The Adult Buddhist Association provides breakfast to the Sangha every Mother's Day. They get to the temple early (starting at 6pm), and roll out the tables, canopies, chairs and griddles to serve pancakes outside. In the meantime, inside the kitchen, sausages and eggs are being cooked, and apples and strawberries are washed and sliced.
The idea on Mother's Day started with Dan Shikuma years ago. He approached the then-YABA (Young Adult Buddhist Association) to serve breakfast on Mother's Day since the Jr. Young Buddhist Association had been serving hot dogs on Father's Day for years, without reciprocating on Mother's Day.
Then when the YABA dissolved itself to become the new ABA, the ABA members continued this Dana tradition. Dan Shikuma died a few years ago after fighting ALS, and in his memory the ABA members make pancakes and serve it free.
Ross and Elaine have been chairing this for awhile and they have made much improvements. We have bought two commercial griddles just for this purpose which are also being used for beef teriyaki during carnival time.
The ABA practices "dana" the buddhist idea of giving. The Sangha, in turn, gets together and share a meal, which is also known in Japanese as "o-toki."
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