Make our dream come true - Pledge by August 1st
Dear Friends
I want to share a dream with you.
Imagine having our own Buddhist centre right in the heart of Coogee. A beautiful, aesthetically designed oasis where you and others can come and be supported in a path of never ending growth and development.
Seventeen years ago we began offering meditation and dharma study at the Coogee Croquet Club. It was a wonderful base for us and we enjoyed a very good relationship with them in a lovely green and peaceful environment. Our community gained momentum over the years with many of you becoming loyal friends.
More recently, and after careful discussion with our management committee, we took a lease on 57 Dudley Street so that we could run our own program and create our own aesthetic. Our sangha (community) continued to grow and flourish and now, we have the exciting possibility of purchasing our own home for The Coogee Buddhist Centre at 116S Brook Street Coogee.
A de-commissioned electricity substation located right in the heart of the Coogee commercial area is being sold by Ausgrid and represents an extraordinary opportunity. The auction was cancelled twice and we’re now waiting to hear when it comes back onto the market. This provides time for us to develop a well gestated strategy to acquire it.
Put simply, it is a wonderful two level, solid brick, blank canvas ripe for a beautiful, creatively realised transformation into a place of practice where we can grow and develop together around the inspiration of the Buddha.
We currently pay $75,000 per year rent so this can be directed towards a mortgage but we’ll still need your help if we are to realise this very significant step.
We invite you to make this opportunity a reality, and are writing to you to see if you would be able to pledge some funds towards this exciting project in one of the following ways:
1) Are you able to make a pledge to provide a formal ‘Dharma Loan’ to help with the purchase of a new centre?
For example, to enable this purchase to go ahead we would need 30 people to make an investment of $20k or more. The loans would be repaid as funds become available and according to individual needs. (several of our UK Buddhist centres have been successfully financed this way including Colchester and very recently Tiratnaloka). We would repay the loan with or without interest depending on your requirements.
2) Are you able to pledge a donation towards the capital required to purchase a new centre?
This can be a small or large gift, but whatever the size they will all help us towards having enough deposit to make the purchase.
Your pledges at this time will help us understand how much we would need to raise from other sources.
Our Buddhist Centre is 'powered by generosity’ - and any acts of financial generosity will make a big difference, no matter how large or small – and every dollar goes towards facilitating the spreading of the Dharma.
If you do not have large savings or investments and so cannot help in the ways mentioned above, you can still make a difference and offer regular Dana. As we will need an increase in regular income to meet increased running costs.
3. You can set up a monthly donation to The Coogee Buddhist Centre using this link:
https://coogeebuddhistcentre.com/donations/donate
If you already make a regular contribution to the Centre then you may wish to consider increasing your existing monthly Dana.
There will also be ample opportunities to be generous with time and expertise once a new building is secured, to help transform it into our home, imbued with metta.
If you have any questions, or would like to know more, please contact our Chair, Dhammalata info.coogeebuddhistcentre.com in the first instance.
Please indicate that you will make a pledge by clicking on this link:
There will be a meeting in due course with an opportunity to discuss the potential property.
However, we would appreciate your responses by Saturday August 1st so that we can be in a position to bid for the property when the time comes.
Thank you for considering this request, we hope to hear from you soon!
With gratitude,
The Trustees of the Coogee Buddhist Centre.