• Jain Society of Greater Cleveland (JSGC) had called a General Body Meeting (GBM) of all its members on 10-19-2003 at Highland Heights Community Center, Highland Heights, Ohio coinciding with the annual Diwali program.

• Kushal Baid (President) called the General Body Meeting to order at 4.20 PM. 65 members were present and per the JSGC constitution the GBM started.

• Seven Executive Committee members namely – Kushal Baid (President), Dipika Shah (Treasurer), Mitten Doshi (Secretary), Falgun Shah, Minesh Shah, Meena Jain and Purvin Vakil were present. Jignesh Shah (Vice President) and Pradip Shah were excused for personal reasons.

• The minutes of the previous General Body Meeting held on 4/19/2003 were unanimously approved by members via voice vote.

• Kushalbhai reviewed current year JSGC activities as follows:

• No comments or updates were received from members for the text of the New Constitution as approved by the General Body during the General Body Meetings of 11/16/2002 and 04/19/2003 and disseminated to the membership for comments with JAIN TIMES dated 06/05/03. The New Constitution became effective 6/30/03.

• JSGC had successfully organized a Jain and Hindu bhajans program by Shri Ravindra Jain and his group on June 20^th 2003.

• JSGC had a strong presence at the JAINA Convention 2003 held at Cincinnati. The Shatrunjay (Palitana) Temple Rachna and the Samavsaran replica prepared by JSGC members were very well received by the Convention attendees. Special thanks were given to Ramesh and Jaya Shah, Atul Shah, Pravin Mehta, Ajit and Darshana Shah, Girish and Kokila Parikh and Hansa Sutaria and the Mahila Mandal for their efforts in creating the Shatrunjay Temple Rachna. Hasmukh and Nalini Shah were thanked for preparing the Samavsaran replica. Ramesh and Jaya Shah were further recognized for receiving the 2003 JAINA Presidential Award at the JAINA Convention.

• Three scholars, Sri Sunandaben Vora, Shri Dhirajbhai Pandit and Shri Nautambhai Vakil visited the Cleveland Sangh during 2003. All the lectures were well attended and appreciated.

• Paryushan Parva was celebrated with enthusiasm and success. Attendance was excellent at all events. 42 individual families participated for Swapna Darshan for the first time. Eleven Tapasvis were honored at the Samuhic Parna function following Samvatsari. The Parna event was attended by 100+ members.

• JSGC Picnic organized this year was a big success with 100+ participants.

• The Mahavir Nirwan (Diwali) function also had excellent attendance.

• Photographs from several of the above events were on display during the Diwali function

• Kushalbhai congratulated all Swadhyay participants for continuing with Swadhyay (held on 2^nd Sunday of each month) for nine consecutive years. Chandrakumar Jain, Hansaben Sutaria and Naliniben Shah were particularly recognized for their hard work and sharing knowledge with other members during the Swadhyay meetings.

• Kushalbhai thanked Atulbhai Shah for providing Temple set-up during all the Poojas that were held during different JSGC events throughout the year.

• Kushalbhai thanked past JSGC President Mohanbhai Jain and Dr. Vinodbhai Sutaria for helping and being available for counsel and advice throughout the year. Kushalbhai also thanked the entire membership for participating in the JSGC events to make them successful.

• The Treasurer's report was distributed to all the members present. Kushalbhai explained the report to the members and invited questions or comments. There were no questions or issues raised regarding the report and it was approved unanimously via voice vote.

• A proposal for organizing a JSGC Shibir during the Labor Day weekend in 2004 was presented to the members with approximate costs and registration fees. In accordance with the Article IV C of the JSGC Constitution, permission was asked from the General Body to spend up to $15,000.00 to organize and conduct the above shibir. Vinodbhai Sutaria commented that based on past experience a large portion of these costs, if not all, are expected to be defrayed by member contributions related to the shibir events. The Shibir proposal and the permission to spend up to $15,000.00 related to the Shibir were unanimously approved by members via voice vote.

• Kushalbhai informed the membership that we had scheduled Shri Dhirajbhai Pandit and Shri Hukumchand Bharill for scholar visits in 2004. The Committee was in negotiations to get Shri Jitendrabhai Shah from Ahmedabad for Paryushan next year. In the ensuing discussion, Jitubhai Gandhi asked if we can send the list of scholars to the members so that the members can be involved in decision making for getting scholars. Kushalbhai pointed out that the "good" scholars are being reserved 2 to 3 years in advance, particularly for the Paryushan function, and it is more a case of the scholars choosing us than the other way around. So, such a list would not be very helpful.

• Kushalbhai asked members for permission to schedule scholars up to year 2006 for the Paryushan functions, which the members approved unanimously by voice vote.

• Dilipbhai Maniar inquired about the progress made by the Executive Committee on building a Jain Temple. Kushalbhai responded that Jigneshbhai Shah was leading the effort on behalf of the Executive Committee along with Pradipbhai Shah. They had made phone calls to several members of the General body requesting them to become members of Temple committee but there were no positive responses. Jigneshbhai and the Executive Committee had looked at some possible sites for the Jain Temple but no suitable one had yet been found.

• Dilipbhai Maniar asked that Kushalbhai raise the question for getting volunteers to join Temple Committee during on-going General Body meeting. Kushalbhai announced that if anyone was willing to become member of the Temple Committee please give their names. He also pointed out that the volunteers will have to work with Jigneshbhai and Pradipbhai for finding a site for temple and coming up with a proposal. The proposal would then be presented to the Executive Committee for approval. The proposal, if approved by the Executive Committee, will then be presented to the General Body for approval.

• Dilipbhai Maniar, Nikhilbhai Vakharia and Mahendrabhai Shah volunteered to become members of the Temple Committee.

• There was a request that we set-up an online chat board so that members could share information with each other. Kushalbhai indicated that the Committee will certainly look into it.

• The General Body Meeting was adjourned at 5.00 PM.

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