KMC Long Island is in the process of re-designing its main center in Huntington so that gradually, step-by-step, with every improvement it will transform into a precious Kadampa Temple. In 2018-19, we gave the exterior of the building a beautiful new facade on New York Avenue. In November 2020, the golden Deer and Dharma Wheel were installed on the roof above the entranceway, radiating beautiful light rays out in all directions and blessing the minds of all those passing by so that they may receive indestructible imprints for liberation and enlightenment.

Now we want to keep going and turn our attention to the exterior back of the building, to make the back of our building match our front. Our 2019 year-end fundraising objective was to raise $25,000 to renovate the back of the KMC-LI building and we came very close to reaching that goal. We thank our kind and generous benefactors for their contributions. The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 halted many of our in-person classes and forced our Center to move our educational programs online. We are grateful to all our members who kept supporting us and attending meditation classes throughout the pandemic.

Money that we generate during our year-end fundraising campaigns typically gets reinvested back into the building, supporting construction costs to fix problems, make steady improvements, beautify the building, and enhance the overall experience for our community members. Funds are also used to purchase equipment and technology necessary for administering LIVESTREAM classes, and to support our publicity efforts, outreach, and branch building.

We ask you to please consider making your year-end charitable gift to further this mission and to keep our crown jewel – KMC Long Island in Huntington – shining brightly, continuing to attract new people and introducing them to the transformative power of Kadampa Buddhism. Your charitable donation plays an important role in helping Dharma to flourish in Long Island and beyond. Your support allows us to continue offering a place of refuge where the paths of wisdom and compassion are taught to help all living beings solve their human problems and find a meaningful life. Thank you for your kindness and generosity.

Our building project and ongoing maintenance repairs and upgrades has gone very smoothly thanks to generous donations from members of our community, people volunteering time to help, and the dedication of our Admin Team and the builders. With the glorious, golden Deer and Dharma Wheel being installed on the roof on NKT International Temples Day (Nov. 7, 2020), we completed the finishing touches to our facade!

The Dharma Wheel appears above the doorway of traditional Kadampa Buddhist Temples, in between a male and female deer. These sacred objects have many levels of meaning. The male deer symbolizes compassion, the female deer symbolizes wisdom, and the Dharma Wheel in the center symbolizes the union of compassion and wisdom — the state of full enlightenment. Buddha’s teachings, known as “Dharma,” are said to be like a precious wheel, because wherever they travel, people have the opportunity to put the teachings into practice and experience deep peace and happiness. Anyone who sees these precious ornaments places imprints on their consciousness for liberation and enlightenment.

Completed:

• Demolition
• Footing and foundation in front of the whole building
• Roof coping and drains
• Sidewalk and three planter boxes in front
• Installation of electric for exterior lighting
• Framing new soffits for air-conditioning and new LED lighting in back wall of the gompa for maximum soundproofing and efficiency of HVAC
• Insulation of the entire building facade for efficient heating and cooling as well as using, in the interior walls, a special soundproofing sheetrock called “Quiet Rock” with soundproof caulking at the seams
• Wood cladding for the angled walls and knee walls below the windows
• Special windows, insulated for both heat, cold and sound transference
• Stucco that will has the look of limestone
• Exterior LED strip illuminating the whole area in front of the building
• Welded base for the Deer and Dharma Wheel adornments
• Custom-made door handle
• Electronic numeric keypad at entrance
• New $50K Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system throughout the building (installed August 2019)
• Kadampa Meditation Center 7″ metal-letter signage (installed Sept 11, 2019)
• Deer and Dharma Wheel adornments (installed Nov 7, 2020)
• Removed old stucco from the back of the building, replacing the decaying surface and repainting the back of the building (Fall 2020)
• Shrubs/landscaping (September 2019 and Summer 2020)

Projects Still to be Completed:

• Adding windows into the office space through the old garage opening; to improve the working environment
• New roof coping; so water does not harm the back wall of the building
• Closing up the old garage opening to avoid potential water flooding through that opening, as experienced in the past
• Fixing the drainage problem on the roof so we don’t have a leak or flood in the front as we did during a storm last spring

As always, thank you for your extremely generous donations that make these ongoing renovations and upgrades possible.

This building, unlike the ones that surround it, is not an ordinary space. It is way beyond ordinary.

With more than seven million people living in Long Island and Huntington being one of its premier destination towns, we are now poised to benefit more people in the local area and we are looking forward to the opportunity to function as a gateway for Kadampa Meditation Centers and branches throughout Long Island and the greater New York area.

So many people who visit our Center live out east or on the south shore, or live and work in New York City, in Westchester, Connecticut and New Jersey. By stepping through the door at KMC Long Island, they will be able to find a Kadampa Center near them.

Through the course of a year, tens of thousands of people will see our beautiful building, the deer and Dharma Wheel above the door, and the beautiful Buddha statues and tangkhas in our main gompa, which are visible from the street.

We are located on one of the two main streets in Huntington and so thousands of people will stop in to find out more. It will be so beneficial to amplify our ability to function as a gateway to all Kadampa Centers and branches in Long Island and in the greater New York area.

Please help us to realize this vision.

Any additional funds donated at this point will go towards the remaining improvements to the outside of the building (painting the side and back and landscaping) and future renovations and improvements to the inside. In the future, we hope to install new flooring and renovate the bathrooms. To help us achieve these goals by making a financial gift, please contact our Administration Team at admin@kmcli.org. Thank you for your generous support of Kadampa Meditation Center Long Island.