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twelve years the VCC has supported Seattle’s first free Vegetarian
Restaurant called My Sweet Lord in the University district. My hope
is to open many more free restaurants in the Seattle area and at
the same time build up regular Sankirtan parties that will go to dif-
ferent areas and chant the holy names of the Lord. Along with San-
kirtan, the liberal distribution of Vedic Knowledge such as Bhagavad
Gita As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prab-
hupada and his other divine literatures, is another form of pra-
sadam or mercy that the VCC will distribute in the coming years.

These are my resolutions for 2014 and I pray that Sri Sri Radha
Neelamadhava will empower our wonderful congregation to realize
these noble goals in the new year.

Harivilas Das
425 246 8436,
[email protected]

Year 2013 in retrospect:

The year 2013 was groundbreaking for Vedic Cultural center. A
new temple was announced in Bellevue, WA. The history of this
building is interesting. There was a massive fire that engulfed an
old office building on Bel-Red Road, Bellevue earlier. The office
building was rebuilt according to most recent code and is about
20,000 Sq ft. By the blessings of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupa-
da and mercy of Sri Sri Rahda Nila Madhava, our offer to buy this
property was accepted. The Utsav Deities of Sri Balaji, Bhoodevi
and Sri Devi were made in Tirupati and Samprokshana ceremony
was performed in Tirumala by main priests of TTD on August 2nd,
2012. The new facility is called the Vedic Institute of Benevolent
Education (VIBE). Our closing date for this was 28th August which
was Krishna Janmastami. The total budget of the new building was
$5 M of which we raised $1.5 M and received a bank loan of 3.5 M.
The guests who arrived at the temple felt very pleased from the
visitor comments we received. Congratulations to everyone who
sincerely prayed and donated to make this new temple a reality.
The projected opening of VIBE will be Sept 2014.

2013 was a very auspicious year with the visit of senior Srila Prab-
hupada disciples to inspire us by the nectarian teaching of Lord Sri
Krishna - HH Hanumath Presaka Swami (Jan 18,19), HH Radhanath
Swami(Jun 19), Romapada Swami (multiple), HH Navyogendra
Swami(9/19), and HH Gopal Krishna Swami(July 22),