How you can help
From dream to reality.... Our new home all being well within the coming weeks.
The great news is that thanks to YOU we have raised enough for our deposit and are just finalising the arrangments of the purchase of our first owned building for Ratnasambhava Centre.
With amazing efforts from our community we raised the deposit for the house that seemed most suitable for the Centre and we will be continuing with our fundraising efforts to save so we can install a disabled ramp and disabled toilet facilities.
Can You Help?
We appreciate that a lot of information follows. Please take the time to read on even if you feel you can’t help. You may be surprised at some of our suggestions and find a way you can help
This is how we have raised money so far:
- Take Part in Our Thousand Pound Challenge: The community is very excited about this and have already started to think of ways they could achieve this. Tracey has been making crotchet brooches and felt pictures, Sally is doing a sponsored slim and hopes to loose 6 stone, Sue has made wheat bags to sell, Chowang has joined a temping agency and has worked 2 days so far to raise money, Andrea is making jewellery and Jane is making Christmas gift tags.
- Organise a fund raising event: We have raised a massive amount of money so far from individual members and the community organising fund raising events. We have held a charity auction (and Elaine’s sponsored head shave), two sponsored walks, Kate ran in the London Marathon, car boot sales, garden parties and coffee mornings and fetes. The Crowne Plaza Hotel have a function room and pool that we could hire for a Fund raising event. There is talk of another fund raising meal possibly at Madhyamaka Centre, Pocklington.
- Donate Unwanted Items to the Centre: We have been given the following items in no particular order: a narrow boat, musical instruments (a saxophone, guitars, a violin, a double bass and a digeridoo), a mobility scooter, a telescope, furniture, antique china, antiquarian books. We also an ongoing steady monthly income from Amazon where we sell second hand DVDs, books and CDs, so if you have any of these to donate this is also very helpful. You can either give us unwanted items and we sell them to raise funds or you might help us by putting items on E-Bay to sell or by helping us advertise all your wonderful donations.
- Make a Donation: Make a donation to the Centre and if you are a UK tax payer, complete the Gift Aid declaration, which gives us an additional 28% on top of your donation. You can do this via the website: http://www.meditationinleeds.org/fundraising-development/ or send a cheque made payable to ‘Ratnasambhava Centre’ to the address below.
- Loose Change Box: If each of us had a jar that we put £1 of loose change in per week, in a month we could raise £4. If 10 people did this, it would be an extra £40 per month. Every little bit helps.
- Become a Friend of Ratnsambhava Centre: Donate on a regular basis by setting up a monthly standing order. This really helps us as we can forecast what our monthly income will be. If you would like to do this, please e-mail Jane Kaye and she will send you a form.
- Buy a Centre Card: Pay a monthly standing order in return for a Centre Card. There are two types: ‘the deluxe’ (£50) per month that covers General (weekly evening classes) and Foundation Programme (Sunday) and discounted Day Courses; or ‘the standard’ (£25) which just covers General Programme across the city and discounted Day Courses. Both options are a wonderful way to support the centre as we have steady monthly income from these.
- Sell Blank Greeting Cards to Friends and Family: We have pre-made up boxes of beautiful photographic cards that you can take to work and leave on a table in the staff room. They cost £1 each and have been met with much enthusiasm by all.
- Support the Centre Shop: If you can buy any items: books, food or gifts from the Centre Shop, this is fantastic and helps our important work. Especially with Christmas coming up …
- Buy On-Line: We have registered Ratnasambhava Centre with www.easyfundraising.org.uk
Select the tab or button that says 'Find A Cause' and type in Ratnasambhava. The Centre should then come up and you can choose it to be the cause you support.
You then fill in some details: name, e-mail address and password. Then it should say when you log in to the site: Welcome <Name>, the cause you are supporting is Ratnasambhava Kadampa Buddhist Centre.
Then when you want to buy anything, make sure you are logged in and choose the company you wish to purchase from. Buy your item. It should then show up with what you have raised with your purchase. It costs you nothing.
Over 600 retailers are registered and everytime you buy from them on-line, you can raise funds. You could do Christmas shopping on-line and help in this way. Also you can use the charity search engine and raise funds just by searching for sites on the Web: make 10 searches a day and raise £20 a year for the Centre.
- Join Our Bob-a-Job Team: We are a small group who have various skills that we provide for people in return for a fee which we donate to the Centre. Can you garden, clean, paint, iron, do DIY, type, etc. We hope to set up a bank of services we can offer to others and then ask friends or members of Centre if they have any work we can do.
- Make an Interest Free Loan to the Centre: Make an interest free loan of any amount to the Centre, ideally for a period of five years or more.
- Become a Resident: We need about 12 residents to move into our new Centre. If you would like to become a resident, please can you complete ‘an intention to move in form’. We hope to move in Feb 2010. You could also invite family and friends to come and stay at the hotel as casual visitors once we’re up-and-running.
- Come to the Centre Cherishing Days: We hold monthly Cherishing Days at the Centre where we come together as a community to engage in spiritual activities, socialise and work as volunteers. The next Centre Cherishing date is to be confirmed. When we do have it all are welcome.
- Become a Volunteer: The Centre is run entirely by volunteers and we need more help. Would you like to be the shop keeper one Saturday afternoon per month? Can you help with distributing publicity in your area? Can you make a decent cup of tea and help wash up at one of our weekend Day Courses or Branch evening classes? Do you know how to keep financial accounts? Plus many more opportunities…
Other ideas suggested at the meeting:
- If you are having a big birthday – ask for donations instead of gifts
- Make a donation to the Centre this year, instead of sending Christmas cards
- Benefit gig with bands
- Take part in Chinese Dragon Boat Race event
- Walk the Three Peaks and get sponsored for it
- Busking
- Economise: go without some of your usual luxuries and donate what you have saved at the end of the month to the Centre.
If you are interested in helping and want to be kept up-to-date with what is happening with respect to our new Centre and fund-raising; or if you think you can help in anyway, please contact:
Jane Kaye, Administrative Director, c/o Ratnasambhava Centre, 578 Meanwood Road, Meanwood, Leeds, LS6 4AZ
E-mail: admin@meditationinleeds.org
If you would like to discuss, please e-mail and then we can arrange a time to speak in person or over the phone.
To become a 'Friend of Ratnasambhava Centre' and make regular contributions to support the running and development of the centre click here to download a form
"Only by creating peace within our own mind and helping others do the same can we hope to achieve peace in this world." - Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
Leeds is Britain's third largest city, with a population of over three quarters of a million. Yet unlike many other cities, we do not have an established Kadampa Buddhist Centre.
Over the past seventeen years, local Dharma students have been working hard to create the causes for a Buddhist Centre for the people of Leeds. Temporary Centres in rented accommodation have come and gone - with long gaps in between.
Now it looks like we have a chance to establish a Centre that will be a stable source of refuge for generations to come.
Three years ago we set up a Centre in rented accommodation in Meanwood, and happily this is now the focus of a strong Dharma community. There are 4 branch classes, Foundation Programme classes, regular day courses, and bigger courses and empowerments in outside venues. We are now ready to take things forward by purchasing a building where all this and much more will take place.
We have found a very beautiful and spacious property in Oakwood that will be a perfect home for Ratnasambhava Centre. This sort of property will provide:
* A large meditation room, ideal for courses and empowerments
* An easily accessible venue, 2.5 miles from Leeds City Centre, in Oakwood
* Accommodation for residential visitors
* Accommodation for 14 residents and the teacher
* A lovely room and beautiful garden for a World Peace Cafe
* A library where visitors can read Geshe Kelsang's books
* An organic food and Dharma Shop
* A base from which to offer school visits, hospital chaplaincy, and other ways of reaching out to our community
* Easy access by public transport
* Disabled access
* A stable 'Mother Centre' from which current and future branches can grow
* The facilities to train qualified Dharma Teachers
* A focus and meeting space for Dharma students throughout Leeds to be able to meditate, study and work together
Imagine how these facilities would improve life for people in Leeds. Many people, young and old, disabled and able-bodied, Buddhist and non-Buddhist, would be able to use the Centre. Those interested in spiritual development would be able to spend time with like-minded friends whenever they wished. There would be more study programmes, drop-in classes and chanted meditations held throughout the week, and retreats, courses and empowerments all year round, so that all levels of interest would be catered for. And those who do not wish to study or meditate could still benefit from this oasis of peace and harmony, by visiting the World Peace Cafe, enjoying some delicious food, and making connections with people at the Centre which might help them in years to come.
Everyone who receives benefit from hearing teachings and improving their minds through meditation will then have a positive influence on their friends, their families, their colleagues - everyone they meet. In this way we can create a network of peace throughout the city.
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, who founded this Centre, gave it the name 'Ratnasambhava Centre'. Ratnasambhava is the Buddha the purified aggregate of feeling. His name indicates that over the years many people in this area will be able to achieve this goal, through the kindness of those who help right now to establish the Centre.
Making Money Meaningful
“From giving comes wealth ...” - Nagarjuna
“Continuous drops of water falling into a pot will make it full. First there is one drop, then two, three, four, until the pot is overflowing.” - Buddha
Please consider making a donation to the Centre, of whatever amount you can afford, whether it is a one-off donation or a monthly standing order. Or if you can offer a loan, for whatever period you wish, or pledge to give at a later date, this would be of great benefit.
If you would like to make a donation via Paypal, please use the button below, or for any other ways of helping, please contact us. We'll be very happy to hear from you.
Thank you for your kindness.
Ratnasambhava Meditation Centre
578 Meanwood Road,
Meanwood,
Leeds, LS6 4AZ
Tel. 0113 224 2902
info@meditationinleeds.org