying on the streets of San Francisco. Some questioned if would would be able to continue.

Just then, the phone rang. It was Stephen. He said, "Ondrea and I are coming to town soon. We wondered if we could maybe help you guys by doing a benefit." (Stephen always had a terrific sense of timing!)

Stephen & Ondrea's generosity seems boundless. For three years, they ran a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week free phone line for those dying or in need of support. They sat bedside with hundreds of people with AIDS, cancer and other illnesses helping them to heal into life and death. Over the past 30 years their teaching and books have brought solace and support to thousands. They inspired many of us in the hospice movement to care for the spirit as well as the body. They showed us a way to embrace another person's suffering as our own.

Stephen & Ondrea are two of the most remarkable teachers of our generation. They have dedicated their lives to selfless, compassionate service without making a big deal about it. They are two beautiful people with very human needs.

As others have said, caring for friends and teachers is an essential part of any spiritual life. Now we have an opportunity to give to these two life-long givers. To extend our love and respect in a most practical way.

Our hope is to raise several hundred thousand dollars in small and large donations to help them through this time.

Please join us by contributing to the Levine Fund at Bread for the Journey. Or come to the special Spirit Rock Benefit on June 14th.

WAYS TO HELP

Please forward a link to this page to those in your hospice, healthcare institution, community or spiritual organizations. You are welcome to include this information in blogs and newsletters that might reach those who wish to be of support.

TO DONATE

Online: Designate your donation to the Levine fund.
Just click: Levine Fund at Bread for the Journey

Mail: Send to: Bread for the Journey, 267 Miller Ave., Mill Valley, California 94941. Please enclose a note indicating that your gift is for the Stephen and Ondrea Levine Fund and in the note section of your check write "Levine Fund."

Phone: Call (415) 383-4600 with a credit card number.

Bread for the Journey has generously offered to manage the fund with 100% of your donation going to the Levine Fund. They inform us that donations are tax deductible.

Special Benefit: I am delighted to join with Jack Kornfield, Debra Chamberlin-Taylor, Julie Wester and Jai Uttal for a tribute and benefit for Stephen and Ondrea on Saturday, June 14, 2008.
To register click: Spirit Rock Benefit

Stephen and Ondrea often taught that we are "enough". When we are rooted in this deep sense of sufficiency our generosity just comes forward naturally. Then giving is a freely offered without expectation. There is something immensely freeing in that.

I trust that each of us will give what our means allow. And that will be enough.

In gratitude.
Frank Ostaseski
Founder, Metta Institute
Founding Director, Zen Hospice Project