General Body Meeting Minutes 11/21/04

 

 

·        Jain Society of Greater Cleveland (JSGC) had called a General Body Meeting (GBM) of all its members on 11-21-2004 at the quality Inn and suites, Middleburg Heights, Ohio coinciding with the Mahavir Nirvan (Diwali) program.

·        Kushal Baid (President) called the General Body Meeting to order at 2.45 PM. 80+ members were present and per the JSGC constitution the GBM started.

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

 

·        The minutes of the previous General Body Meeting held on 10/19/2003, which had been available on the JSGC website, were unanimously approved by members by voice vote.

·        Kushalbhai reviewed the JSGC activities as follows:

 

Ø      We had a very successful series of programs throughout the year.  Specifically, we celebrated Mahavir Jayanti, a weekend shibir, a summer picnic, Paryushan functions including Samuhic Parna, Das Lakshan Pooja and, of course, today’s Mahavir Nirwan celebration.  The Society had seen increasing participation and attendance through the year and this was very gratifying.

Ø      Our shibir had been particularly successful, with over 200 attendees on Saturday, the only full day of the shibir.  The morning yoga activities, Samuhic Bhakti programs, Lecture series, and the cultural program were all well received.  In the survey passed out after the shibir for feedback, 80% of the members had rated the overall program as excellent.  The other 20% rated it good.

Ø      Four scholars, Shri Dhirajbhai Pandit, Dr. Hukumchand Bharill, Sri Diptiben Shah and Jitendrabhai Shah visited the Cleveland Sangh during 2003 for several days lecture series each.  In addition, Sri Tarlaben Doshi and Samani Muditpragyaji and Samani Prasannapragyaji graced our shibir.  Sri Sunandaben Vora was invited by the Maniar and Narichania families and the lectures were open to the Society members.  The Society was thus fortunate to have a wide spectrum of scholars with different perspectives and styles. All the lectures were well attended and appreciated.

 

Ø      Kushalbhai thanked the host families that had made the various lecture series possible.  He thanked the eight families that had participated this year but appealed that we needed wider participation.  Some families have had to take an unusually heavy burden, hosting two or three scholars for several days each.  To maintain the current intensity of the program we needed additional participation.

Ø      We had an excellent Paryushan Parva celebration with Jitendrabhai Shah followed by a very well attended Samuhic Parna.  Attendance was excellent at all events. For second year in a row, 42 individual families participated for Swapna Darshan. Eighteen Tapasvis were honored at the Samuhic Parna function following Samvatsari.  5 Tapasvis were recognized for Atthai and higher tapasyas.  The remaining 13 were recognized for tapasyas of Attham and above.   We had since learned that Nupur Jain had done an Attham tap during Das Lakshan and she was recognized at the Diwali function.

 

Ø      There was no new progress to report from the Temple Committee.  The Temple Committee was continuing to look at new sites for the temple.

 

Ø      Kushalbhai pointed out that the current Executive Committee had not been successful in creating an advisory board consisting of 5 past Presidents, as required by the constitution, during their term.  The Executive Committee had appointed Mohanbhai Jain, the immediate past President of the Society, to form such a committee.  He, in spite of his best efforts, had not been able to secure commitments from five past Presidents.  The incoming Committee will need to try again.

 

Ø      Photographs from several of the JSGC events from last two years and a PowerPoint presentation on the 2005 convention from JAINA were going to be shown on a projection screen during the Swamivatsalya dinner after completion of the GBM.  Kushalbhai requested everyone to give it some attention.

 

·        The Treasurer's report was distributed to all the members present. Dipikaben and Kushalbhai explained the report to the members and invited questions or comments.  Kushalbhai noted that as shown on the treasurer’s report, the total collections and expense for the shibir were $16,024.00 and $16,201.87 respectively and that JSGC had effectively come out even.  He pointed out, however, that the General Body had only approved $15,000.00 of total expenses at the 10/19/2003 General Body meeting and that these “excess” expenses needed to be ratified. The expenses were ratified unanimously by a voice vote.  No other questions or issues were raised regarding the Treasurer’s report and it was approved unanimously by voice vote.

 

·        Kushalbhai informed the membership that we had scheduled Shri Dhirajbhai Pandit and Sri Diptiben shah for scholar visits in 2005.   He announced that we had just received acceptance from Shri Girishbhai Shah of the Jain Center of Southern California to lead us for the 2005 Paryushan.    Shri Girishbhai came highly recommended by several sources, including Sri Sunandaben Vora, and we looked forward to having him here for next Paryushan.   We have also requested the JAANA group that coordinates visits of Pandit Abhay Kumarji and Dr. Bharill for allocating a week of Pandit Abhay Kumarji’s time in Cleveland.   Kushalbhai also reminded everyone that we also had acceptance from Diptiben Shah for Paryushan 2006.

 

·        Kushalbhai congratulated all Swadhyay participants for continuing with Swadhyay (held on 2nd Sunday of each month) for ten consecutive years.  Chandrakumar Jain, Hansaben Sutaria and Naliniben Shah were recognized for their hard work and leadership in 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.  He thanked past JSGC President Mohanbhai Jain and Dr. Vinodbhai Sutaria for all their help and counsel throughout the year.  He also thanked the entire membership for participating in the JSGC events to make them successful.

·        Kushalbhai invited all the current Executive Committee members to the podium and thanked each member for their specific contributions them to make the last two years successful.   Jignesh shah, vice president, then asked for the floor and, on behalf of the Executive Committee, presented plaques of recognition to Falgun Shah and Kushal Baid.

 

·        Kushalbhai then asked for all the past Executive Committee members present in the audience to stand and be recognized.  He pointed out that without their efforts the Society would not have flourished and that the current committee had built on the contributions of earlier members.  They were given a hearty hand by the General body.

 

·        Kushalbhai then invited the Nominating Committee members, Atulbhai shah, Shantibhai Jain and Falgun Shah to the podium to announce the nominations for the new Executive Committee for the 2005–2006 term.  The nominees were:

Jignesh Shah, Dipika Shah, Meena Jain, Minesh shah, Ashwin Turakhia, Mayuri   Dalia, Premal Shah, Tushar Shah and Nehal Shah.  All nominees accepted their nomination and were approved by the General Body.

·        The General Body Meeting was adjourned at 3.40 PM.

 

 

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