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HEADQUARTERS NEWS
JAINA Public Affairs Council: Sushil Jain submitted a comprehensive written report and commented that in response to request by EC, we have developed and refined JAINA Code of Conduct and Ethics guidelines. The next step is to have it reviewed by our legal team. Thereafter, we will forward it to Board of Directors for comments. Once comments are reviewed, and implemented as applicable, it will be put forth for voting electronically. A JAINA's statement on Prosthelization needs to be developed, approved and posted on our web site for others to reference as needed. A draft was shared at the EC meeting. It was suggested that this issue is so important that Board of Directors should also be informed.
V.R. Gandhi Scholarship fund: Pravin C. Shah submitted a written report and provided multiple handouts to all. In addition, the Government of India informed him that the V.R. Gandhi stamp would be released either at the birth or death anniversary next year. He reported that the home of V.R. Gandhi will be turned in to a memorial and a museum which will display important documents, newspaper clippings, medals and gifts that he received from around the world. Mr. Naresh Jain will ask Parliament of World Religion for copies of information/ material they have on subject mat
ter.
Jain Digest: Mrs. Lata Champsee reported that Jain Digest has achieved over $100K for their endowment fund via membership. She remarked that many people compare Jain Digest with Jain Spirit. She pointed out that both magazines have different goals and objectives. Jain Digest is intended to enhance communication among Jains in North America with limited budget and advertising. It is produced strictly with volunteer time. Whereas Jain Spirit is a magazine with paid staff and big budget. and it supports voice of Jains around the world. She also remarked that many committee chairs expect her to fully publish their activity report. Unfortunately, due to the space and cost restriction, she publishes summary of their reports. However, JAINA Spectrum, an electronic newsletter can host the entire report. There were many remarks made to improve what we have. Everyone agreed that we have come long way in the past few years.
JAINA Web Site: Dilip V. Shah provided a written report and commented that the first Architectural phase is running as a prototype at the cost of $2500. Phase two which relates to content is now under construction. Phase two consists of over 60 pages and will provide all links to various pages hosting JAINA committees and projects. Each committee chair will have access to this page and can update at their discretion. This phase will cost - $2300 and finally the last phase is update phase at the cost of - $1800 per year as annual fee. Everyone complimented the work being done on the web site and recommended supporting phase two and three.
There were many questions, comments and suggestions regarding this project. During the deliberation everyone agreed that we should be very careful in allowing links to other sites. The group felt comfortable in allowing links to member organization's web site, but expressed concerns regarding links beyond that.
Community Planned giving: Mr. Yogesh Kamdar made a very comprehensive presentation on the subject matter. He provided details regarding various ways an individual can make contribution to JAINA, i.e., trust donation, life insurance policy donation distribution, etc... He also outlined the process that can be used to accomplish it while describing benefits to donors as well as JAINA. Everyone agreed that this is indeed an excellent way for charitable fund raising. After a healthy deliberation, a resolution was proposed.
Senior Housing Project: Bipin Parikh and Gunvant Shah provided a handout. Bipin Parikh summarized the survey results. He reported that unfortunately due to the computer problems lots of data was lost which impacted the survey comments from many individuals. He commented that he was working with several developers in Central Florida on this project. He provided several options for land and related expense. He further reported that, due to his unavailability he has turned over this committee, JAINA EC in agreement, to Mr. Gunvant "Gary" Shah of NJ. Gary Shah reported that according to survey Florida was the preferred site for this project. He has explored several land options near Orlando and provided financial details of each. Kirit Daftary reported that he contacted a House Manufacturing company developer and was informed that it would cost approximately $80,000 to construct 1200 sq ft home plus land cost. There were many other encouraging comments including interest from people as well as finding land between Tampa and Orlando as a cost effective option.
JAINA History Book Project: On behalf of the chairman, Mr. T.J. Salgia presented the report. He thanked Kamlesh Amin of JAINA headquarters in the history survey which was distributed. Unfortunately, he only received one response so far. Therefore, he requested access to e-mails and phone numbers of Presidents and Directors of each center. The purpose is to enhance timely communication with them. Mr. Jaswant Mehta, chairman, requested some seed money in support of this project. This committee's goal is to write a comprehensive 100-year-old history inclusive of Jain organization and the individuals who had an impact on promoting Jainism in North America. During discussion, it was pointed out that the history must be accurate and published. Each organization is responsible to insure its contents are validated and approved by local authority for publication. Mr. Vora requested chair to provide the following information so that resource action can be taken. Q1. What is estimated to be the
Jain
WINTER 2005
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