Nelly Kaufer

Nelly Kaufer, LPC, is the founder and lead teacher of Pine Street Sangha. She orchestrates the work of the many volunteers and staff whose support allows the sangha to thrive. Nelly has been a psychotherapist in private practice for decades, integrating Buddhist psychology into her clinical orientation, and she has taught continuing education workshops for mental health professionals for much of that time. She has also spent a great deal of her career working in non-profit organizations. Nelly co-authored A Woman’s Guide to Spiritual Renewal (HarperOne, 1994), based on interviews with women about their spiritual lives. More recently, she and Linda Modaro of Sati Sangha co-authored Reflective Meditation: Cultivating Kindness and Curiosity in the Buddha’s Company, an innovative book that demonstrates how Reflective Meditation is learned through conversation grounded in direct meditative experience.

Charlotte August

Charlotte August happily returned to Portland following forty-six years away after retiring in 2018 from a university job counseling and advising students. She became interested in meditation as a teenager after reading Paramahansa Yogananda’s book Autobiography of a Yogi, and soon thereafter experienced her first retreat and meditation instruction in 1969. A renegade practitioner and dabbler in many schools of meditation over the years, she was delighted to discover Pine Street Sangha and a deep resonance with Reflective Meditation in late 2018, where journaling is welcome and curiosity flourishes. Aside from serving as a general board member, Charlotte’s activities include assisting with PSS Continuing Education workshop communications and a committee member participating in anti-racism studies in relation to the Dharma.

Moline Whitson
Board Secretary and Sangha Manager

Moline has been practicing Reflective Meditation since 2009. In 2019 she began providing administrative support to the sangha which has evolved into a position as the General Manager. Additionally, she teaches yoga and TRE through her studio, Harmony Yoga in NE Portland. She brings her passion for Body/Mind modalities and love of community to the Pine Street Sangha board.

Carol Kast
President of the Board

Carol Kast practiced clinical social work in Corvallis for 30 years, first working for Benton County and then in private practice. Upon moving to Portland, she wanted to expand her learning about Buddhist meditation, and to find a sangha. On the advice of a friend, she took an introductory class with Nelly in 2011, and in 2012 became a member of the Friday group. After a lifetime of wishing for a spiritual community that fits her, Carol found it at Pine Street Sangha. She serves as President of the Board.

Pam Crow, LCSW

Pam Crow is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who works in a private practice and as a consultant to the CARES NW program in Portland. Pam met Nelly Kaufer in 2005 when both attended a conference on Buddhism and Psychotherapy and she has been studying with Nelly ever since. Writing poems, making quilts and traveling are other interests of Pam’s.

Debra Jarcho
Board Treasurer

Debra was first introduced to meditation as a college freshman. Over subsequent decades she experimented with a variety of eastern meditation practices, living at a yoga ashram, and attending vipassana retreats. Recollective awareness/reflective meditation is the first meditation practice to really stick in a meaningful way. Debra recently retired from a long career in education and technology. Now she happily spends more time in her pottery studio.

Jane Olberding

Jane is currently retired. She started her career working in the field of affordable housing in Boston, Massachusetts, working for one of the original large owners of affordable housing. She moved back to her hometown of Portland in 1975 and continued her interest in providing much-needed housing in North and Northeast Portland. Jane became committed to this work after a life-changing workshop with community organizers sent to Portland by the Carter Administration. Besides this Board, she is on the Board of a start-up housing nonprofit in Clatsop County. She began meditating with Nelly Kaufer 15 years ago. She meets to meditate and reflect with the Friday group and frequents the daily Reflective Meditation at 9:00 AM.