________________
A Message
From the President
Jai Jinendra,
It gives me great pleasure to share with you a number of accomplishments we can celebrate as a community. Over the past year, our objective was to transform JAINA from a volunteer-based organization to a professional institution. With your support, we have taken a number of steps to achieve our shared vision to Evolve and promote Jain practices, Educate Jains and non-Jains to create a strong North American Jain community, Expand an awareness of Jainism as we create a global impact & Energize our community by evoking social change. We are continuing to establish a central hub for communication between organizations and projects.
Below are some highlights:
YJA Convention + New Board
We are proud of a successful YJA Convention, which took place in Washington, D.C. this past July 3-6th. It brought together over 650 youth and young adults under the theme "Young Jains: Today's Learners, Tomorrow's Leaders". The convention was even covered by the TV Asia. We also like to congratulate the new 2014-2015 YJA Executive Committee.
Prom Jain
partner organizations, and JAINA committees; to provide a strong platform for women, senior citizens, and younger generations; and to support stronger relationships between local Jain centers. Many thanks go to the Committee Chair and President of Siddhachalam, Jaipat Singh Jain, for hosting the event at their beautiful center.
Celebrating Ahimsa Day at the White House On Oct 2, JAINA was represented at the fourth annual Seva conference at the White House at a daylong conference with the theme of "Dharma Dialogue: Seva and Social Justice". In association with the Hindu American Seva Communities, JAINA was invited to participate in a Dharmic Council that brought together members of various dharmic faiths.
2nd Annual Executive Committee Meeting at Siddhachala
JAINA held its second annual Board Meeting at Siddhachalam in New Jersey from Oct. 17-19. Over 20 JAINA leaders gathered with the Executive Committee to further expand JAINA's vision for the next two years. The Committee agreed to build stronger partnerships between member organizations,
4 I MAY-JUN 2015
JAIN DIGEST
Raising Funds for JAINA & JAINA Projects In an endeavor to further establish our JAINA Office and to support JAINA Committees Projects, we held a Holiday Fundraising drive, which yielded nearly $90,000. This was a nationally coordinated effort between all Jain Centers across North America. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who have contributed and helped to make JAINA a stronger organization as we move forward into 2015.
Descriptions of JAINA's projects can be seen here: www.jaina.org/projects.
To donate to JAINA's many efforts, I invite you to click here: www.jaina.org/donate.
IARYA! AHIMS
Successful year for Young Jain Professionals (YJP)
We would like to congratulate YJP for their wonderful success in their first year back. They held nearly 50 regional events bringing together hundreds of young Jain professionals across North America. They have established themselves as the premier resource for professional networking to serve the 25 - 42 yr. old demographic of the Jain Community.
