A Deep Welcome to All.

As a nonprofit organization, Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center depends on the generosity of individuals and organizations to continue the practice of healing meditation, expanding the hearts and minds of those who visit this extraordinary place. Maintaining the lodge, guest accommodations and land in this remote corner of the world can be costly. In addition, some guests must rely on financial scholarships to attend such healing meditation retreats. Your tax-deductible contributions help Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center remain open to all.

Your donation helps us…

Support the dharma, Support the land, Support others on the path

Ways to give

Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible.

Become a Monthly Sustainer with a Monthly Contribution

Join the friends of Vallecitos and become a Monthly Sustainer to ensure much needed ongoing support of Vallecitos. Contribution levels range from friends ($10/month or $120/year), supporters ($25/month or $300/year), leaders ($50/month or $600/year), patrons ($100/month or $1,200/year). Thank you for your support!

Make a One-Time Donation

Please generously support Vallecitos, our work and the many projects we have with a donation. Earmark your gift for general support (whatever is needed most!) or for one of our Scholarship Funds, or another area of your choice. You can submit your tax-deductible donation online or by mailing a check to Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center, PO Box 4051, Durango CO 81302 (please write “donation” in the memo line).

Meal Dana

Join us in the ancient tradition of offering meals to those who are practicing on retreat. Food is offered to meditators as an act of generosity and support for their practice, often to celebrate a birthday, honor someone who has died, or commemorate another of life’s many milestones.

This tradition has flourished in Asia for over 2,600 years. Within this model of mutual support, householders provide meals to monastic who, in turn, provide Dharma and guidance to the community. Supporting practitioners at Vallecitos helps to keep this beautiful tradition alive while sustaining one of the most basic things we do: nourish our retreatants each and every day.

If you feel moved to participate in this flow of generosity, you may offer a meal and a 15-20 word dedication that will be posted in our dining hall on a date of your choice.

	Actual Food & Related Costs*	Suggested Meal Dana Offering (sliding scale)
Breakfast	$290	$115-290
Lunch	$440	$175-440
Dinner	$245	$90-245
All Meals	$975	$380-975

*From our remote, off-grid location to our intimate groups, Vallecitos is unique among retreat centers. The wildness of the place brings us great joy and supports us to remember our own deepest nature, and… adds significantly to our operating costs.

Vallecitos isn’t on any delivery route. We don’t have access to trash or recycling services. Instead, every week we drive an hour and a half each way to pick up all of the center’s food, and drop-off our trash and recycling “in town”.
With our intimate retreats and operating only five months of each year, we don’t have the purchasing power of larger organizations.
Finally, to sustain our retreatants at high altitude (and the many who hike each day), we offer heartier meals than you might encounter at other retreat centers.

Naturally, our food production costs are far higher than you may be accustomed to. To make the gift of meal dana more accessible to our retreatants, we offer meal dana options on a sliding scale.

Thank you for considering this ancient practice of generosity and for the deep nourishment it will bring future retreatants.

Corporate Matching Gifts

If your company has a matching gift program, you may be able to increase the value of your gift. If you have given a gift recently or in this calendar year, it may still be eligible for your company to match. Please check with your personnel department for a matching-gift form, and then contact us.

Stock Transfer Gift

A gift of appreciated assets, such as securities, can provide a tax deduction for the full market value of the asset and could eliminate the capital gains tax you might incur from the sale of the appreciated asset. Please contact us for more information about making this kind of gift.

Planned Giving

Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center has established a Legacy Circle to acknowledge donors who have included Vallecitos in their estate planning. This type of gift is a wonderful way to support Vallecitos for generations to come. Please contact us for more information about making this kind of gift.

Bequests

It is surprisingly easy to make a lasting gift to Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center. Just include Vallecitos as a beneficiary in your will or living trust, in your retirement plan or bank account and/or in your life insurance policy. Please contact us for more information about making this kind of gift.

In-Kind and Wish List Donations

Thank you for considering a gift to Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center. We are seeking the following items to support our programs:

15 Passenger van in good working condition (4WD if possible!)
4WD pick-up truck in good working condition
Standard White Pillow Case Covers (~50)
Solar Reading Lamps (Product Details Here)
Seventh Generation or other nontoxic, fragrance free cleaning supplies (dish soap, hand soap, hand sanitizer, all purpose cleaner)
Seventh Generation or other nontoxic, fragrance fee paper products (napkins, paper towel, toilet paper, tissues)
Batteries (AA, AAA)
Meditation zafus, zebutons and backjacks
Yoga mats

Please contact us if you have an item to donate. Please be sure to include the following: a description of the item you wish to donate, your full name, address and daytime phone number. Your generosity and creativity is deeply appreciated by Vallecitos and our extended community.

...I was teaching at Vallecitos one year in August, during the meteor showers. Our sensitivity heightened by hours of silent meditation, we would stand outside at night and watch trails of light cross the vast dark sky, signs from what I call the Greater Reality. Unforgettable.

- Mushim Ikeda

...I am so much more aware of the path I want to be on and the power of the sacred in my life.

- Cristina Mormorunni

...I came to Vallecitos for a retreat years ago and fell in love with it. Now as a volunteer and yogi I try to come back every summer to soak up the stunning landscapes as well as the rich dharma. This place truly calls me home.

...The view of the Aspen trees outside my casita, the cool silent mornings of meditation, the warmth of the lodge, and the exquisite majesty of the land created a gentle but powerful impression... in one short visit I have come to treasure Vallecitos.

- Krys Kornmeier

...Since the retreat, my pace of personal breakthroughs has quickened and old dynamics seem to be changing in positive ways. I am better able to deal with previously tense situations and successfully resolve them. I have increased feelings of peace. Thank you!

- Jane Cronlund

...17 years ago, I received an invitation to sit for 10 days of silence at Vallecitos. I accepted the invitation with no idea of the lasting impact the retreat would have on me. Over the years, the annual pilgrimage has provided me with tools to sustain and deepen my ongoing mediation practice. Sweeping fields of wildflowers, star-dotted nights, and bubbling streams provide a unique opportunity to directly experience interconnectedness. This gentle, wild setting is a profound environment to recharge mind, spirit, and body.

...I cannot express in words alone how important the retreat was for me. One of the most valuable lessons I learned is the importance of listening to my inner self. Vallecitos provided the necessary environment that makes it impossible not to go inward. When I returned home, I hit the ground running, but with a more focused direction. I attribute that to my stay at Vallecitos.

- Khalil Hassan

...I had a tremendous experience at Vallecitos, which is one of the most rewarding and positive things I’ve done within my lifetime. I have incorporated many of the things I learned into my daily life, and it has been very healthy for me. I had to experience loving kindness, sympathetic joy and generosity to understand the full power and grace of these profound feelings and actions.

- Debra Susan Abbot

...The time and the space to reflect and cultivate inner calm were so valuable. This was a very healing experience for me. It also started me on the practice of meditating. I meditate every day now, just for 10 minutes, but it makes a huge difference in my everyday life and with work.

- Swati Prakash

...Vallecitos has truly become a home to me. Working with such great teachers and mentors is an honor and being able to absorb all the knowledge and blessings that flow through the gorgeous land has shaped my soul and nourished my mind. It really is a magical place that I am forever grateful for.

- Katie Gall

...Vallecitos has always been one of my spiritual homes. It is a place where I have learned so much about the refuge of wilderness. It is where I have discovered so much about my own nature, from the wildness of nature there. Not only is it exquisitely beautiful and pristine, it is also profoundly serene and a place of deep renewal. I feel so blessed to have been able to visit every year for the past twenty years. I am eternally grateful for that land.

- Mark Coleman

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