The Dragon's Head Blog

Centre volunteers have been busy working long days harvesting and preparing the sap collected from our property’s maple trees. Once in the evaporator the sap is boiled down until it reaches the right level of sweetness. The delicious liquid is then brought over to the kitchen to be filtered and bottled.

A little over 700 people sat down in the Banquet Hall at the International Centre on February 21st, 2016 for 8 courses of delicious Chinese vegetarian dishes. Followed by about a 100 volunteers that helped with the setup, serving, bussing, dishwashing and the many many other tasks that are a part of this wonderful annual event. […]

  As a result of corrections in the sitting meditation and in my tai chi, a new part of my back opened up that had been hurting before. — Matt from Oregon       You have to pay attention to your task, watch the other people, if you want to learn about something and […]

Awaiting the arrival of 800 guests for Lantern Festival Jai Lunch.

The International Centre in Orangeville, Ontario is pleased to be hosting this year’s Lantern Festival on Sunday, February 21st at 12 noon. Everyone is welcome to this event, which will feature a traditional jai banquet, chanting, entertainment, and of course lantern sales! The Lantern Festival is a Chinese tradition going back many centuries. Typically held […]

The FLK Archive Project is an initiative to identify, organize and preserve documents that are essential to the history of the organization. This includes photos, videos, pamphlets, newsletters, annual reports, correspondence and many other materials. Allison Hasselfield is a volunteer at the International Centre who is currently involved in getting this project off the ground; Tales […]

The Resident Volunteers and Staff of the International Centre wish all a healthy and safe 2016! Volunteers Réal and Chris are enjoying putting the finishing touches to the sugar shack and educating young visitors on the maple syrup project. With the woodshed completed, Jesse is on a well deserved vacation.

Coming to the International Centre in Orangeville as a volunteer, I didn’t know what to expect or what I would be doing for the next six months. It only took a couple weeks for me to be pulled into the FLK Archive Project. Since I’m currently living at the International Centre, Southern Ontario seemed like […]

Exciting news! The sugar shack construction has begun in the maple forest at the International Centre. All interested craftsmen/women are welcome to come and help out when you can 🙂 Please phone Centre  ahead to confirm: 1-877-585-8822  

There may not be any programs from November to April at the International Centre Orangeville, except Fung Loy Kok week and Lantern Festival in mid-February however, the Centre remains open. There are still many projects to do around the Centre; just to name a few: Fix and repair rooms in the main building Building sugar […]

The first annual Autumn Jai Festival was a great success!  On October 17 at the International Centre near Orangeville, FLK hosted just under 1300 guests, mostly from the Chinese community, (most of whom were not familiar with our organization), for one of our biggest Jais ever. it was a sold out event and guests were not deterred […]

Buckets & buckets  have been filled with vegetables cut all kinds of ways… Bags have been filled with mushrooms, jai balls, more mushrooms… whatever could be prepared more time ahead is about done, so on to the peppers today, which means we’re getting closer to the Big Day.   Over 1200 people are expected to […]

The preparations for the Autumn Moon Festival Jai dishes are well underway. Working on the Jai duck & chicken appetizers today. The vegetables should be arriving soon, so… Enjoy the fall colours on your drive up & come join us in the kitchen! Chop a little, learn a lot. And of course,  your helping hands […]

A morning-long power cut didn’t stop 61 participants continuing to benefit from a lok hup program at the International Centre. As the light darkened in the Quiet Cultivation Centre practice hall, program leader Chris Lewis suggested we take our lok hup outside. Centre staff and volunteers also kept everything working, serving breakfast and lunch despite […]

1990 2015

Staff and volunteers at the International Centre near Orangeville celebrated Canada Day in style with a barbecue dinner and red and white cupcakes followed by a bonfire party with fireworks. Canada’s flag also flew proudly at the centre entrance during the day and we had several groups of people visiting our property for the national […]

It’s hard to comprehend the thousands of volunteer hours that often go unnoticed behind the scenes including very unglamorous tasks like washing windows and window screens; and then there’s also the necessary expenses to hire out tasks that volunteers couldn’t possibly do like re-painting the weathered red trim on the classical Chinese roof tiers of […]

A group of leaders from Dunedin, the site of our new International Centre in Florida, has visited us in Toronto. Fung Loy Kok Institute of Taoism president Marsha Eberhardt and executive director Andrew Hung gave the American group a warm welcome, hosting them to a dim sum lunch before a tour of our headquarters at […]