Temple coins donation hits £1,500
Aug 15, 2011
A hoard of foreign coins donated by a Black Country Hindu temple to Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice has been valued at a fantastic £1,500.
The 30 large bags of assorted coins from all four corners of the globe were pledged to the Hospice by the Shri Venkateswara Balaji Hindu Temple in Oldbury last winter.
Earlier this summer the money was transported to currency expert Birmingham Coins, of Hall Green, which has converted them into pounds sterling. Together the approximately 300,000 coins weighed in at 150kg.
Delighted fundraisers at the Hospice, which provides vital palliative care to people with life-limiting illnesses in Birmingham and Sandwell, said the money would make a huge difference.
Hospice Head of Fundraising and Marketing Caroline Taylor said: “This is a fantastic donation, of whose value we had literally no idea. It was a really nice surprise to get a phone call from Birmingham Coins saying the figure was over £1,000.
“It will be used to provide care to people with illnesses ranging from Aids to cancer and motor neurone disease.”
Caroline added: “I would like to appeal to anyone who has any old foreign currency lying around the house to get in touch, because it could prove extremely valuable for the Hospice.”
The money, which ranged from Canadian dollars and euros to Indian rupees, was collected over a period of around 15 years and was intended to be used towards the construction of the main temple.
But developers of the series of shrines off Dudley Road East found themselves stuck with the coins after local banks declined to convert them to pounds sterling.
A solution was found, however, when temple founder, trustee and treasurer Dr Kandiah Somasundara-Rajah (pictured with fundraiser Jo Field and Dr Narayana Rao) spotted an advert in Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice’s Fundraising News appealing to people to donate unwanted foreign currency.
Dr Rajah, who practises in Moseley, Birmingham, said the temple had held on to the coins for quite a few years: “We’re very happy to hear how much the coins have been valued at and delighted that they will be useful for such a good cause. I’m sure the devotees who donated the money over the years will be pleased with this news.“
He added that all future donations of foreign coins would be passed on to Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice.
The Balaji Temple, which opened in August 2006, is the largest Hindu temple of south Indian architecture in Europe honouring the deity Shri Venkateswara. It replicates the Tirupati Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati, India, which is the second biggest religious centre in the world after the Vatican. Around 230,000 devotees visit the Oldbury site annually.
The temple was founded by its current chairman and retired GP Dr Narayana Rao, who devoted his entire working life to caring for people across the Black Country.
Each year Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice cares for around 1,000 people with terminal conditions, the majority of whom are looked after in their homes, surrounded by family and friends. Those with more complex medical needs are able to stay in the Hospice’s Inpatient Unit in Selly Park for respite or symptom control.
Birmingham St Mary’s Day Hospice, on the same site, offers patients with less advanced conditions the chance of a weekly visit to receive medical support, complementary and creative therapies and friendship, whilst giving their home carers some time off.
More than half of the Hospice’s annual £6.6 million running costs are found through a range of fundraising events and sales at its nine charity shops, so public support is crucial to ensuring its survival.
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