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Building Our New Residential Center: Expanding Opportunities to Heal and Transform
We still need your Help!
Your financial support of Great Cloud Refuge is deeply appreciated. Our initial funding goal of $750,000 was met through generous offerings, and will fund approximately 85% of the cost of the project. With these funds and the potential of additional contributions and member and/or bank loans, we are moving forward with building of Great Cloud Refuge. Additional donations to build Great Cloud will help pay for the increased cost of fire safety expenses, the caretaker studio, handicap access for our dining room and kitchen, and other unexpected costs that we become aware of in the process of building. It will also help us avoid or reduce the amount of debt that we might need to incur to complete our project.
Our Progress
We are happy to report the current progress on our community’s endeavor to build Great Cloud refuge.
We have broken ground! Grading has begun, with work on the Great Cloud Refuge foundation and enhanced rain garden to be performed over the next three weeks. With the completion of this work in mid-October, we will then be ready to begin framing and more as the hurricane season ends.
We are grateful to have strong project leadership, flexibility in operations, and support of the community as we patiently move forward to make Great Cloud Refuge a reality. We will continue to keep you informed of our progress.
When complete, the new Great Cloud Refuge building on our Tampa Center Campus will include: 4,000 square feet for sleeping rooms to house 24-42 people, additional spaces for individual meditation, and flexible gathering spots for meditation or small group meetings. (Please click below to see the attached beautiful architectural renderings for four views of the completed building and landscaping).
Please click here to hear our teacher Fred speak about his vision for retreats at the Practice Center and here for a Q&A with Fred.
Our Vision
We envision Great Cloud Refuge as providing the capacity to offer sleeping accommodations for up to 42 retreatants for a whole range of Dharma activities and study currently limited by our access to outside facilities. Some examples of what Great Cloud Refuge would make possible are:
- A larger number of 2-, 3-, and 4-day retreats;
- Individual retreats to explore specific areas of healing and transformation under the guidance of a teacher/mentor;
- Accommodations for visiting teachers who can offer teachings at the Center;
- A wide range of mindful living weekend course offerings, e.g. transforming relationships, working with emotions, mindful parenting, mindful leadership, etc., that would appeal to both Buddhist practitioners and the general public, and would contribute to the happiness and well-being of our broader Florida community.
…and other purposes yet to be envisioned.
Informed by the advice of architects, construction experts, and experienced retreat facility managers, we have undertaken a thorough process of assessing how the space can be used to maximum advantage, serving the sangha’s needs for years to come. The result is a lovely 4,000 square foot space that will support our retreat aspirations and both blend with and enhance our current Practice Center campus. We hope to begin offering retreats at Great Cloud in the first quarter of 2019.
