The Christchurch Hare Krishna Centre was destroyed in the earthquake of February 2011. This page is to fundraise for the rebuild.
Canterbury
The Christchurch Hare Krishna Centre was destroyed in an earthquake in February 2011. The temple was the centre of our community and the home of our deities, Sri Sri Nitai Gaurachandra.
Those of you visiting this page from overseas might remember hearing about the Christchurch earthquakes in the news. What you might not know is that there were more earthquakes after the first big one—no fewer than 10,000 of them. There were sometimes seven or eight earthquakes a day. Everybody living in Christchurch was scared all the time because each earthquake had the potential to bring major destruction. Eventually one of them did: our temple survived the first earthquake, but the biggest of those 10,000 aftershocks brought it down. You might also not know that Nitai Gaurachandra fell from the altar and were broken that day.
Five years later, the rebuild has finally begun. We have been very lucky to get an insurance payout--lucky because the insurance company went bankrupt after the earthquake. The rebuild is being directed by Ramanuja Prabhu, our Temple President. Things are going well, and we are aiming to open the temple in early 2017. However, we have a problem in completing the temple: we no longer have enough money to finish the building. This is because there was so much red tape to get through before we could start the rebuild (five years worth of red tape!) that the money we were paid through the insurance settlement has depreciated while building costs have risen. We are short NZ$280,000 (US$200,000).
I’ve decided to try and reach to the wider public to try to raise the missing funds. Your donation will be used to complete the interior of the temple, including outfitting two kitchens (one for the devotees and one for the deities). Your donation will also honour the first generation Hare Krishna devotees who worked so hard to establish our temple, and it will be a great gift to second-generation devotees like me who want to pass it on to our children, the third generation.
Donations are payable in New Zealand dollars, as this is a New Zealand-hosted funding site. NZ$100 is equal to US$70 and €65. Please give generously! Please also visit us at our Facebook page for regular updates:
https://www.facebook.com/chchharekrishnacentre/
And even if you can't give anything, you can help us by sharing these links with your friends on your social networking sites, since the more exposure we get, the better.
Thanking you in advance,
Mandira mani dasi
(Dr Mandala White)
My name is Mandira mani. That's me in the profile shot with my two kids, Nadia and Nila. I grew up as part of the Hare Krsna community in Christchurch, New Zealand.
The Christchurch Hare Krishna Centre was destroyed in the earthquake of February 2011. We're currently raising funds to rebuild it.
Fundraising extension 11 October 2016
Dear valued donors,
We have decided to extend our fundraiser until the end of 2016. This is because we have a number of people in the wings who are interested in becoming donors, and who need a place where they can make a donation should they decide to do so. You can still help us to increase our donations by sharing this givealittle page with your family and friends (if you have not already done so).
Things are going very well with the rebuild: the scaffolding is removed from the building, and the insulation is going in. There will be ways to get practically involved in preparing the building for the opening (working bees and such), so if you happen to be living locally and want to take part please do so. I'll post updates when these events are taking place. The first to mark in your diary is on Sunday 23/10/16: we need to get the interior of the building cleaned up before the builders put in the jib and the plasterers start their work. You can contact me on:
with any questions.
We look forward to seeing you at the opening (3 - 5 March 2017), if not before that.
Thank you again for your support!
Mandira
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