To help you make a decision as to which candidate(s) to support, a list of nominees with a short biography for each appears below. In addition, please join us for our Special Member Meeting on Sunday, July 2 at 8 pm ET in the Awakening Together Sanctuary, where each candidate will be given an opportunity to address the membership.
The Current 2023 Nominees to the Member Board of Trustees are:
Doreen Bonnet
Cyndi Krupp
Marisol Landin
Meg Reinhart
Joe Schmitz
Shawna Summers
This year, members will elect four people to the Member Board of Trustees. Ballots will be mailed to members on June 26, 2023. Voting closes at 5 pm ET on July 10, 2023.
Doreen was first elected to the Member Board of Trustees in July 2020 and is up for re-election in 2023.
Cyndi Krupp’s Bio: Cyndi has spent time as a chemist, an engineer, and a project manager. She has 2 adult”ish” children whom she adores and shares her apartment with Mistress Maeve (a feline), a few fish and frogs, and many plants. She currently work for The Teachers of God Foundation, Pure Presence Conferences, and Lisa Natoli. Her Spiritual Path began about 23 years ago as a search to heal panic anxiety and recently she realized she is not seeking anymore – it is more like she is simply saying yes to life and all that it asks of her.
Her Community is Awakening Together and it colors much of her daily life. She is an AT Minister and leads Sunday Gathering every quarter. She has a 30 minute share on Wednesdays and she facilitates a Gentle Healing Group on Thursday evenings. She is now certified to Teach MPP Classes, to lead the Awakening at Home Retreat, and is currently working (with others) on a new program/virtual retreat on the 12 Lessons of NTI that we hope to offer in 2024. Cyndi is eternally grateful for all the ways that Awakening Together has blessed her life experience and it lights her up every time she has the opportunity to Serve.
Cyndi is running for election to the Member Board of Trustees in 2023.
Marisol Landin’s Bio: Marisol’s search for something beyond the world began at the age of 19 when she read “A Return to Love” by Marianne Williamson. Years later she found ACIM which brought on an experience of awakening. It did not last long, but something had opened. From that moment on she knew there was something more. Around the same time, she came across “The Power of Now” by Eckert Tolle. Reading that book was a spiritual experience in itself which opened my heart and desire for the Truth even further.
Life then managed to take center stage with school, a career in design, relationships and then children. Her spiritual desire became overshadowed by life events but the spark never died. The desire for Truth became alive again when she found Regina’s teachings and AT. Marisol knew this was her way back home and what she truly longed for. She is grateful to have gone through the Ministerial Preparation Program and for doing three years of Gentle Healing. So much healing has come from these programs. This beautiful community and all the teachings offered at AT are a beacon of light. Its members are all so supportive, loving and dedicated to the realization of Truth, always pointing the way home back into the Heart. She is honored to be a part of it and serve in any way she can.
Marisol is running for election to the Member Board of Trustees in 2023.
Meg Reinhart’s Bio: Spiritual presence has been tugging away at Meg’s humanness since she was a child. She says that her devotion to awaken was pioneered by various glitches in the matrix such as near-death experiences, relentless questions about the system-programming, hunger for more, and a fascinating obsession with her body acting like a trap rather than a vessel. In 2013, Meg woke to the presence of God and ignited the potential to create a life aligned with awareness and consciousness exploration. Everything from that point on has been one with her decision for Truth, Love, Light, Absolute, and Beyond. Awakening Together, through MPP ministry, teaching and sharing in the sanctuary, and being involved in listening to her fellow members in Gentle Healing, provides her with a life suited for Self-mastery.
Meg was originally elected to the Member Board of Trustees in July 2020 and is up for re-election in 2023.
Joe Schmitz’s Bio: In his search for answers to some of life’s questions, as well as a desire to end his own internal struggles, Joe investigated various spiritual teachings and traditions for many years. Sometime around 2004 he was introduced to A Course in Miracles, which was unlike anything he had studied up to that point. The course offered an entirely new way to view life and the world. He was a student of the course for around 10 years, before moving on to other non-dual teachings, including those of Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Michael Langford and others. Joe has been a member of the Awakening Together community since about 2019. He has benefited greatly from listening to and participating in sanctuary programs, attending retreats, completing the 500 Days with NTI self-study curriculum and taking MPP classes. He’s continually inspired by the authenticity and commitment of fellow members of the AT community.
He currently lives in Shawnee, Kansas with his wife Teresa and is running for election to the Member Board of Trustees in 2023.
Shawna Summers’ Bio: Shawna became aware of Awakening Together in 2015. She fell in love with Regina’s teachings and knew Regina was her next teacher. Shawna took the first Gentle Healing class in January 2017. She completed the MPP courses and was ordained in June 2019. In April of 2018, Regina invited Shawna to “teach” in the sanctuary. She was scared, but it turned into a huge blessing that Shawna is still enjoying through speaking what is here to say, listening to Inner Wisdom. In January of 2019,
Shawna moved from Northern California to La Veta, Colorado. The Retreat house was purchased and open. She took every retreat offered that year, drinking in the honest & inspired depth of the teachings by Regina and the gorgeous beauty of the Rocky Mountains. She still lives in La Veta and enjoys this unique community. Shawna is deeply in love with the Awakening Together online community as a safe and supportive space to share everything! All the teachers inspire and fill her with Wisdom. She is grateful beyond words for Awakening Together!
Shawna is running for election to the Member Board of Trustees in 2023.
Michael Deborbes’ live meditations are on the 1st Wednesday of the month 9-9:30 pm ET and the 3rd Wednesday from 8:30-9:30 pm ET.
Anne Blanchard shares her experience of purification and awakening, unfiltered and as it happens. Raw, reflective, brave, and infused with clarity, Anne’s open honesty inspires us all to dive deep into the spiritual journey instead of simply skimming the surface. She continues to share deeply from various non-dual teachings and teachers.
Join Marisol as she dives deeper into self-acceptance. She shares her journey toward compassion and love within the human condition. This is an ongoing practice of forgiveness, love, and trust as we all welcome the Light within together.
Rev. Michele Hojnacki guides a group of committed students through year 1 of Gentle Healing who want to make consistent, gentle progress toward genuine peace, joy, and love. This group meets weekly on Mondays at 5-7 pm ET/3-5 pm MT and all members are committed to specific assignments and practices between group meetings.
During our time together, we will explore what it takes to live from an open, undefended heart. Naturally, any true exploration of living from the heart necessarily entails taking a deep and sustained look at what prevents us from keeping our hearts open. Grounded in the knowledge that the essence of us, our true nature, is the very lovingness within us all, we will explore how to recognize and release egoic energies by cultivating open-hearted awareness practices which support us in directly experiencing our true Self. By leaning into willingness, steeped in self-honesty, and with a consistent dash of courage, we endeavor to open to whatever life brings, as it brings it, that is, on life’s terms. In so doing, we trust that everything – absolutely everything – is here for us to use for healing, for purification, and for learning to live from the heart. We look forward to supporting each other in our individual explorations of how we truly embrace the entirety of this show we call life.
