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Library seeks volunteers to help facilitate monks’ August residency in Steamboat

Monk Nyima Tsering Tamang, of the Drepung Loseling Monastery, works to form a mandala image at the Bud Werner Memorial Library. A small group of monks are working on the mandala, which is created with millions of grains of brightly colored grains of sand.
John F. Russell/Steamboat Pilot & Today

Planning to host 11 monks from the Drepung Loseling monastery for Mandala on the Yampa from Aug. 9-14, the Bud Werner Library is seeking volunteers and support for a variety of needs during the monks’ visit. 

The cultural residency visit will include the creation of a mandala sand painting in Library Hall, and volunteer sand painting leaders will help direct artists of all ages at the community sand painting table next to the monks’ mandala from Aug. 10-14.

Sand painting docents should expect to work at the table for at least four hours over the five-day residency, but not all at once. Sand painting training with the monks will be at 11:30 a.m. Aug. 9, and this session is mandatory for all lead artists.



In addition, volunteers are needed to transform nine small cabins at Perry-Mansfield into comfortable spaces for the monks.

According to the library, this project could be ideal for a business, family or a group of friends to collaborate on. Necessities for each cabin include the loan of sheets, blankets, towels, pillows and a flashlight, all of which will be returned after the monks depart on Aug. 15.



Other welcome additions to each cabin could be soap, bug spray, carpets, lamps, artwork, throw pillows, a camp chair and anything domestic that adds to the comfort, joy and a feeling of peace and tranquility. Cabin decorating and home-making at Perry-Mansfield will be Aug. 7 during daylight hours. 

The library is also seeking lunch and dinner hosts for the monks who need wholesome vegetarian meals while they are in Steamboat. This could be a hospitality project for a restaurant, family or small group of friends, allowing the cooks to also share time and a meal with the monks.

Lunch must be available from noon-1:30 p.m. in the library conference room, as the monks eat in shifts while they work on the sand mandala. The library has plates, bowls, glassware, napkins and utensils — and some serving dishes and utensils. Dinners can be at a home near Steamboat or at a restaurant. 

Interested meal hosts, cabin decorators and sand painting volunteers should email Jennie Lay at jlay@steamboatlibrary.org. For more about Mandala on the Yampa, SteamboatLibrary.org/Events/Mandala-On-The-Yampa/2022.


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