With Gratitude to Shelly Hanson

And a Warm Welcome to Gram Slaton

Shelly Hanson with His Holiness the 34th Menri TrizinIt is hard to believe that a little over five years ago, Shelly Hanson began volunteering in the office at Serenity Ridge one day a week, only to become an invaluable part of the Ligmincha organization in the following few years! She took on more and more responsibilities to meet the many needs and demands of a large retreat center, finally becoming Serenity Ridge's managing director, all with amazing ability and kindness. In August she passed the baton, and we will all miss her.

It started one day in 2015, when Shelly arrived for one of Serenity Ridge's weekly meditation practices. Several visits later, she mentioned that she would be happy to help out if help was needed. As many of you know, in the life of a retreat center, help is always needed and very welcomed! Shelly began helping out in the office one day a week, and in 2019 became Serenity Ridge's managing director.

We have been graced with Shelly's presence for these last few years, through the exciting visit of His Holiness the 34th Menri Trizin, Lungtok Dawa Dhargyal Rinpoche, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's many retreats and these challenging times of the pandemic. Many of you have gotten to know Shelly's warmth and openness, and her desire to share her past business experience to better streamline Serenity Ridge's operations. Shelly has expressed the wish to spend more time in personal practice, and this August she stepped down from her position.

"Operations manager" is the new title for this position, and we are happy to announce a new operations manager for Serenity Ridge Retreat Center: Gram Slaton. Before Shelly left her position, she was able to help greatly in the transition by sharing with Gram many of the details of the running of Serenity Ridge, including a list of the projects under way to get it up and running again, since the pandemic began more than a year and half ago.

Gram comes to us with a quarter-century of experience managing performing arts centers. He brings a wealth of relevant experience, from program planning and hosting to renovation of complex historical structures. We have often seen that the right people show up at the right time, and we certainly feel this with Gram. He is working now to prepare Serenity Ridge to welcome you when it reopens. Welcome, Gram, to our Serenity Ridge team!