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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I understand it was/is a terrible thing but I am
wondering about all the money pouring into an area that didn't have that much to
start with. The corruption is going to be enormous I fear especially with the UN
involved. I wonder how much good will be done in the long run. How many thatched
roofs will all this money pay for?? The selling of a church is a one
time effort..there are many churches that were already there and will continue
to be there long after all the aid is stolen. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>PK</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=deco@moscow.com href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">Art Deco</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Vision 2020</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, January 12, 2005 6:07
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Attention Area
Churches: Tsunami Relief</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>
<P class=subhed>SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER</P>
<P class=rddateline>Tuesday, January 11, 2005 · Last updated 12:56 p.m. PT</P>
<P class=rdheadline><STRONG><FONT size=6>Canadian Buddhists sell temple to
raise $450,000 in aid</FONT></STRONG></P>
<P class=rdbyline>THE ASSOCIATED PRESS</P><!--BEGIN ARTICLE-->
<P>BURNABY, British Columbia -- A small Buddhist congregation in this
Vancouver suburb has sold one of its temples to raise money for tsunami
victims.</P>
<P><STRONG><FONT size=5>Abbot Thick Nguyen gave $450,000 - all the proceeds
from sale of the Vietnamese Buddhist Congregation's temple in this Fraser
Valley town - to the Canadian Red Cross on Monday.</FONT></STRONG></P>
<P>The small group still has its main temple here.</P>
<P>"This is phenomenal. It's one of the largest, if not the largest, donations
the Canadian Red Cross has received from anyone in British Columbia," Red
Cross spokeswoman Carmen MacKenzie said.</P>
<P>A Vancouver-area Tibetan Buddhist group agreed to purchase the temple after
media reports about the planned sale.</P>
<P>The subsidiary temple had been on the market for a year to raise funds for
a larger replacement. Thick Nguyen told the congregation on New Year's Day he
had decided to accept the highest offer and donate the proceeds to tsunami
relief.</P>
<P>The contribution is partly to thank the people of the Philippines,
Indonesia and Malaysia for their help in the 1970s, the abbot said through an
interpreter. Three decades ago, he said, these nations accepted him and others
fleeing the Communist government in Vietnam.</P>
<P>"When the abbot made his announcement, a lot of people dropped their jaws,
but after a day went by, everybody began supporting him wholeheartedly," Dr.
Vi Liet Nguyen, a temple board member, told the Vancouver Sun.</P>
<P>"The idea of giving $500,000 to help survivors of the tsunami is not
unprecedented, but the idea of giving up a whole temple to help victims
touched a lot of people around the world," said Phien Nguyen, a director of
the Vietnamese Buddhist group.</P><!--END ARTICLE--></FONT></DIV>
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