Jain Digest 2003 09 Vol 22 No 3

Author(s): Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA

Page 38

YOUNG JAINS OF AMERICA
CHAIRS
3R
Arpan Shah
281-804-7964 arpan.shah@yja.org Chirag Shah 262-573-5603
chirag.shah@via.org
DIRECTORS
Education Nikita Shah 310-980-6907 nikita.shah@yja.org Events Hima Batavia 416-494-1302 hima.batavia@yja.org Finance/Fundraising
Nisha Jain 571-239-3783
nisha.jain@yja.org Information Technology Deepen Shah 973-941-5714 deepen.shah@yja.org Project Development Dipa Talati
917-371-1476
dipa.talati@yja.org Public Relations Puneet Shah 713-392-2833 puneet.shah@yja.org
Publications Hanul Bhandari 210-842-4825
hanul.bhandari@yja.org
REGIONAL COORDINATORS
Mid Atlantic
Purvi Shah 732-742-6535 purvi.shah@yja.org
Midwest Shibani Shah 847-275-7689
shibani.shah@yja.org
Northeast Vinay Shah
914-805-0315
vinay.shah@yja.org
South Monique Shah 281-989-6627
monique.shah@yja.orgv
Southeast Mona Shah 678-357-1463 mona.shah@yja.org
West Nikhil Vasa 562-400-1984
nikhil.vasa@yja.org Board of Trustees
Prem Jain
Sachi Jain Naishadh Shah Nirav Shah
bot@yja.org
YOUNG JAINS OF AMERICA
Federation of Jain Associations in North America
A Non-Profit Tax Exempt Religious Organization. IRS Code Section 501 (c)(3) El #54-1280028 yja-exec@egroups.com http://www.yja.org/
36/JAIN DIGEST⚫ Fall 2003 Jain Education International
Jai Jinendra,
•
Young Jains of America (YJA) is a committee of the Federation of Jain Associations in North America (JAINA), whose emphasis is on the Jain youth aged 14-29. YJA's mission is: "to be recognized as a national and international umbrella Jain youth organization for establishing a network to share Jain heritage and religion through young people." We are an organization that was started with the goal to reinforce Jain ideals to the youth of North America and we are thriving in our fourteenth year.
This past year we undertook a highly proactive agenda and we have enjoyed great success. The highlights of the 2002-2003 term included, hosting regional conferences where nearly 300 young Jains came to learn about the intricate aspects of Jainism and get to know other youth, facilitating the journey of motivated young Jains to assist in the earthquake relief efforts with Veerayatan in Bhuj, and establishing strong community relations by restructuring our website and expanding our resources and role with other organizations.
YJA played an integral role with the youth activities at the JAINA Convention 2003 in Cincinnati, OH. We put forth six dynamic sessions that truly reached out to all who attended. Each session was conducted by young Jains who made presentations on topics including, Jain Rituals and Prayers, the balance of Jainism and Science and interactive panel discussions on Being a Jain in College and Jainism and Current Events.
Furthermore, we are currently working to put Ahimsa in Action in bringing youth from around North America to help build homes for the less fortunate as YJA once again teams up with Habitat for Humanity.
Recently, elections were held for the 2003-2004 YJA Executive Board. Through this process, a group of enterprising young people were selected to lead YJA this year. We are looking forward to a spiritually and educationally fulfilling year. This year our projects will have two major focuses. First, we will highlight each region and concentrate our efforts on re-establishing an intimate atmosphere with local Jain Sanghs and Youth Groups, and second we will dedicate our time to ensure the success of YJA Convention which is to be held in the Bay Area, California, from July 1-4, 2004.
Indeed, this year will undoubtedly present many challenges and trials for our new board; but we are up to the task and are poised to succeed. In early August, YJA held its first Executive Board meeting in Houston, TX. Here we constructed a framework of goals and the direction for our organization to follow for this year. Keeping in mind our mission and our foremost duty, to educate youth, we decided on many of our major projects for the first half of the year.
Looking to continue the success that we had from last year, we decided to once again undertake the project of organizing Regional Conferences in each of the six regions that YJA encompasses around North America. The purpose of these intimate conferences is to allow youth to learn about Jainism in a setting that is beneficial to each individual. This personal climate also allows the participants to get to know each other well. The advent of Regional Conferences would not be possible
Young Jains of America (YJA) is the umbrella youth organization of the Federation of Jain Associations in North America (JAINA). The mission of YJA is to be recognized nationally and internationally as an umbrella youth organization for establishing a network to share Jain heritage and religion through youth.