[Open Centre] Love and Fun Raising Update

Dear friends,

Kellie-ji & Gopi-ji have been leading the Open Centre Fund-Raising group, where about 20 people were involved in searching for bigger fund sources from foundations, institutions, etc.  Kellie-ji wrote an email to the Fund-Raising group last week, with beautiful words expressing well where we are at with the funds search for the Open Centre, so I would like to share this email with you, as the essence of this present newsletter.

All together, we can make the Open Centre happen...

Wishing you all a very good, restful and nurturing Christmas & New Year's period.

-Benoit
for the Open Centre newsletter team


Email of Kellie:
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Dear Ones,

I hope this letter finds you all well and joyful...or at least getting enough, or a lot of, rest. I am well...a bit busier than I like to be, but as is life at certain times. Like the weather, my days are unpredictable yet glorious if looked at as such. I am trying to see all of the challenges and obstacles as teachings in their own right. There is a lot to learn that's for sure.

The holidays are flourishing here.  Our house is always full of guests, and great soups on the stove.  It is nice, but not cold enough...almost like being in Lucknow...OK not quite that bad, but it is 65 degrees F (18 degrees C) out and it is December in North Carolina! It is hard to believe that I was sunbathing yesterday, two weeks before Christmas.  I love it and hate it at the same time.  My body is confused that's for sure.  I look forward to having some fires on the wood stove soon...hopefully.

I just wanted to touch base with you all and let you know that our efforts to fund the Open Centre are still in motion.  However, we have changed our course of action slightly.  After researching fundraising and personally speaking with fundraisers, we have discovered the best approach to our goal is going to be on a grass roots/ interpersonal level.  We were in the process of looking for funding via major foundations, corporations, and philanthropists, but have since been advised that our efforts would be better used in other arenas.

What this means is that if we want this to work we need a lot of help from the Sangha....A LOT.  This does not mean we need a lot of help from one person...not at all.  No one person should carry this alone, for that is not the intention of this project.  It is light and fun when we all team together on this journey.  And the journey itself is joyful and rewarding in its own right.

Essentially what we would like to see is people in every country holding events that give the world a taste of Open Dharma.  Thereby, exposing more and more individuals to our work until the money is raised.  We have been told by other NGOs in our same situation that the money is out there, and there are people just waiting to fund a project like ours.  We just have to find them.  The only way we can find them is to expose ourselves to as much of the world as possible.  In order to do this we have to be holding events all over the planet to get our name out there and on peoples tongues, hearts and minds.

It is our hope that individual sangha members will host various types events from Indian dinners, yoga classes, cocktails parties, potlucks, yatras, a day of silence etc, and give people a taste Open Dharma's magic.  If many sangha members live in the same city, i.e. London or San Francisco, then they can join their forces and create a dynamite event to bring in loads of folks.  Gopi and I will put together a Public Relations kit to give to attendants at the events, an outline of information each host can present at the event, and hopefully we can find a slide show of sorts to distribute to you all as well.  [We already have a beautiful 8-minutes film (available on the website) that we can provide in DVD format.]  We are also hoping that one or two people from each country (that have been through Open Dharma retreats) will be a contact/ coordination person for all of the people in that country who are hosting events...a national fundraising coordinator.

This can be fun and delightful if we create this planetary web of support for each other.  I hope you guys are game to help.  After many months of researching fundraising we have come to the conclusion that it is truly only with your help that we can make this happen.

It isn't that huge of a task, for if 1000 sangha members raised $1000 dollars each we could buy the Centre!  That is nothing really!  I know we are up to it.  If you have any ideas or comments please respond.  Lets get this web weaved over the entire world.  The sooner we build more steam the closer we are to our goal!  I love you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Love and Light,

Kellie
purepurity1 (AT) gmail.com
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