I joined Compassion Project because I truly believe in mindfulness practices enhance our being, to help us live in the present, to nurture a positive mindset, and contributes to better mental health.

I also am a firm believer that if we can reduce as many barriers to accessing tools for mindfulness, it will exponentially benefit us individually and also collectively as a community. My goal is to expand our programs of mindfulness and compassion to better serve our community.

- Sarah Montano, Executive Director

I believe that mindfulness, creativity, and compassion create a recipe for life-long, emergent learning that unlocks our fullest potential. It is honestly difficult to express the significance of this project in words. I suppose that’s why we often work through creative expressions together!

My initial involvement with Compassion Project was a partner artist in 2019 and now I am very proud to serve my second term as Board President. I have been working as an artist my entire life, but as an artist who has always been way too insecure to label themselves as such. Thinking about art as a practice and not simply a product has really helped me.

Mindfulness has also been an important practice for my mental health and also in understanding others’ perspectives. Both aspects, alongside open dialogues are at the heart of what Compassion Project does. We meditate together, we create, we discuss, we support one another and connect. We show up as our dynamic and complex human selves and set emotional containers for brave sharing spaces. This little recipe is essential for our human experience, and I wholeheartedly believe in this practice, so much so that my PhD research has was based on the importance of our programming as a praxis for social utility and wellbeing.

Compassion is a muscle, and we must practice for it to develop. When our country feels so polarized and divided, it’s so important to recognize that there is more that unites us than we may think - connect on those shared values.

-Jesine Munson, Board President

I volunteer for Compassion Project because compassion practices have helped me create a joyful, connected life and I want to share those tools with our community.

-Michelle Potts

My time volunteering and working for the Compassion Project was fulfilling and inspiring. I'm so grateful for the people I met, the mission that brought us together, and the experiences we shared. The ideas, conversations, relationships, and practices I gained from the Compassion Crew better my life every single day. I deeply believe in the need for compassion, art, and mindfulness education to face and solve challenges in our world and in our community. Ultimately, compassion is remembering our common humanity. I hope others will feel called to this work and rally together to support youth and families through compassion education. I highly recommend this organization and deeply believe in the mission! Thank you to all making it possible!

-Tia Goebel, Former Executive Director

Founding the Compassion Project was exactly what I needed, what I felt was needed on a global scale, at that time. The two years spent planning, teaching, collaborating, storytelling, and even painting and installing art, made me a better human when the world felt really hard. I believe compassion is for everyone and to be willing to be curious to uncover another person’s iceberg or at least be willing to acknowledge it exists, is world-changing. Sitting with someone in times of trial is what will move us all forward as human beings. I believed that then and I still do. Go beyond kind- practice compassion to change another person’s life, most likely your own, and the greater good. As I have become a parent x2 since I stepped away from CP, I see the need from a completely different lens. I’m so grateful to see this organization moving forward in such a powerful way.

-Kayte Kaminski, Founder/Former Board Member

My time as a Compassion Project board member connected me to some of the most caring, creative, and committed folks I know. Whether helping with community workshops, fundraising during Give Big, or program planning, the supportive team was in it together. Everyone’s unique skill set, interests, and personality was respected and celebrated. Because I value the power of compassion and the helpful tools of art and mindfulness, this was a great organization for my first board experience.

-Lavonne Rus-Ogilvie, Former Board Member

Compassion Project fell into my lap like a snowflake onto an outstretched mitten. I had always admired the artistic expression in
their installations around Bozeman, but it wasn’t until I went to my
first workshop that I could feel the impact it could have on my life.

It was a typical Monday night, I had a long workday at the ER and I
was feeling disconnected from my community and frustrated with my job. When I walked into that first workshop, I immediately felt at home. Welcomed and warmed, even though I knew no one. We had completely different jobs and ages, but we all felt a little isolated from our world. Halfway through the night, we felt the security to be
vulnerable and use a paintbrush for the first time in a long time.

It is these spaces, created by Compassion Project, that are little
pockets of people who live in the same community with unique
hardships. We're all looking to keep our souls healthy and connected to humankind.

Are you seeking more meaningful connections? Do you want to feel rooted in our community a little more? That’s what Compassion Project does for me – with just a little paint. 

- Ali Everts, Board Member