Lao Buddhist Temple Rebuilds

June 28, 2004

Source: Rockford Register Star

http://www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040628/NEWS0107/406280309/1004/NEWS

On June 28, 2004 Rockford Register Star reported that in "Cherry Valley, IL [last] Sunday's celebration was ostensibly about the new Lao Buddhist temple on South Mulford Road... The last Laotian temple on this site, off a rural stretch of South Mulford next to farm fields and forest preserves, was destroyed by fire in March 2002. The accidental blaze, which did about $100,000 in damage to the building and its contents, was another in a seemingly long line of tragedies for the congregation. When the temple was at Mulford and Sandy Hollow roads in the mid-1980s, it was the target of a firebomb and drive-by rifle fire. Each time, temple directors called on their community to pull together and rebuild. When they did, they discovered they had a community that extended far beyond Laotian Buddhists living in Rock River Valley."