Jameel Agha
The most daunting challenge the Board faces today is to find a place of our own. A place for our community to meet and worship together; conduct classes for our children and youth; meet and enjoy fellowship with each other; and grow into a vibrant community. Our target was to stay within $300,000 and 30 mile radius of KC.
Armed with knowledge and the trust of our community, the Board of Trustees (BOT) visited several properties, both in Missouri and Kansas. We looked at commercial properties, including a bank building, a school building, a vacant church, and even a few homes which had potentials for our use. Most of these facilities needed significant improvements, and, in some cases re-zoning for use as a place of worship. Unfortunately, the properties with the highest promise were either overly priced, required significant renovation, or were too far away. The BOT very wisely scratched these from our shopping list. We hired a real estate agent from within our community as well as talked with experts to expand the search. The most promising facility we saw to date was a church. It needed little or no immediate improvement. This is by far not the end of the search and we will continue to pursue until we find some thing we can afford.
One thing is very apparent: For the center to be appropriate for our immediate needs as well as provide for future growth, we need significant contribution from everyone in our community. We may also need to reach out to other communities for their support. Other consideration of equal importance is to build our reserves not only to pay the minimum down payment but to have several months’ mortgage on hand. We approached members of our community and received their pledges for regular contributions. For those who are not yet committed, we urge you to dig deeply into your pockets to make this a success. The BOT assures its commitment that we will Insha’All-h work hard to find a place most suitable for our needs. We ask for your prayers and support in these efforts.