NEWS

After Boiler Burst, Canadian Buddhist Center Gets Help from Union Friends

By Justin Whitaker | | Buddhistdoor Global

The Regina Buddhist Centre lost its boiler, its main source of heat, in early December. After pleas to the public, union workers currently in the midst of a labor dispute came to the Buddhist center to offer their help. The workers, members of the Unifor Local 594 which serves the nearby Consumer’s Co-operative Oil Refinery, quickly removed the broken boiler. The volunteers installed a temporary natural gas heater to keep the building habitable until a new boiler can be installed. "It's livable, we don't have to walk around in parkas and toques,” said Ken Crowe, a patron of the Buddhist Centre of Regina. “It's coming together really, really nicely." (CTV News) Rev. Uttam Barua, the center’s abbot, found the boiler in flames on 12 December and immediately shut it down. Since then, the center has put out a plea on GoFundMe to help raise the estimated CA$45,000 (US$34,600) and has currently raised about one fourth of its goal. A second fundraiser, on Facebook, has brought in an additional CA$500 (US$385). In the meantime, all events scheduled over the holiday period have been canceled as the center sought to determine when it could reopen to the public.