Brick by Brick

Dear Sangha and Friends,

Our spring sesshin started with snowflakes and ended with daffodils raising their silent mouths to the sun. The energy of spring—new shoots and buds, the clamor of robins at dawn—was matched by the dynamism of our zazen.

As you may have noticed in the weeks before sesshin, the Forman House chimney on the western side of the building was crumbling, and with random bricks falling, we couldn’t use the ramp. By the time sesshin began, workers had taken down the old bricks, and the new chimney was nearly finished. However, after meeting the unexpected $26,500 expense of a new boiler installation last fall, our reserve funds were at an all-time low.

An idea came to me during zazen (as they often do, I’m afraid!): buy a brick! Brick by brick, at $10 each, we can pay for the chimney. I knew the cost was $8,000, but I didn’t know how many bricks would be needed for the new chimney. So after sesshin, as the men were completing the project, I asked them. The answer: 800 bricks! At $10 a brick, there it is!

So buy a brick, or five bricks, or fifty, or one hundred—as many as you can afford—at $10 each. With 100 percent of Sangha members and friends contributing, we’ll soon meet our goal! To make it as simple as possible, you can give directly to the Brick by Brick Campaign online at www.zencenterofsyracuse.org/brickbybrick, or just leave a check in the donation box with the notation "Brick by Brick."

With deep gratitude for all the ways you contribute to our wonderful home,

Gassho,

To make your contribution online, simply enter the amount of your contribution, $10 per brick, and then click on the Donate button. For example, if you wanted to contribute 5 bricks, then enter $50. If 10 bricks, then enter $100, and so on.

When you click on the Donate button above, you will see a PayPal login screen.  You may ignore the login and click "Continue" to make your contribution securely online using a credit card. For example: