In her New Year's message on the first day of 2001, Ms Hiroko Koyama, the president of Shinji Shumeikai, said, "The construction of our Crestone Center, which will be built this year, should be created in part by volunteers from the Shumei Family. I know that our members will do all that they can." Following her direction,

I organized volunteers, calling on them to undertake this worthy task in cooperation with the General Affairs staff at our international headquarters in Misono, Larry Deutsch, the Crestone Project Director, and Hide Yano, the Project Manager.

Before Restoration

After Restoration

I became a volunteer myself and worked with fellow members of the Shumei Family at a place called "The Old Mine Site", where our new Center in Crestone is located. There, we repaired old walls built for the mine site over a hundred years ago. When completed, I believe that these historic walls will play an important role as a captivating exterior setting in our new Center's complex.

Originally, Larry Deutsch had planned that the wall's restoration would take from six weeks to two months to complete. We nearly finished the job in fifteen day! Not only was Larry delighted, but the contractors, architects, and members of the Crestone-Baca planning commission were amazed. They were astonished at how earnestly our volunteers worked. Never taking a day off in over two weeks, the Shumei members toiled long hours, enduring freezing weather, sleet, snow, and rain on the warmer days. The results of their labor, and their sensitive and refined approach to this project is a fine testimony to each volunteer's "Makoto", their commitment to sincerity and truth.

Volunteers performing Hoshi on the 100 year old mining wall at the Shumei center.