“We started having the idea to build the temple about a year ago when we met our friends in the community and then we said we needed a bigger community to start having a temple for the community,” said Ray Hour, committee director for Utah Buddhist Temple.

After operating for more than 20 years in a small garage, the Cambodian community will soon have a brand new temple. It is being financed by community members.

The facility will also have classrooms where those who visit from Cambodia can learn English.

Hour said the temple will serve an important role in helping to close the gap between Cambodian people living in Cambodia and those in the U.S.

“So the temple here is like a bridge. So that the younger generation can learn the culture and religion and many other cultural activities that they should know,” Ray Hour said. “It’s about doing things good in life. You give, you return.”

Construction began in March with the ground breaking and is expected to be complete in four to five months.