Mike Wellwood of the Diocese of New Westminster gives the financial report at the annual meeting of the Vancouver InterSpiritual Centre in the Shree Mahalakshmi Hindu Temple in East Vancouver.

Work continues to progress on the creation of an interspiritual centre near downtown Vancouver in which the Diocese of New Westminister is involved.

Mike Wellwood, business administrator of the diocese, is one of three Anglicans on the 20 member board of the group that is creating the centre. He told their annual meeting last month that after a year of preliminary work he now believes the centre definitely will become a reality.

A site for the centre about 100 metres east of the Cambie bridge has been approved by Vancouver City Council. The group hopes to locate the centre in a model sustainable community planned for Southeast False Creek, which will first be used to house athletes competing in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Total cost of the site and 33,000 square foot building is estimated at $18.5 million, but the group believes that $15 million can come from arrangements made by the city and the area’s developer.

A fundraising firm, Compton International, has been selected to test the feasibility of a campaign to raise the $3.5 million remaining.

To date 13 religious organizations have signed on to the project, which include Christians, Jews, Muslims, Budddhists, Sikhs, Hindus, and Unitarians. Aboriginals are also involved–so far as individuals. The Anglican representatives include Wellwood, Murial Kerr of All Saints, Ladner, and the Rev. Bern Barrett.

Rabbi David Mivasair, who has served as executive director of the group, told the meeting that the aim of the group is to “get along and work together – and still hold on to our own particular traditions and beliefs.”