Monks often serve a role much like a parish councillor or local community leader: deeply embedded in village life, they are trusted advisors, mentors, and emotional supports for people from all walks of life. They work closely with households, offering guidance through grief, marriage, family hardship, and spiritual growth.

In some cases, they even provide direct financial help to families in desperate need, sourcing donations or using temple funds to support those going through crisis.

As the cost of living has been rising, donations to temples have been decreasing, with most smaller temples not even receiving food for the monks and other basic requirements to enable them to live comfortably. Many smaller temples have had to close down as monks are forced to move to larger city temples for their own basic survival needs.

Metta Trust provides funding for utilities, supplies, and infrastructure improvements for temples as well as food and medicine for resident monks. In 2025 so far, we have funded the building of the Wadugama Temple pagoda, and continued our regular maintenance donations to numerous other monasteries and temples across Sri Lanka.

Our future aim is to grow our support network for Temples across Sri Lanka and continue to bring people the tools necessary to face life’s challenges with patience and spiritual strength. We are also planning to develop a rehab centre within a monastery where people can go to heal under the kind guidance of resident Buddhist monks.