May 1, 1998 IAAMJV NEWSLETTER Jai Jinendra. I hope this letter greets you and your family with the best of health and spirits. Here are the highlights of the news items and progress we have made since we published the last progress report in November of last year. We would like to inform you about two very important developments at MJV: Brand New MJV Main Office Building: MJV management have been advised by the structural engineers that the current building at Gowalia Tank Road has become too old and it is dangerous to conduct operations from there. Therefore they have decided to demolish the existing structure and construct a new and modern building with all amenities. Most of the students have either been sent to their homes or temporarily placed in other institutes in Bombay. This project is expected to cost around Rs.5 crores (around $ 1.25 million) over a period of 2 years. The current plan calls for admitting students beginning June 2000. Because of the large funds needed to carry out this project, MJV has requested us to do our part and extend a helping hand. Delegation from MJV is planning to come to the States sometime this year to make a special appeal to our membership. We would like to urge our membership to do their very best to support this project. Once we receive all the details about this project, we will prepare a flyer and send a copy to you all. MJV Branch at Udaipur: We are pleased to report that the Udaipur project is taking a concrete shape. Dr. Mohan Jain recently visited India and located a nice 20,000 square feet plot in Udaipur. He met with Shri C.N. Sanghavi, Shri Dipchandbhai Gardi, Kirtibhai Doshi, Mr. B. K. Vasa and worked out an agreement to proceed with the project. Dr. Mohan Jain has established a Steering Committee in Udaipur led by Shri Babubhai Bapna and a similar committee in Bombay led by Shri Premlal Bapna and Shri Mohan Sanghavi. A meeting was held in Philadelphia on March 22, 1998 with Dr. Mohan Jain, Babubhai Bapna (from Udaipur) and Chhagan Bapna (Cleveland). IAAMJV was represented by Dr. Manibhai Mehta, Dr. Dilip T. Shah, Kamlesh Shah and Anop Vora. We discussed several issues to get the Udaipur branch moving fast. Thanks to all who participated. The project is expected to cost around 1 crore rupees ($250,000). Dr. Jain's contacts in India have committed Rs. 60 lac ($150,000) and has started talking to potential donors in North America along with Dr. Y. P. Jain of Long Island, N.Y. IAAMJV has set a target of raising $100,000. We would like to see the Udaipur branch up and running by June 1999. We will get in touch with you with the details about this project soon. Please open up your wallet and help us generously. What we are doing has far reaching positive ramifications for a very important section of the Jain community. Fund Raising Committees: Since we have been asked to support two big projects-MJV Main Building in Bombay and MJV Udaipur Branch, we need to organize our efforts and reach every one to get the financial support. To help us in this fund raising of giant proportion, we have decided to establish at least 4 fund raising committees. Please contact any of the Executive Committee members if you wish to participate in any of these committees representing various regions of USA and Canada (East, Midwest, West and South). Quote: "A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove....but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a bright and needy student." Response to our donation appeal: We are pleased to inform you that the year end 1997 response from our membership to the last newsletter was excellent. Many of you responded generously either by making a new donation or paying off your earlier pledge. Here are some interesting numbers: Grand total donation to-date: $325,682 (Cash received $289,358 Balance due $36,324) including Donation from Non-MJV donors: $48,677 (Cash received $44,477, Balance due $4,200) Donation for Kanya Chhatralaya: $73,569 [Cash received $72,168 (98%), Balance due $1,401 (2%)]. 98% collected We would like to thank the following donors who sent in cash funds (or cash equivalents) of $ 4,527 after we published our last newsletter. Some paid off their earlier pledges and others came up with new donations. No Name Donation 1 Mr. & Mrs. Arvind Bhandari $500 2 Mr. & Mrs. Laxmichand Gogri $150 * 3 Mr. & Mrs. Pradip Jhaveri $101 * Dr. & Mrs. Chandrakant N. & Sudha Shah $875 * Dr. & Mrs. Chandrakant P. & Devyani Shah $1000 * Mr. & Mrs. Chandrakant and Gita Shah $101 * Mr. & Mrs. Pankaj & Nimisha Shah $100 * Mr. & Mrs. Shirish Vora $200 Anonymous donor in memory of late Smita Shah $1,500 * * Indicates a new donation Total $4,527 Please note that many of the members in the above list have become repeat donors. This is an excellent practice. We should all remember the mother institute at least once a year and make a donation to the best of our ability. With the size of membership we have, this practice could bring in a large amount of donation every year and help the cause of education. Donation to Vidyalaya to-date: Here are the details of the funds sent to MJV so far: $33,901 40 Patrons 32,454 27 Scholarship Trust Funds (plus one more set up with donation in rupees) 50,000 Kanya Chhatralaya Project 19,342 Six Trust Scholar Seats 6,000 Copier ($5,000) and Fax ($1,000) 1,500 Funds to upgrade phone system 8,800 16 Water Coolers ( 2 in each branch including Kanya Chhatralaya) $156,097 Total as of April 1, 1998 Patrons Since we published the last newsletter, Dr. Chandrakant N. Shah, Dublin,GA. has applied to MJV to make his late brother-Dinesh Shah a patron of Vidyalaya. This brings the total number of patrons through IAAMJV to 40, assuming approval by MJV. If you become a patron of Vidyalaya, you will automatically become a life member, you will have a voting privilege, and a 12"x16" photograph of your relative will be displayed in the Vidyalaya hall. The donation to become a patron is $875 currently. We would like to appeal to you all to become a patron of MJV and make IAAMJV a powerful force in shaping the destiny of MJV. Loan to Graduate Students of India going Abroad: This program is picking up the momentum as more students come to know about us and apply for the scholarship. In addition to the 7 graduate students (names reported in the last newsletter) whom we awarded the scholarship recently, we have just approved two more. They are: Names Expected Study Rupal C. Mehta M.S. in Computer Science at Paughkee, New York Snehal R. Shah M.S. in Computer Science at N.J. Institute of Technology We are pleased to inform you that Chirantan Parikh has returned a part of the loan we had extended to him just a couple of years ago. We have started getting loan back from many students in India too. We are very happy that these students are returning the loans without being asked to do so. We hope that they will serve as a source of inspiration to other IAAMJV scholars. We request all of them to start returning their loans and keep helping the association. We regard IAAMJV scholars as promising leaders of tomorrow and are counting on their energy and support. We believe that in all probability, most of the IAAMJV scholars will land a good job and return our loan fast, allowing us to recycle the funds. Ideally, we would like to increase the amount of scholarship (current limit $2,000) and be of greater help to these promising applicants because the education is so expensive in this country. If you would like to support this specific program, please send us your check by writing US Loan scholarships in the memo section. This is an excellent program in one respect: Through this program, we have been able to help bright and needy graduate students from India directly and see the results right in front of our eyes. In addition, they really appreciate what we are doing for them. To quote a couple of scholarship recipients, "I am very much grateful to your dedicated organization for offering me initial support and with help of which I am standing at this point in my life. I am also looking forward to repay the entire loan scholarship money within next two year before finishing my Ph. D. so that my other brother(s) and sisters can make best use of it."...........Nehal Deliwala (England) " I would like to thank you very much for the timely help that IAAMJV has offered me....It is really beyond words to express. How can I thank your committee for considering myself worthy and trustful of the scholarship?"...........Dr. Vimal Mehta The above heart touching notes keep us going and make us feel that we are doing something right. We feel our efforts are impacting quite a few lives for better and our efforts indeed have a real meaning. Good News from Pune MJV We would to like report the excellent work being done by Shri Virendra Patni, one of our alumni, at Poone branch of Vidyalaya. He has shown exceptionally strong leadership in getting the improvement projects done fast. For example, he was instrumental in getting the compound wall completed. This work was pending for the last 30 yrs.!! He has finished computer installation and started training the students. He has installed water coolers we funded a couple of years ago. Lastly he has modernized the kitchen. He invited the superintendents of all branches to see what was accomplished. Every one was impressed. Currently he has asked MJV management to provide new furniture, to permit an extra floor to accommodate 40 more students, to have Kanya Chhatralaya etc. MJV is considering his request. Our hats off to Mr. Patni for his dedication, enthusiasm and hard work. We hope that more alumni would come forward and propel the mother institute to a much higher peak. fund raising activities at this event. We would like to make it strictly a social and fun event. If you are interested, please let us know. IAAMJV Summer Picnic or a Reunion: We are planning to have a picnic for our members and their families on Aug. 16, 1998 or a reunion on August 15 and 16 at Siddhachalam and would like to urge every one who is within driving distance to come and join us for joy and fun. We will meet at 10:00 a.m., have a Pooja until noon, have a lunch, have a meeting, followed by tea and social hour. Please call Kanti Mepani at 201-656-8515 and make your reservation immediately. If you would like to have reunion for a couple of days, we could meet on August 15, do various activities and disperse on the next day. We are willing to organize if there is a serious interest. Please call Kanti Mepani before June 1, 1998. We will act fast if we get reasonable number of phone calls. Have you moved? New Address/E-mail Address: We have been getting about 30 newsletters back because the members may have moved. Please let us know if you have a new address and/or phone number. We would very much like to keep every one informed but it is a waste of time and energy to see so many newsletters returned. May we please count on your help? In addition, we would like to start building e-mail address directory for our membership for faster communication. Please send your e-mail address to Chandra Vora at . Thanks to Dr. Dinesh Shah of Los Angeles for this suggestion. Thank You Note: We would like to thank Shri K. K. Mehta, CPA (NY) who is auditing our records and preparing the 1997 federal and state income tax returns. He has been helping us for many years without charging any fees to the association. Sum Up: This is the first time we will be supporting two big projects: one at Udaipur and the other at Bombay. Both of these projects are worth while and need our financial support. Most of us doing very well financially and let us donate a small part of our wealth for a larger cause. We would like to urge you all- those who have donated as well those who have not- to come forward and extend a helping hand. We need your help now!!! With Warmest Personal Regards, Anop R.Vora President DONATION FORM Yes, I want to help keep a good thing going. Here is my total pledge for $ ________. I would like to pay $_________ now and pay $________per year for the next ____years. This is in addition to what I pledged or gave previously. Please use my donation in the following manner, to support the noble cause of education for the Jain community worldwide: $ ____________ MJV Main Building Fund $ ____________ MJV Udaipur Branch Fund $ ____________ MJV Patron ($875/person) $ ____________ MJV Scholarship Trust Fund (Min. $1,000) $ ____________ Endowment Fund (Min. $5,000) $ ____________ India Loan Scholarships for undergraduate students $ ____________ US Loan Scholarships for graduate students $ ____________ General Funds Name _____________________________________________ Address _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ Phone # _____________________________________________ Date _____________ MJV Alumni ________Yes ________No Please make your check payable to I.A.A.M.J.V.,Inc. and mail it to Mr.Ramesh Fofaria, Treasurer, IAAMJV, Inc. 1119 Flanders St. Garner,NC 27529 Phone 919-772-8473 9 2