#145 – December 28, 2022 — Meeting Hall Foundation Completed!

Dear Friends,
 
The Dera Building Committee is overjoyed to report that on December 13th ISHA’s contractor completed the foundation for Ishwar’s Meeting Hall just hours before the “snowstorm of the century” blanketed northern Wisconsin with two feet of snow and subzero temperatures. Interestingly, the snow actually provides excellent insulation between the cold air and the freshly buried concrete, ensuring that the foundation will remain unaffected by the Wisconsin winter!
Here are some photos of the final phases of the construction work.
 
Our excellent, local general contractor had the concrete forms built atop the footing.
1 Dera 2022 - hill concrete walls foundation (7).jpeg
 
The pumper truck and cement trucks arrive.
2 Dera 2022 - hill concrete walls foundation (6).jpeg
 
The weather-resistant crew filled the forms with warm concrete.
3 Dera 2022 - hill concrete walls foundation (5).jpeg
 
The next day, the forms were removed to reveal the lovely (and sturdy!) foundation walls for Ishwar’s hall.
4 Dera 2022 - hill concrete walls foundation (4).jpeg
 
The embayments around the building represent the future locations of exterior doors.
5 Dera 2022 - hill concrete walls foundation (3).jpeg
 
The exterior wall was painted with a black waterproof coating.
6 Dera 2022 - hill concrete walls foundation (1).jpeg
 
Three-inch insulation was applied to the interior foundation walls.
7 Dera 2022 - hill concrete walls foundation.jpeg
 
The contractor then backfilled dirt on both sides of the walls with his agile compact track loader.
8 Dera 2022 - drone hill concrete walls foundation.jpeg
 
Straw was spread over the walls to increase the insulation value for the buried foundation.
11 Dera 2022 - hill concrete walls foundation (2).jpeg
 
Drone photo looking south shows the west and north buried foundation walls that were completed in November, and the east and south walls that were completed in December.
12 Dera 2022 - drone hill concrete walls foundation.jpeg
 
The huge storm in mid-December dropped two feet of heavy snow over the Bruce region.  This photo was taken on December 26, when nearly all evidence of construction was buried under the deep snow.
13 Dera 2022 - Hill foundation covered by snow.jpeg
 
In the spring of 2023, we hope to begin installing the steel framework for the Meeting Hall. In addition to this work, there will be many seva projects available for visitors. ISHA welcomes all volunteers any time during the summer, and will be sponsoring these three long weekends for special events in 2023:
  •      Friday, May 26 to Monday, May 29 (Memorial Day Weekend) – Prashad Garden Preparation and Planting 
  •      Friday, June 30 to Tuesday, July 4 (4th of July Weekend)
  •      Friday, September 15 to Monday, September 18 (Mitti Seva) – Prashad Garden Harvesting
 
To offer seva for Ishwar’s project, please visit https://ishanews.org/voluntary-contribution/. 
 
To learn more about the Meeting Hall, check out the dera website at https://dera.ishanews.org
 
Any questions related to Ishwar’s dera can be directed to Jagannath’s email at chairman@ishanews.org
 
With warmest regards,
Paul Bauer
ISHA Dera Building Committee