Jain Society Greater Atlanta 2008 11 Pratistha

Author(s): Jain Center of Greater Atlanta
Publisher: USA Jain Center Greater Atlanta

Page 13

Jain Society of Greater Atlanta A Breif History
by Madhu Sheth and Dr. Mahendra K. Dosi
The formation of a formal Jain Society with a constitution and building a Jain temple was inspired with the Atlanta visits of Acharya Shushil Kumarji and Gurudev Chitrabhanuji in early nineties. A five-member Constitution committee consisted of Dr. Mahendra Dosi-chairman, Dr. Narendra Shah, Jitendra Shah, Kirti Zaveri and Vijay Shah, was established in 1992. The committee prepared the constitution & by-laws of JSGA in 1992 which was approved and established. The first appointed President was Jitendra Shah who earned the honor of being the leading founding member of the Society since 1981. The Society voted Manhar Parikh in 1993 as its first elected JSGA President. He registered the Society as a non-profit organization with IRS and instituted the practice of GheeBoli to help fund-raising.
In 1994 Narendra Maniar the next JSGA President carried out a survey among the Society members to identify preferred attributes of Temple site. He also formed a Temple Committee consisted of Mahdu Sheth-chairperson, Deepak Shah, Dr. Kirti Shah, Santosh Kothari, and late Dinesh Shah. The committee worked diligently with the next two JSGA Executive Committees presided by Dr. Kirti Shah (1995) and Santosh Kothari (1996) in search of a suitable land for temple site. They had screened more than 50 such sites. Lack of sufficient funds was one of the limitations for some of the suitable sites were identified by the Temple committee.
The society grew significantly in 1990's and there was an apparent need of building our own center along with a Jain Center & Temple. In order to expedite the land selection process Prof. Jagdish & Madhu Sheth sensed use of a philanthropic approach necessary. They donated funds to JSGA to purchase a 3.8-acre of land in the fastest growing Gwinnett County with the largest population of JSGA membership in December 1996.
In 1997 & 1998 Deepak Shah became the JSGA President. He carried out the Bhoomi-poojan in 1997 by Acharya Shri Chandanaji, and initiated conceptualizing the temple construction. The baton was passed on to Madhu Sheth
who served JSGA president in 1999 & 2000. With her persistence and vision the Temple Committee agreed to build a two-story of the Jain Center, and also decided to build a Jain Center first and then temple at a later time.
The conceptual design activities of Jain center took place and completed in 1999 in cooperation with Tony Patel (architect) and Shirish Gandhi (Jhaveri Enterprises) as contractor. The Shila-ropan ceremony for the Center was performed by Gurudev Chitrabhanuji. In 2000 all activities related to Center construction was managed by the JSGA Executive Committee members namely, Madhu Sheth, Dr. Mahendra Dosi, Bharat Shah, Anil Shah, Rajesh Shah, Hitesh Shah & Virbala Jain. The construction of 7,500 sq.ft. main level of JSGA Center consisted of a Foyer, Storage room, and the assembly hall with stage and dressing area providing a sitting capacity of 500 persons was completed in December 2000.
The center was inaugurated in April 2001 and the next Executive Committee with the leadership of Deepak Shah completed the lower floor with full kitchen and dining hall facilities, and increased the total area of the Center to 14,400 sq.ft. The kitchen/dining facilities in the lower floor have sitting capacity of more than 250 persons. In addition, there are four rooms in the lower floor for various activities (Pathshala, swaddhyaya, etc.). It was also planned to build a temple adjoining to the Center at a later time allowing additional fund collection. The Shila-ropan ceremony for the Temple was performed by Sadhviji Shubhamji.
With the opening of the Jain Center at 669 S. Peach Tree Street in Norcross, GA, the Jain community members found a new home which is fully occupied with various activities such as pooja, bhavana, samayik, pratikraman, lectures, yoga & meditation and pathshala classes.
Further to these activities, some of the families namely, Vinod & Shushma Jain, Pravin & Veena Shah, Dr. Mahendra & Urmila Dosi, Atul & Rashmi Gupta, Ashok & Indira Shah, Ravindra & Reema Ajmera, Anurag & Priti Jain, Niranjan & Kanta Jain, Vijay & Dr. Neelima