DEERPARK, N.Y.—Dragon Springs, a Buddhist-style campus in the Town of Deerpark, recently paid the town to pave about a half-mile of Galley Hill Road from Route 209 up to its north gate.
Paving was finished in late August and cost nearly $70,000.
The campus is known in the area as the home to a collection of Buddhist temples in the Tang Dynasty style, an academy and college combining academic education with performing arts courses, and the rehearsal center for the world-renowned Shen Yun Performing Arts company.
It is also home to people who practice Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, a Buddhist spiritual discipline based on core tenets of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.
“Being compassionate to others is rooted in our Falun Gong faith,” Dragon Springs Vice President George Xu said. “We feel helping the broader community when and where we can is the right thing to do.”
Local Support Appreciated
In early August, Dragon Springs was a major sponsor at the National Night Out event in the Town of Mount Hope, and its community also participated in the same event in nearby Port Jervis.
“Dragon Springs was one of our gold sponsors, and the donation helped us offset the costs of the free event,” Mount Hope Police Chief Michael Maresca told The Epoch Times. “We definitely appreciate their generous support as well as that of our other sponsors.”
Through both events, local residents learned more about people studying and working at the campus, who hail from all over the world and unite in a dedication to artistic excellence.
“The strong sense of community and beautiful culture that Dragon Springs brings to our community truly enriches the quality of life for our region,” Port Jervis Police Chief William Worden told The Epoch Times. “We are extremely proud to have the Dragon Springs community in our city, and we are truly grateful for their friendship and partnership.”
The campus also engages in small acts of kindness in the community, such as donating Chinese food to foster family dinners at a local church and allowing neighbors to travel through its property off the Guymard Turnpike bridge to fish and swim in the Neversink River.
Origins of Campus
Established in the early 2000s, Dragon Springs was originally planned as a haven for people whose family members died or who lost their livelihoods after the Chinese regime started a brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in 1999, according to its website.Over the years, the campus has focused on efforts to revive genuine Chinese culture destroyed by the communist regime. In addition to Shen Yun Performing Arts, the performing arts company celebrated for its world-class performances of classical Chinese dance and music, there are two performing arts schools, Fei Tian Academy of the Arts and Fei Tian College, that train top talent in classical Chinese dance and music.
Many of Shen Yun’s artists have experienced firsthand religious persecution under communist rule in China.
