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| By G. Michael Dobbs Managing Editor SPRINGFIELD Thanks to the generosity of its congregation, the Vietnamese Buddhist Association of Greater Springfield will be moving into a new home. The Association has been renting a space on Belmont Avenue in which to conduct Sunday worship services and recently finalized the purchase of a former branch bank building at the corner of Berkshire Avenue and Bay Street. The Buddhist temple serves 250 families or about 1,250 people in the area. Chau Van, the former executive director of the Vietnamese American Civic Association and the daughter of the president of the Association, explained to Reminder Publications that the group turned to the Vietnamese community in the region when securing a conventional bank loan proved difficult. The building cost $225,000 and the Association had raised $20,000, Van said. Members then asked people to make loans to the Association to reach their goal. Van said that some people loaned several thousand dollars. In her case, she took loans out against her house and lent the Association $99,000. The Association will be presenting fund raisers in the next several months in Springfield, Worcester and Boston to pay back the loans. Van said the fund raisers in Worcester and Boston will feature concerts starring Vietnamese pop singers from California. The Association plans to pay back the personal loans within five years. Van said the Association recently began cleaning the building. The roof and central air conditioning system both need repair and will be renovated as soon as the Association can afford it. "We will fix it a little at a time," she said. The congregation will continue to use the Belmont Street location through the end of July when it will switch over to its own building. A Buddhist monk from Vietnam has come to set up and run the temple and Buddhist statues from Vietnam and China have been ordered. Van said there will be no formal ribbon cutting until next year, when the various renovations to the building will be completed. The Association is looking for an attorney to volunteer expertise on some legal matters. Interested parties should call Van at 204-3084. |