Shaun Alsford and Sandra Vandenhoff from Calgary are using our new fundraising platform to raise one million dollars to support the rebuilding of Yasodhara Ashram’s Temple of Divine Light. How are they doing this? One small step at a time.
“It seems ludicrous in some respects,” says Shaun, “but there’s a part of me that thinks we can do this and it will work and by keeping the suggested donation small – only three dollars – everyone can participate.”
After seeing efforts to raise funds for the Temple, she wanted to get involved. “When the Temple burned, I felt such an urgency to have it rebuilt to recreate that warm, quiet feeling of connection I had there. When the opportunity came up to help the Ashram raise funds, I wondered just how I was going to do it. The answer that came was one loonie at a time.”
She got in touch with our fundraising team who has just put together a new method for anyone to raise funds for the Ashram anytime throughout the year. The new platform is connected to our CanadaHelps donations page and replaces our annual Yasodhara 108 fundraiser.
Sandra is doing what she can to spread the word about their million-dollar fundraiser. “Contributing to this fundraiser is open to everyone,” she says. “And really that’s true about the Temple. It represents something available for everyone and anyone who wants to make a connection to the Divine. The Temple has touched people all over the world and each one of those people knows a handful of people who have witnessed first-hand the changes we’ve made in our lives with the support of the teachings.”
“This is a way for us to ask that handful of people for support in a small way. And they can ask their friends, and they can ask their friends. We need the ripple effect to spread and make a big impact,” says Sandra.
Find out more about their Million-Dollar campaign or sign up to start your own fundraising project.