HERE'S A Krsna conscious project you might like to support or get involved in. We'll tell you what the goals are, who's involved, what's going on, what's blocking the way, and how you can give a hand.
Project
The Prabhupada Benevolent Foundation (P. B. F.)
Headquarters
Stanmore, Middlesex, England
Project Leaders
Executive Trustees: Joan Wilder (President), Asta Sakhi Devi Dasi (Secretary), Leonard Wilder (Treasurer and Director of the Lotus Clinic). Trustees: Sivarama Swami, Dhananjaya Dasa, Bala Gopala Devi Dasi, Andrea Wilder. Patrons: Indradyumna Swami, Jayadvaita Swami, Mukunda Goswami, Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami.
Goals
To see to the health and welfare of Krsna's devotees by offering Krsna conscious health services, combining Ayurvedic, alternative, and conventional medicine.
To run a clinic and, long range, to set up a convalescent home, a retirement home, and a hospice.
Finally, to share Krsna consciousness with others through a devotee-run holistic welfare service.
Details
The Prabhupada Benevolent Foundation was registered as a U. K. national charity in July 1990. Since then it has provided medical treatment and counseling to many devotees.
Through the Foundation, Leonard Wilder, a dental surgeon, and his wife, Joan, opened the Lotus Clinic in their home in October 1990. The P. B. F. funds the Clinic, which also receives contributions from patients. The Clinic is open two or three days a month and offers a wide range of therapies.
The Clinic has two consultant medical doctors and a consultant homeopath. All the practitioners are highly qualified and offer their skills as a service to devotees.
The Clinic has hosted seminars on various therapies, and the Foundation subsidizes a weekly hatha-yoga class near the Bhaktivedanta Manor.
The P. B. F. recently set up the Nilamani Trust to aid Vaisnava children.
Plans
This year the P. B. F. will offer more service to devotees through the Lotus Clinic. The P. B. F. plans to move its offices and the Clinic to a building where the Clinic can work full time. Long-term plans call for a retirement home and then a hospice. The P. B. F. hopes to become an international charity.
Obstacles
The main obstacle is a shortage of funds and fund-raisers. The P. B.F. needs a building and a full-time staff to realize its goals.
Another obstacle: While focusing on spiritual concerns, devotees often downplay the need to care for their health. But as Srila Prabhupada told Dhananjaya Dasa in 1972, "Of all things, health comes first. With good health you can chant sixteen good rounds, and with sixteen good rounds you can do good service."
How You Can Help
The P. B. F. needs health professionals, care-givers, fund-raisers and other inspired devotees to help advance its causes. It needs a building and office equipment, such as a fax machine, a photocopier, and a computer.
If you can help in any way or would like to send a tax-deductible donation, please contact the Foundation (U. K. registered charity number 803720):
The Prabhupada Benevolent Foundation
5, Dovercourt Gardens
Stanmore, Middx. HA7 4SJ
England
Phone: (081) 958 9868.
For more information on any aspect of the P. B. F., write to Dr. Leonard Wilder at the above address.