The Jain Temple in Bartlett, Illinois, which serves over 6,000 people in the greater Chicago area, is one of the first big Jain temples in North America.
And recently, during the Paryushan Parva celebration, it raised $2 million in just two days -- half of it in donations and the rest in interest-free loans. These funds should help expand temple facilities on its 15.4-acre property.
The Jain Society of Metropolitan Chicago, which runs the temple, has also created the largest Jain pathshala (school) outside India. Over 300 children --and adults --avail in a month lessons in Jain religious traditions and history, Gujarati and Hindi
"Many of the teachers are volunteers from our community, and we have many young professionals who were once the students at the temple teaching a new generation," said Dipak Doshi, owner of a pharmaceutical company, who as the chairman of the trustee board recently ran the fundraising camp again. "It is a great thing to see these young people give back to the community."
Shibani Shah, the JSMC youth secretary, is an alumnus of the pathshala.
Volunteers young and old also drove the fundraising drive.
"It is not a small thing to raise $2 million at any time in just about a week," Doshi continued. "It becomes even more difficult during a bad economic situation. But I think the congregation has appreciated the steps the new board of trustees and temple leaders including Atul Shah, our temple president, have made to involve the community at large."
Creating a trusting situation and offering clear details about the money being spent are also important to make any fundraising effective, he added.
The fundraising was boosted by the presence of 17-year-old Eva Mehta, who came to the temple every day during the last week of her 34-day fasting.
"I think the congregation was electrified by her presence," Doshi said. "And the fact that she was so self-effacing, and shunned publicity. Her action created a feeling of great piousness at the temple."
More than 2,400 people attended each day of the eight days of fasting, praying and religious discourses.
While the donations and loans came from the Jains, non-Jains with friends in the community also pitched in. The Jain Society intends to raise a total of $9 million for the construction and expansion program in the next few years.
Since 1993, this facility has become the prime place for religious and educational activity of Jain community in Chicago as well as the mid-west, the temple authorities say. It is not uncommon to see especially in summer Jain families driving over 250 miles to visit the temple.
There are over two dozen Jain temples in America; four of them in New York, three in New Jersey, two each in California, North Carolina, Georgia and Texas. A Jain temple near Phoenix, Arizona is expected to be consecrated this December and will serve over 150 families in the state.
The Bartlett Jain Temple is among 25 houses of worship including 17 Hindu temples and ashrams in the greater Chicago area that cater to immigrants from South Asia and their America-born children. About 200,000 of the estimated 4.8 million Jains worldwide live outside of India, half of them in North America.
The JSMC's membership of 1,500 families in greater Chicago is reportedly the largest membership representation of Jain Centers in North America.
"As we have seen over the years, our temples are more than places of worship," Doshi said. "They are also community centers. And they foster the right values in the second and third generation. More important, they show the world we are serious about faith and our younger generation."
