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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 2, 2011
VHP of America holds its Annual Governing Council Meeting in NJ
Central & Northern New Jersey chapter and Staten Island, NY chapter of VHP of America hosted 41st annual meeting of the Governing Council, an elected decision making body and chapter representatives from various states from Nov 18 to 20 2011, at Ramada Inn, New Brunswick, NJ.
Three day meeting started with the welcome address from the New Jersey President Sushree Asha Vaishnav who had a word of appreciation for all the participants for their volunteering work and being a role model of 'tyāg' and 'sevā'.
VHP of America President, shree Jyotish Parekh highlighted the community work carried out by VHPA during the past 40 years. He said, "In this journey VHPA has achieved many milestones, the key ingredient of VHPA Seva recipe is the dedication of its office bearers for all four decades and that is the reason so many of the original volunteers are with the organization even today".
Various projects leaders presented progress reports on initiatives being carried out at the chapter and national levels.
Some of the nationwide initiatives discussed and being pursued in coming year are:
ASHRAYA (Bhutanese Resettlement Project): VHPA with various other organizations is engaged in resettlement of thousands of Bhutanese Refugees, mostly Hindus and Buddhists that have been coming to the USA since 2008; all in all 60,000 are expected. They are spread thinly in several cities in various states.
SAC (support a child): SAC is almost 25 years old program run by VHPA to provide hope and better future to orphans or abandoned children in cities and towns. A $250 contribution takes care of the total well being of a child, i.e., education, lodging and boarding, healthcare, etc. More than 600 children are supported in 14 states of Bharat. The Governing Council decided to raise the number of children supported by 20% in 2012, brining it to 1000.
HMEC (Hindu Mandir Executives. Conference): This project is geared to networking all Hindu Mandirs and Institutions to make them respond to the needs of the second generation and to address operational, developmental and sustenance issues of Hindu Mandirs in USA and Canada. VHPA organized sixth annual conference in 2011 in Columbus, OH. The 2012 HMEC will be held in Fremont (San Francisco), CA.
CHY (Coalition of Hindu Youth) is a group of youth who are keenly interested in working with Mandirs. They are the future of the Mandirs. CHY also aims to network Bal Vihars, Youth Camps and Youth Conferences. CHY is a direct outcome of HMEC.
HAVAN (Hindu American Vanaprasthi Network): HAVAN started with an idea to harness the energy of the seniors as well as those who are nearing retirement age. Besides providing answers for the specific needs of this age group, it aims to draw on their strength, experience and wisdom to help our youth, Mandirs and Seva projects.
VHPA held two HAVAN conferences in 2011 and many more are planned for 2012.
VHPA is planning a national Hindu Youth Conference as well as a Hindu Women.s Conference in 2012.
The Governing Council also discussed bio-ethical issues, impact of Government of Bharat.s proposed Communal and Targeted Violence bill and celebration of 150 year anniversary of Swami Vivekananda in 2013 with a national conference.
One feature that raised hopes for a bright future of VHPA was election of as many as 16 new members, many of them from the younger generation.
The Governing Council reappointed Dr, Abhaya Asthana (Boston) as the General Secretary for a three year term.
President, Jyotish Parekh announced appointment of Dr. Umesh Shukla (NJ) as Vice President of Inter Organizational Relations and of Vimal Sodhani (NJ) as Vice President of Finance.
Dr. Abhaya Asthana, the General Secretary announced appointment of Dhaval Joshipura (Chicago) as an Organizing Secretary and Apnesh Singhal (NJ) as a Joint Organizing Secretary.
Also, several new directors to lead projects were announced. These are, Sunil Bagaria (NJ), Lalit Goel (CA), Smt. Renu Gupta (OH), Dr. Surendra Pandey (GA), Dr. Vipul Patel (PA), Samir Rawal (NJ), Dr. Shyam Narayan Shukla (CA), Dr. Ila Sukhadia (NY), and Tej Tanden (MA).
The meeting was attended by 57 members from 12 states including FL, TX and CA. Representative Members from nine prominent Hindu organizations attended the meeting as observers.
VHP of America is a non-profit, 501(3) (c), tax-exempt organization. VHP of America helps the poor and needy people all around the world regardless of their race, religion, ethnicity, color or gender. Please visit www.vhp-america.org for further information.
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