Our Story
2011: Birth of an idea བསམ་བློའི་སྐྱེ་བ།
As the Himalayan community grew in New York, many seniors felt out of place, spending most of their time indoors, leading to loneliness and homesickness. The opportunity to socialize was limited to annual events. Recognizing this challenge, Thupten Sherab and Thupten Chakrishar collaborated to address the issue. Drawing on their backgrounds in social work and community organizing, they reached out to family, friends, and advisors to create a solution that would provide a supportive and engaging space for Himalayan elders. This marked the beginning of the Himalayan Elders Project.
2012: First step གོམ་པ་ཐོག་མ།
With the blessings of Sogyal Rinpoche and the support of close friends, the Himalayan Elders Project was born with a two-day picnic at Tongyi Nyingje Ling in Berne, NY. This gathering of seniors, supported by volunteers and staff, marked the first step towards creating a regular space for seniors to connect. Responding to requests, the first regular gathering was held at Dhampa Sangay Center in Queens with just nine participants. The rapid growth of the group soon presented challenges in finding a larger, affordable space.
2013: A breakthrough ཐོད་བརྒལ་ཞིག།
Sonam Sherpa, an advisor and now Chairman of the Board, introduced the newly renovated Sherpa Community Center as a potential home for the Himalayan Elders Project. With the welcoming support of the United Sherpa Association, the project moved into the center in November 2013. Grateful for this space, the project steadily expanded its offerings, including yoga, Dharma teachings, dance classes, city tours, and musical performances. Seniors enjoy free breakfast, lunch, tea, and snacks throughout the day, fostering a strong community bond.
2014: A step forward མདུན་སྐྱོད་ཀྱི་གོམ་པ་གཅིག།
In November 2014, the Himalayan Elders Project was officially incorporated as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization in New York. While continuing to provide a nurturing space for seniors in New York, the project expanded its mission to support destitute seniors in Tibetan settlements across India. Currently, the organization collaborates with community leaders in various Tibetan refugee settlements to extend as much assistance as possible, ensuring the welfare of elders both locally and internationally.
For updates after 2014, please check our Facebook Page
The name “Himalayan Elders Project” embodies the wishes of His Holiness the Dalai Lama regarding the importance of unity among the Gangchen pas, the people of the Himalayan region. This name reflects the organization's commitment to fostering solidarity and cultural preservation among Himalayan communities, in line with the values promoted by His Holiness. The project’s activities not only support seniors in New York but also contribute to unity and compassion among Himalayan people across the globe. “ཧི་མ་ལ་ཡའི་རྒན་རྒོན་ལས་གཞི་”ཞེས་པའི་མིང་འདིས་ཧི་མ་ལ་ཡའི་ས་ཁུལ་གྱི་གངས་ཅན་པས་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་བྱེད་དགོས་པའི་གལ་གནད་སྐོར་༧གོང་ས་མཆོག་གི་སྨོན་འདུན་མཚོན་ཡོད། མིང་འདིས་ཚོགས་པ་དེས་ཧི་མ་ལ་ཡའི་མི་རིགས་ཁག་གི་དབར་གདུང་སེམས་མཉམ་སྐྱེད་དང་རིག་གཞུང་སྲུང་སྐྱོབ་སྤེལ་རྒྱུའི་ཆོད་སེམས་མཚོན་གྱི་ཡོད། ལས་གཞིའི་བྱེད་སྒོ་དེས་ནིའུ་ཡོག་ལ་རྒན་རྒོན་ཚོར་རྒྱབ་སྐྱོར་བྱེད་པ་མ་ཟད། འཛམ་གླིང་ཡོངས་ཀྱི་ཧི་མ་ལ་ཡའི་མི་རིགས་ཀྱི་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་དང་སྙིང་རྗེ་ལ་ཕན་ཐོགས་ཡོད།
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