Seldom one to stop working on new ways to serve, our spiritual leader, Dharmacharya Gurudas Sunyatananda announced six new additions to the five programs run or supported by the Contemplative Order of Compassion. Some of these projects are contingent upon developing the funding and financial backing of benefactors, while others require physical volunteers and in-kind donations to become a reality.

Briefly, the foundation of all our programs is the Spiritus Project, which provides a base for the many Secular Associates in the Order as well as friends, family members and other interested parties.

Other projects are more tangential, but provide a means of generating financial support for the work of the Order, including Lojong Media and Publishing and our Digital Alchemy Mediaworks programs.

But the bulk of projects we undertake are service oriented -- providing a means for alleviating specific types or causes of suffering for people, such as the People's Financial Network -- a not-for-profit organisation that helps folks who are unable to meet their unsecured (credit card) debt to take advantage of legal programs to reduce that debt by as much as 50% or more, with no out-of-pocket expenses; or the Street Meals Project, which has delivered bagged lunches to the homeless in several major metropolitan areas, since 1984.