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JainDigest JAINA President's Message
Jai Jinendra!
Hope you and your family are in sukh-sata and had wonderful Paryushan/Das Lakshana celebrations at your Jain Centers. With your love and support, JAINA continues to reach new heights and make progress in achieving its vision. Today, JAINA is a very well-known and highly respected organization not only in North America but also around the globe.
It is my honor and privilege to share with you a number of accomplishments JAINA and our Community have achieved over last 4-5 months. Here are some of the highlights:
Youth Exchange Program - JAINA, JITO and BJS sponsored and coordinated the Jain Youth Exchange Program (JYEP) 2018. The program brought 12 Jain Exchange students from all over India to the USA. They were hosted by Jain families. In this 3 weeks program students visited 5 cities: Boston, New York, Washington D.C., San Francisco and Chicago at the Young Jains of America Convention. Under this program, they visited monuments, temples, met entrepreneurs and industry leaders.
Tapovan NRI Shibir - "Tapovan Sanskar Pith" held Tapovan NRI Shibir 2018 for children from July 15th to July 21st. Over 50 children from 11 different countries participated in the shibir and performed the activities like Asthaprakari Pooja & Bhavna with Orchestra, Angi & Aarti, Samayik & Vanchan, Cultural activity, Yoga & Meditation, Sports & Games on daily basis. They also learned about Jain Geography, Science and History. The shibir was extremely satisfactory for students, parents and the Tapovan team
Workshop at Maryland - After three successful recent workshops, JAINA Education Committee, Jain Society of Metropolitan Washington (USMW) and Jain Society of Northern Virginia (JSNV) jointly organized 4th Jain Workshop from April 27th to April 29th, 2018 at the Jain Temple of JSMW in Maryland. The workshop, attended by 48 people, was very well received and was an enlightening experience.
JAINA Convention 2019 team has launched a website and opened registration on September 3rd and received over 1000 registrations within the first 24 hours. Please take the advantage of the discounted price and book your registration at jainaconvention.org. JAINA First VP and Convener, Mahesh Wadher, invited President Obama to be a keynote speaker and along with JAINA Past President, Ashok Domadia invited Pujya Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to the JAINA Convention 2019.
JAINA EC/BOD was held at Jain Society of Central Florida (JSCF) in Orlando from 3rd August to 5th August, 2018. The meeting included covering status of EC board meetings, its updates and action plans. It also held two days sessions of over 15 committees with interactive participation of 50+ members. JAINA President, Gunvant Shah, thanked members of JSCF for their hospitality and preparations for the meeting in such a short time. JAINA should consider hosting future meetings at both, medium and small Jain centers.
India Day Parade - Federation of Indian Associations (FIA) organized an India Day Parade in New York City on August 19, 2018. It was the largest Independence Parade outside of India. JAINA, YJP and YJA marched along with International Ahimsa Foundation Float.
Professorships in Jain Studies - Recently two Professorships in Jain studies at Universities in California were established. (1) On June 19, the Los Angeles Jain Community, the donors and officers of the University of California, Santa Barbra signed the documents to establish the Bhagwan Vimalnath Lectureship in Jain Studies at the prestigious University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). (2) On the auspicious day of Guru Purnima, Drs. Jasvant and Meera Modi of Los Angeles with a gift of $800,000 signed the legal documents to establish the
