YJA Convention 2018 07 Chicago IL

Author(s): Young Jains of America (YJA)
Publisher: Young Jains of America YJA USA

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JAINA
President Gunvant Shah North Brunswick, NJ (732) 331-5082 profgaryshah@gmail.com
First Vice President
Mahesh Wadher
Corona, CA
(909) 376-4027 mahesh.wadher@gmail.com
Secretary
Haresh Shah Wilmington, DE (302) 740-9232 harryshah2000@hotmail.com
Treasurer
Atul Shah
Naperville, IL (630) 501-4373 treasurer@jaina.org
V.P.- Northeast
Jayshree Shah Wappingers Falls, NY (845) 498-0558 shahj@us.ibm.com
V.P. - Mideast
Hita Shah
New Hope, PA
(215) 862-7655 kshah72@hotmail.com
V.P.- Southeast
Purvin Vakharwala Johns Creek, GA (404) 409-0945 purvin@jaina.org
"To Preserve and Share Jain Philosophy and Way of Life"
JAINA
Federation of Jain Associations in North America
JAINA Headquarter: 722 5 Main Street, Milpitas, CA 95035 USA: (510) 730-0204, www.jaina.org | info@jaina.org
V.P. - Midwest Rahul Dedhia Leakwood, KS (913) 795-1155 rahul.dedhia@gmail.com
V.P. - Southwest Dr. Pradeep Shah Dallas, TX (214) 621-8762 pshah972@gmail.com
V.P.-West
Kokila Doshi Poway, CA (858) 679-7645 kdoshi@sandiego.edu
V.P. - CANADA
Kamal Jain
Welland, ON, CANADA (858) 679-7645 budwelland@gmail.com
YJA
Dharmi Shah
Dothan, AL
(334) 441 7559 dharmi.shah@yja.org
Siddharth Shah
Houston, TX
(832) 729 8285 siddharth.shah@yja.org
Past President
Ashok Domadia Fremont, CA
(510) 979-9312 ashokdomdia2009@gmail.com
On behalf of JAINA, I welcome you to 2018 YJA Convention in Chicago, IL.
I congratulate YJA team for its enthusiasm, enormous efforts and great teamwork for bringing forward a weekend full of networking, spiritual awareness, education and fun.
YJA serves over 10,000 Jain youth around North America, creating opportunities to connect through events and activities such as Biennial Convention, National Dinners, Volunteer Events, Clothing Drive, VegFest, YJA College Chapters Expansion, Giving Tuesday, Career Series Webinar, YJA Pathshala, Young Minds Issues and more.
Over past 27 years, YJA Convention has grown from an idea to a mega event of 700+ attendees with active participation from youths and amazing speakers. I congratulate YJA team, who is organizing this amazing YJA Convention with tremendous efforts and great team work! I am impressed with the YJA Convention Board and the team with meticulous planning, perfect execution, timely follow-up, record fundraising and above all humility in carrying out this monumental effort.
The theme of this year's convention is "Reconnecting With Our Roots". This theme perfectly exemplifies how important is it to go back to our Jain roots in this modern age. It is your responsibility as young Jains to preserve our Jain roots and build upon what has already been established.
JAINA has always encouraged the youth involvement by supporting and promoting various youth activities such as
1. Jain Youth Exchange Program - The program intends to provide hundreds of young students with the opportunity to meet people from other countries and to experience new cultures while planting the seeds for a lifetime of international understanding.
2. Academic Scholarship Program It helps needy Jain youths to attend an institution of higher learning where they can develop her/his skills, talents, and eventually make the community. country and world a better place.
3. JAINA Summer Internship - It allows undergraduate and graduate students to work with other service-based community organizations in a startup environment.
4. Liaison with Academic Institutions - JAINA has established liaison with academic institutions in North America that are promoting the study, teaching and research in the principles, philosophy, culture and history of Jain Dharma.
5. Mentorship Programs for Youth - The program facilitate dynamic mentor-mentee relationships with successful mentors that address the issues like career, education, religion, community development etc.
6. Jain Milan encourages singles to create their profile on www.jainmilan.org where there are over 1600 profiles of single men and women from all over the world are available.
JAINA, as always, will continue to support and motivate youth in sharing Jain heritage and religion among the youth and eventually passing on to the next generation.
Best wishes for the successful YJA Convention 2018!
Sincerely, Juvant Shah
Gunvant Shah
JAINA President
Founded 1981, UN NGO, a Non-Profit Religious organization (501) (c) (3) El # 54 - 1280028
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