{"id":1952,"date":"2011-11-16T16:09:23","date_gmt":"2011-11-16T16:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/projectconversion\/?p=1952"},"modified":"2011-11-16T22:54:30","modified_gmt":"2011-11-16T22:54:30","slug":"help-save-the-jain-center-of-greater-phoenix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/11\/help-save-the-jain-center-of-greater-phoenix.html","title":{"rendered":"Help Save the Jain Center of Greater Phoenix"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Every month, I look for an opportunity to give back and show my appreciation to my host faith for those 30-31 days. Today, I found a way for not only me, but for all of us to reach out and help a community in need.<\/p>\n<p>Meet the Jain Center of Greater Phoenix in Arizona.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jcgp.org\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1953\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/291\/2011\/11\/004-300x143.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"143\" \/><\/a>The Jain center was built in the 2006-7 real estate boom when costs were high and completed in 2008. Given these years of high cost and economic downturn, we have a perfect storm for difficult times. Because of hard times on the 150+ Jain family members which represent the Jain sangh (congregation) here, the community is struggling to make payments on the construction loan. In other words, if something doesn&#8217;t happen soon, they face losing their temple. Sounds a lot like many Americans right now with the risk of losing their homes. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jcgp.org\/JCGP-Frequently%20Asked%20Questions-November%209.pdf\">Here is a link<\/a> with more information.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>What makes this particularly urgent is the fact that, according to my research, this is the only temple in the state of Arizona. There may be a few Jain community centers (couldn&#8217;t find any), but this temple is where ceremonies, rituals, and worship is performed and the housing of the Jina idols as well. The temple <strong><em>must<\/em><\/strong> be there for the Jain community. It isn&#8217;t like a church in this country where you might bounce from one to another and it&#8217;s a matter of crossing the street. If the Jains of Arizona do not have this temple, where will they go?<\/p>\n<p>Personally, I don&#8217;t want them to face that question. We have a unique set-up here. Over the year Project Conversion has developed its own pluralist community we like to call, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Project-Conversion\/168033533223699\">Congregation<\/a>. We come from many faiths and even no faith at all. We share our thoughts and struggles with religion and spirituality on a daily basis and I feel many of us have grown quite close because of that interaction. With over 900 members, we can make a difference and now, I&#8217;m asking you to do just that.<\/p>\n<p>Consider this the Congregation&#8217;s first call for an offering.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/291\/2011\/11\/plate.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1954\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/291\/2011\/11\/plate.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"275\" height=\"183\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The difference is that we aren&#8217;t taking up a collection for our own building fund or to pay a clergy&#8230;<span style=\"color: #ff0000\">we are taking up an offering to help keep another religion&#8217;s temple and faith community alive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the plan. You&#8217;ll love it because it&#8217;s simple. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jcgp.org\/donate.html\">Here is the site link<\/a> for the Jain Center of Greater Phoenix. This takes you to the donation page. You may also mail a donation to the following address:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Jain Center of Greater Phoenix<br \/>\nP.O. Box 64221<br \/>\nPhoenix, AZ 85082<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">This isn&#8217;t about Project Conversion making a difference, that&#8217;s why I didn&#8217;t set up some account so that I could mail a check with that name on it. This is about individuals putting aside differences and supporting another because it&#8217;s the right thing to do. My family is absolutely broke, but I&#8217;m sending in five dollars. Can you do at least that? Can each of you send five dollars to help take the burden off these people who just want a place of their own to worship?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">&#8220;<span style=\"color: #ff0000\">May the whole cosmos be blessed. <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">May all beings engage in each other&#8217;s well-being<\/span><\/strong>. May all weakness, sickness and faults diminish and vanish. May everyone everywhere be healthy, prosper, blissful, and peaceful.<\/span>&#8221; &#8211;Jain prayer for universal peace and friendship<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every month, I look for an opportunity to give back and show my appreciation to my host faith for those 30-31 days. Today, I found a way for not only me, but for all of us to reach out and help a community in need. Meet the Jain Center of Greater Phoenix in Arizona. The&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":437,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[16,578,579,577,795,233,245,297],"class_list":["post-1952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jainism","tag-andrew-bowen","tag-donation","tag-help","tag-jain-center-of-greater-phoenix","tag-jainism","tag-project-conversion","tag-religion","tag-temple"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Help Save the Jain Center of Greater Phoenix - Project Conversion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/11\/help-save-the-jain-center-of-greater-phoenix.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Help Save the Jain Center of Greater Phoenix - Project Conversion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every month, I look for an opportunity to give back and show my appreciation to my host faith for those 30-31 days. 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