Hare Krishna
Sunday May 3rd 2020
Kindly watch this 3-minute message from ISKCON of New Jersey:
https://youtu.be/oaEfp2msZ4s

Dear Devotees,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Although the circumstances are difficult and we are unable to meet in person, take darshan and have kirtans together, a lot of positive things have come out of the current COVID situation, especially in the area of online preaching. Our Towaco temple Zoom channel is one of the most well attended and appreciated katha outlets these days due to daily speakers, and I want to encourage all devotees to please join each night, or at least as often as possible.

Latest update on temple finances
Like most businesses and many people, our temple is also struggling with practically no income during this pandemic lock down.
- All weekly sponsorships have stopped.
- No Hundi collection
- No income from book distribution, samskaras, or catering 
- We have applied  for a $10K Economic Impact grant from the Federal Government. So far our application has not been approved. Based on the news we are reading, we are not very hopeful that the Federal government has any funds left in that program to give us this grant. 
- We need approximately $7K per month to keep the temple operation going. Monthly expenses include bhoga, flowers, and milk for the Deities; utilities and building maintenance; devotee maintenance, insurance, etc.
- We also need to do approximately $3K to 4K of urgent repair work for the exterior of the temple, where some of the siding and awnings have blown off in winter storms.  
- We closed our temple on second week of March and this might continue until beginning of July. Which means that the temple will be closed for 4 months (best case scenario) and we will require around $32,000 to keep the temple worship and daily operations running during these 4 months, plus the $3K to $4K for urgent building repairs.
- We raised around $7K from Rama Navami, Akshaya Tritiya and from personal donations in the last 6 weeks. We still need around $25K until the beginning of July.
 
3)     How can you help?
Please consider supporting in one of the following ways to reach $25K target.
· Become a Mukhya Yajman for Narasimha Chaturdashi Yajna : $501
· Sponsor Yajna during Narasiha Chaturdashi : $108
· Sign up for automated monthly donations. Many devotees are giving $100 per month and it really helps. 
· Make a one time donation to support during this pandemic: any amount (suggested: $1001, $501 or $251).
Donations can be made directly here: http://paypal.me/iskconofnewjersey