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THE HINDU TEMPLE OF CANTON VANDANA-NOVEMBER-2018

वं

The Hindu Temple of Canton

VANDANA

November - 2018

2018 Board

Chairman: Manoj Sachdeva

Vice-Chairman: Avinash Rachmale

President: Anil Sakhuja

Vice-President: Daxesh Modi

Treasurer: Vishnu Panjwani

Asst. Treasurer: Anil Sakhuja

Secretary: Kalpesh Unadkat

Asst. Secretary: Arun Suri

Trustee & Temple Administrator: Keshav Raizada

Trustee: Dr. Sarju Shah

Trustee: Ashwani Narula

Trustee: Deep Prakash

Trustee: Roger Rathi

Trustee: Dalip Guglani

Trustee: Jignesh Patel

Trustee: Madhu Kapila

Advisory Board Members

Nitin Desai Vijay Chaudhri Custodian/Security Officers

Steve and Dean

Inside this Issue

2018 Board 1

2018 Committees 2

2018 Chairman’s

Message 4

2018 Religious Chair

Message 6

2017 Chairman’s

Annual AGM Report 7

2017 AGM Meeting

Minutes 9

Our Priests 14

2017 Statement of

Activities & 2018

Budget 15

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2018 Committees Chairperson Co-Chair Working Committee Members

1 Audit & Finance/Office Management

Anil Sakhuja Manoj Sachdeva Vishnu Panjwani,Avinash Rachmale,Daxesh Modi, Kalpesh Unadkat,Arun Suri

2 Funds Collection Arun Suri Vishnu Panjwani, Tom Patel, Dalip Guglani

Anil Sakhuja,Daxesh Modi, Manoj Sachdeva,Deep Prakash,Suresh Shah

3 Interest Free (Member Loan Management)

Vishnu Panjwani

Roger Rathi Avinash Rachmale, Anil Sakhuja, Kalpesh Unadkat, Daxesh Modi, Madhu Kapila, Vijay Chaudhri, Deep Prakash

4 Inventory/ Asset Tracking

Daxesh Modi/ Ashwani Narula

Vishnu Panjwani Pandit Ji/Kiran Ji/ Mukhiya Ji/Manoj Sachdeva/Anil Sakhuja/Keshav Raizada

5 By Laws /Constitution /Legal affairs

Manoj Sachdeva

Anil Sakhuja Avinash Rachmale, Tom Patel, Madhu Kapila, Vijay Chaudhri, Jatin Desai, Kalpesh Unadkat,Vishnu Panjwani,Roger Rathi

6 Community Affairs/Communication(Radio Publicity) /Public relations

Avinash Rachmale

Manoj Sachdeva/ Chandru Acharya

Anil Sakhuja,Sarju Shah,Ashwani Narula,Kalpesh Unadkat, Daxesh Modi,Pandit Ji, Kiran Ji,Mukhiya Ji, Vishnu Panjwani, Deep Prakash,Tom Patel

7 Scholarship Committee Deep Prakash

Vishnu Panjwani Jignesh Patel, Daxesh Modi, Arun Suri,Nitin Desai

8 Food/Kitchen Hasmukh Patel

Kalpesh Undakat/ Keshav Raizada/ Madhu Suri

Naina & Upendra Patel, Dalip Guglani, Bhupendra Desai, Mukhi, Jay Patel,Vijay Hadagali,Bhartiben Raval,Anu Prakash, Jesal Shah,Vishal

9 Fund Raising TBD Avinash Rachmale/ Anil Sakhuja/ Manoj Sachdeva

Daxesh Modi, Jignesh Patel, Vishnu Panjwani,Kalpesh Unadkat,Keshav Raizada, Dr. Sarju Shah,Jatin Desai,Ashwani Narula,Keshav Raizada,Roger Rathi, Madhu Kapila,Vijay Chaudhri

10 Hall Rental Keshav Raizada

Daxesh Modi/ Manoj Sachdeva /Anil Sakhuja

Kiran Ji, Pandit Ji,Vishnu Panjwani,Steve,Hasmukh Patel

11 Health Care Jatin Desai/ Dr. Sarju Shah

Dr. Chanderlekha Pujara

Dr Anil Kumar,Dr Chandarkant Pujara, Dr.Surinder Jolly, Dr. Arun Kapur, Dr. Narinder Batra, Dr Puneet Garg, Dr. Pratima Garg,Nitin Desai, Kalpesh Unadkat, Daxesh Modi,Urmil Salvi

12 Library Management Trupti Modi Manohar Jagasia Kiran Ji, Panditji, Manoj Sachdeva, Daxesh Modi,Kalpesh Unadkat, Sushil and Kamlesh Sachdev

13 Long Range Planning Manoj Sachdeva

Avinash Rachmale

Anil Sakhuja,Tom Patel, Ashwani Narula, Vishnu Panjwani,Keshav Raizada,Vijay Chaudhari,Madhu Kapila

2018 Committees

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2018 Committees 14 Membership Directory/Drive Daxesh

Modi Manoj Sachdeva Tom Patel,Anil Sakhuja,Avinash Rachmale,

Kalpesh Unadkat,Jatin Desai

15 MIS/Web Page Kalpesh Unadkat/ Daxesh Modi

Ashwani Narula Manoj Sachdeva, Avinash Rachmale, Anil Sakhuja,Pandit Ji

16 eNewsletter Jignesh Patel

Manoj Sachdeva Anil Sakhuja, Ashwani Narula, Daxesh Modi,Roger Rathi

17 Property Mangement(Outside/Inside Maintenance)

Manoj Sachdeva

Keshav Raizada Anil Sakhuja, Steve Dimovski, Dean Dimovski, Kiran Ji,Pandit Ji,Mukhiya Ji, Daxesh Modi,Kalpesh Unadkat,Dalip Guglani,Avinash Rachmale

18 Audio/Video Systems Keshav Raizada

Steve Dimovski, Dean Dimovski

Kiran Ji,Pandit Ji, Mukhiya Ji, Kalpesh Unadkat, Daxesh Modi

19 Religious Affairs Pandit Ji Kiran Ji, Mukhiya Ji

Anil Sakhuja, Vishnu Panjwani, Manoj Sachdeva,Kirti Unadkat, Madhu Kapila, Narendra Nagar, Vijay Chaudhri, Deep Prakash,Ramesh Bhavsar, Daxesh Modi,Usha Desai, Trupti Modi, Bela & Prakash Patel, Anuradha Hadagali, Parulben, Kedar Vyas,Vivek Iyer,Darshan Parikh,Sharan,Aayush Karia, Ketan Dave, Gayatri Upadhyay, Sonal Chokshi, Shreenidhi, Priyanka Tiwari,Srilatha

20 Senior Activities Bharti Jethwa

Tom Patel Avinash Rachmale, Anil Sakhuja,Akhlesh Rohatg,i Sushi Sachdev, Kamlesh Sachdev, Keshav Raizada,Steve Dimovski,Dean

21 Youth Affairs Daxesh Modi

Keshav Raizada Kalpesh Unadkat, Kirti Unadkat,Hema Ramanathan, Keshav Raizada,Manoj Sachdeva, Anil Sakhuja, Anuradha Hadgali, Daxesh Modi,Aarush Goel, Sonia Bhakkad, Shilpa Pindolia,Chintan Modi,Parita Shah, Ritika Parikh

22 Volunteers Kalpesh Unadkat/ Jignesh Patel

Keshav Raizada/ Deep Prakash

Trupti Modi, Anuradha Hadgali, Kirti, Unadkat, Ushaben, Parulben, All Board Members and Advisory Board Members

23 Hari Om Center/ Welcome Center

Vishnu Panjwani

Manoj Sachdeva Anil Sakhuja, Deep Prakash, Manohar Jagasia, Sushil Sachdev,Amar Bhasin,Pandit Ji,Kiran Ji,Kamlesh Sachdev,Vinod Goel

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2018 CHAIRMAN & BOARD OF TRUSTEES MESSAGE

Dear Temple Member and Devotees: Hari Om

I am honored to be Chairman of this great temple. This position carries a lot of responsibility towards temple, its members and devotees. I hope to continue to live up to everyone’s expectations and temple’s mission statement. We will overcome hurdles no matter what they are and whichever shape they are

"Success lies in good people, surrounded by good people, surrounded by good people". Our temple has been able to thrive because I am surrounded by solid team of good people. Our temple is one of a kind place of peace and healthy living. Our smiling Priests and their great attitude have done wonders for our temple.

Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to serve on the Board and supporting us in making the temple a great place to worship.

As the year 2018 nears the end, we want to share with you the good things that have happened at the temple during the year and also dispel some of the misinformation and rumors that are going around.

1. Temple finances are in better shape than ever before: Yearly revenues are estimated at $ 825,000, Yearly Expenses are estimated at $ 600,000. When temple was built we had loan in amount $ 5,450,000. We have paid down $ 3,955,000 as of today & balance loan amount owed to bank is $ 1,495,000 and we are paid 6 years in advance up to year 2024. We also have $ 1,023,000 in interest free loans outstanding to temple members. Cash balance in bank at year end is estimated at over $700,000 including $250,000 reserve fund and amount of pledges at year end are estimated to be around $ 1,000,000

The financial statements are prepared on a monthly basis and to provide full transparency, they are available upon request for review in the temple.

As a side note, in 2017 our outside accountant discovered financial irregularities. There was some finger-pointing so to get to the truth, the Board decided to appoint an independent forensic accountant to audit the books. The results of the audit will be presented to members as soon as they are available in the very near future 2. All temple events are being celebrated in grand style, with great attendance and joyous mood. Divinity and optimism is being felt all

over our temple We had a number of highly attended broad based religious events with standing room only crowds. This is in addition to the daily/weekly/monthly/special occasion services that are performed on a regular basis.

3. A lot is happening at our temple for benefit of temple, its members/devotees, senior citizens and youth.

4. For 9 months ending 9/30/18, our three great priests have provided over $100,000 in services at the devotees’ homes and at the temple. This amount at year end is estimated at over $ 131,000

5. We have developed very good relations with the local civic organizations and Canton Township

6. Our seniors group continues to conduct a number of social gatherings and fun activities on a regular basis. Temple provides no charge usage of temple facilities to seniors group. We can never forget contributions seniors have made to Hindu Temple of Canton and we are forever indebted to them.

7. We formed a Constitution/Bylaws committee to address the concerns of some temple members on the present bylaws. The committee has begun to develop recommendations on revisions to the bylaws by the year end

8. One of the key priorities and achievement of the Board has been to actively encourage youth involvement. This has been done through engaging youth in playing musical instruments at Sunday services, offering annual scholarships for high school seniors and providing facilities for their social functions among other things.

9. The temple continues to attract a large pool of very talented volunteers, including youth, for the ongoing tasks and special events. This has allowed the temple to run a very efficient operation.

10. A sumptuous Prasad (full lunch/dinner) has become a part of the Sunday morning services and special events. These are all sponsored by the devotees including the International Geeta Gurukul Foundation which fills the voids when no sponsors are available. Just to clarify, this Foundation (run by Mr. Manoj Sachdeva, the temple chairman) is only in the business of giving donations to the temple with absolutely nothing in exchange from the temple. “It is established purely for benefit of Hindu Temple of Canton and community at large”

11. Some of the other highlights are as follows: ✓ Library is open and at your service. ✓ Ever increasing usage of temple banquet hall by temple devotees/members. Yearend revenue from this is estimated at $ 70,000

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✓ Hari Om Center caters to needs of devotees for religious souvenirs and Puja material as well as promote volunteerism ✓ Balvihar being attended every Sunday ✓ Participation in classes of Bal Gokulum, Speech, Marathi, Hindi, Math, Tamil/Telgu. ✓ Health Fair conducted successfully ✓ Flu shots administered, all costs sponsored by generosity of others. ✓ Increased member participation in community events

12. Finally, the Board has a very broad cultural representation and temple operations are as transparent as they can be.

13. Temple’s dedicated team has implemented a new software named Breeze for easy online access of account by each member

14. Board meetings are open to all members and they can come and express their views in a peaceful manner at any meeting Annual Dinner is scheduled for December 1, 2018. Looking forward to welcoming everyone. Please be sure to attend with family, friends and relatives. All members/devotees, please request a one of one meeting with any of temple officers and or Board of Trustees for any good ideas that you may have that you would like to share. We want to conclude by saying that this temple belongs to you, us and everyone else and will always remain this way. It is one of the greatest places to gather and worship and we pledge to keep it this way for the future generations to come.

We are all here to serve in the HOUSE OF GOD . “Dharam Ka Sath Hai Prabhu Ka Sath” For any comments and suggestions for betterment of our temple, its members/devotees, anyone can contact me at their convenience via my cell phone 734-260-4483 or email: [email protected] Jai Ram Ji Ki Jai Sri Krishna God Bless us All!!! Manoj Sachdeva Chairman and The Board of Trustees The Hindu Temple of Canton

mailto:[email protected]

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2018 Religious Chair & Priests Message

Dear Devotees,

Namaste and Hari Om to All

As the Priests of the great “The Hindu Temple of the Canton” and Religious committee members for the

year 2018, we are grateful to the Temple Board of Trustees, Temple Management and all of you as an entire

community from all the different parts of India for your trust and support and giving us an opportunity to

serve as your temple Priest’s and Religious committee for the year 2018. All temple events & celebrations were conducted and celebrated

with grand religious traditions and full house attendance. But we couldn’t have done it WITHOUT YOU all. We appreciate and respect your

tremendous, valuable gift of time, energy, donations and encouraging support.

This year we had Ganesh Havan, Mrityunjaya Havan, Saraswati Havan for Kids, Gayatri Havan, Balaji Anniversary, Mata Ki Chowki, All of our

regular festivals, Shivaratri, Holi, Ramanavami, Srinath ji Patotsav , Krishna Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi. Navaratri were celebrated in

grand traditional way. Large number of devotees attended with full devotion. It was a very enjoyable, devotion filled, energetic and lively

year for all of us. Deepavali, Annakut, Tulsi vivah are yet to be conducted and celebrated in the same grand tradition. This year’s special

attraction and major event was the BHAGAWAT KATHA by our respectful and loving Swamiji Sri Nalinanand Giri Maharaj, who visited from

Maryland. It was an immense response from all and was a milestone event in our temple history. We hope to invite Swamiji and have his

presence for more katha and satsang in the coming future to seek the blessings of divine knowledge and better path of life.

To attain the divine blessings, positive energy, peaceful mind we request all of you to visit the temple from Sunday to Saturday and make use

of your own temple. Weekly religious activities like Shiva abhishekam on Monday, Hanuman ji Bhajans on Tuesday, Shrinathji Satsang on

Wednesday, Sai Bhajans on Thursday, Durga Pooja On Friday, Balaji Pooja on Saturday and Sunday kirtan Satsang. Also, we request everyone

to please go to the temple website and register your email so that all these special events can be informed to you in advance and timely.

Also, the youth programs were conducted even better and organized with more youth involving in the activities. Temple is the main platform

for the community youth to get the exposure towards the religious practices. First time ever we have conducted Youth Navaratri Raas Garba

celebrations with largest ever attendance.

In addition to all we would like to thank and appreciate the complete support and guidance from the current Board of Trustees, since last

two years we have been given the opportunity to work as the religious committee. With that we were able to manage and conduct all the

religious events in a peaceful, respectful and thankful manner. Just three of us priests were able to help and serve nearly one thousand

families with home visit religious priestly services for this year. We also thank the Board of Trustees for their hard work and dedication and

pray to the lord to give them more strength to serve the temple for many more years to come. It is a great honor to learn that devotees are

extremely pleased and satisfied with the everyday functioning of the temple.

In the future, we will try to do more for the entire community with better ideas and thoughts. As Lord Krishna said in Geeta, we are all one

family (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam). Let us all work together with one ultimate goal to make our temple one of the best…..”Sab Ka Saath

Mandir Ka Vikas”

Once again, we three priests Panditji, Kiran Ji and Mukhiya Ji would like to take this opportunity to say heartful thanks to the entire community

and look forward to do more seva to Bhagavan in future.

May God bless all with Good Health, Wealth, Peace, prosperity and all kinds of Happiness.

Thank you and Hari OM

Panditji, Kiranji, Mukhiyaji.

Priests & Religious Committee of The Hindu Temple

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CHAIRMAN REPORT_ANNUAL GENERAL BODY MEETING DECEMBER 17, 2017

Dear Temple Board of Trustees, Temple Members, respected Priests and Devotees

Hari Om

Welcome to “The Great Hindu Temple of Canton” a place of worship, a community center, a place of

healing and happiness

I want to thank the Board of Trustees of The Hindu Temple of Canton and all of you for giving me

opportunity to serve you as the temple Chairman and President for the year 2017

And now, at first, I would like to thank the retiring board members of 2017 and would like to welcome the new board members as a part of

our team starting Jan 1,2018. The retiring board members are: Mr. Raj Vaishnav, Mr Nitin Desai, Mr Jatin Desai, Dr. Sarju Shah, Mr Arun Suri,

Mr Vishnu Panjwani, Mr Jignesh Patel and Mr Ashwani Narula. As per Article IV Section 1 of the Amended and Restated Bylaws adopted on

December 19, 2014:,After completing his or her term, a trustee is eligible to be nominated and reelected for another term in office. The

incoming board members nominated by 2018 Nomination Committee for next 3 years are: Mr. Tom Patel, Mr Somil Shah, Mr Vishnu Panjwani

and Mr. Ashwani Narula and the following 4 are nominated for one(1) year term: Mr. Dalip Guglani, Mr. Jatin Desai, Mr Deep Prakash and

Mr. Jignesh Patel. A resolution will be proposed later today to approve selection of these above mentioned names of board of trustees.

Our respected priests: Pandit Ji, Mukhiya Ji and Kiran Ji did a wonderful job conducting all religious events in grand style

Please join me in giving them a well deserved round of applause

I would like to reiterate Hindu Temple of Canton Mission Statement: “Promote Peace through worship, Healthy Living through Yoga/

Pranayam and Happiness through teachings of Hindu Religious Scriptures”

All temple events are being celebrated in grand style, with great attendance and joyous mood. Divinity and optimism is being felt all over

our temple.

A lot is happening at our temple for benefit of temple, its members/devotees, senior citizens and youth.

Some of the highlights are as follows:

➢ Increased participation in the sponsorship of Sunday Prasad ➢ Library is open and at your service. ➢ Our temple has become “THE PLACE” for senior activities ➢ A lot more in the works for seniors. Details will follow in the coming months ➢ Ever increasing usage of temple banquet hall by temple devotees/members ➢ Hari Om Center caters to needs of devotees for religious souvenirs and Puja material as well as promote volunteerism ➢ Balvihar being attended every Sunday ➢ Participation in classes of Bal Gokulum, Speech, Marathi, Hindi, Math, Tamil/Telgu. ➢ Health Fair conducted successfully ➢ Flu shots administered, all costs sponsored by generosity of others. ➢ Hindu temple App is being downloaded from Appstore and Google Android and being used by devotees for better

communication ➢ Active participation of youths in temple affairs ➢ Increased member participation in community events ➢ Free English Classes have started with help from SAAVI

Due to numerous activities. Annual Dinner has been postponed to first quarter of 2018. Looking forward to welcoming everyone. Please be

sure to attend with family, friends and relatives. All members/devotees, please request a one of one meeting with any of temple officers

and or Board of Trustee for any good ideas that you may have that you would like to share.

As part of today’s Chairman report, it is my duty as Chairman to make you aware of temple’s financial status

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1. Original loan amount was $ 5,450,000

2. Our current temple mortgage loan balance stands at $ 1,695,000. At this time last year temple mortgage loan balance was $ 2,320,000

3. It gives me immense pleasure to announce that during the last 12 months, we have paid down temple mortgage by $ 625,000

4. In addition, temple has interest free member loans of $ 1025,000.

5. Total loan obligation(bank and interest free member loans) stands at $2,710,000

6. We have approx. $ 400,000 in temple’s bank accounts at Comerica and TCF

We have much to achieve to make our temple debt free such as:

1. Interest Free Loans targeted to payoff temple mortgage 2. Sponsorship of Deities as well as all rooms and built areas. You can spread your pledge up to 10 years, making it very easy to pay

monthly 3. All forms(donations and sponsorship) can be downloaded from temple website

Once again, a reminder. Please note that a milestone resolution was passed by Temple Board of Trustees to deposit all identifiable funds

received by temple in any form what so ever(including charges for use of temple banquet hall, amounts received for items acquired in Hari

Om Center and Priestly services at home or at temple, to temple member accounts as donations received by temple.

Our goal is service, service and service for the entire community. Our objective is to constantly find ways to involve youths in all aspects at

our temple. We want our children to feel proud of their heritage

Also, let me remind all of you that we all need to work together for the BEST INTEREST OF OUR TEMPLE. Each one of us have a responsibility

towards taking care of temple anyway possible.

In the end, I would like to make a request that all of you bring your friends, family members, guests and relatives to the temple, your own place of worship. I also encourage all devotees to make use of all the facilities available at the temple including the havan area, banquet hall and classrooms to support the temple. I also request that you all stay connected with the temple by not only providing financial help but also volunteering your time to assist in other activities. On behalf of the temple, its board of directors, committee chairpersons, co-chairs, priests and other support staff, I would like to thank all of you for your continued support and encouragement. I also want to thank all the volunteers for their dedication. A special thanks to Seniors Group for their help in collecting donations for temple and encouraging other seniors to join temple Seniors Group And now, I would also like to bring to your attention that year end is approaching fast. Only a few days left. Please make your donations before December 31, 2017 to take advantage of tax deductions for year 2017.

May I also suggest that all members/devotees, please request a one of one meeting with any of temple officers and or Board of Trustees

for any good ideas that you may have that you would like to share.

I would like to thank current and past Board Members, Temple Management and Volunteers for their team effort and active participation

in temple affairs

We are all here for selfless seva in the HOUSE OF GOD

For any comments and suggestions for betterment of our temple, its members/devotees, anyone can contact me at their convenience via

my cell phone 734-260-4483 or email: [email protected]

Jai Ram Ji Ki

Jai Sri Krishna

God Bless us All!!!

Manoj Sachdeva

Chairman & President

The Hindu Temple of Canton


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THE HINDU TEMPLE, CANTON, MICHIGAN

DECEMBER 17, 2017

TIME: 10AM

ANNUAL GENERAL BODY MEETING MINUTES

2017 Annual General body meeting was started with a prayer by Pandit ji

Welcome by Chairman

Manoj ji welcomed everybody with the following message:

“Hari Om! On behalf of all Board Members including myself, I would like to welcome you all to today's Annual General Body

meeting. For the records, this meeting is presided by myself Manoj Sachdeva as Chairman and President, Avinash Rachmale as Vice-

Chairman, Jatin Desai as VP, Pandit ji as a Religious Chair, Anil Sakhuja as a Treasurer, Vishnu Panjwani as Asst. Treasurer, Kalpesh

Unadkat as Temple Secretary. Arun Suri as Asst. Secretary(Not present) and other Board Members and Board Advisors. Kalpesh Ji

will be taking minutes of this meeting”

Agenda:

Manoj ji read the attached Agenda items for the 2017 AGM Meeting

• The following questions were raised during the reading of the agenda: 1. Manohar Jagasia asked whether we had printed copy of the Agenda. The answer was no. 2. Jatin Desai had question about item number 6 in the Agenda. Manoj ji asked Jatin ji to raise that question during the

discussion of that item 1. Approval of December 18, 2016 Annual General Body Meeting Minutes

• Manoj ji described the criteria to be a voting member o Voting members are defined as follows:

▪ Members who have cumulative donation of $ 1000 and over and are current on payment of their $ 100 per year membership dues

▪ Life members because they are exempt from paying membership dues due to being a life member ▪ Let us know if you want to check whether you are a voting member or not.

• AGM minutes are printed in Vandana (Temple newsletter in November). Manohar ji asked whether Vandana is on the temple Website. Manoj ji answered that it is available on the temple website as well as emailed to members.

• Motion was put on the floor to approve December 18,2016 AGM Minutes by Manoj Sachdeva o Motion seconded by Anil Sakhuja o Chairman asked All in favor to raise their hands, everyone did. o Motion carries. 2016 AGM minutes as presented are approved by General Body

2. Chairman’s Report by Manoj Sachdeva

Please see chairman’s report as an attachment

3. Religious update by Pandit ji, Religious Events Committee Chair

Please see Religious Committee chairman’s report as an attachment

4. Approval of names of 4 (3 Year) Board Members nominated by 2018 Nomination Committee. Four names are: Mr. Tom Patel, Mr. Somil Shah, Mr Vishnu Panjwani and Mr. Ashwani Narula (Please Note that approval by Voting members of General Body is a process to complete the election of Board of Trustees, however no changes can be made by Voting members of General Body to the names nominated by 2018 Nomination Committee)

• Motion was put on the floor by Manoj Ji to approve selection of Mr. Tom Patel, Mr. Somil Shah, Mr. Vishnu Panjwani and Mr. Ashwani Narula as Board of Trustees for next three years starting Jan 1, 2018

• Motion was seconded by Jatin Desai, Anil Sakhuja, and Daxesh Modi

• Manoj ji asked All in favor, to raise their hands, everybody did

• Motion carries

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5. Approval of names of 4 (1 Year) Board Members nominated by 2018 Nomination Committee. Four names are: Mr. Dalip Guglani, Mr. Jatin Desai, Mr. Deep Prakash and Mr. Jignesh Patel

• Motion was put on the floor by Manoj ji to approve selection of Mr. Dalip Guglani, Mr. Jatin Desai, Mr. Deep Prakash and Mr. Jignesh Patel as Board of Trustees for next 1 year starting Jan 1, 2018

• Motion was seconded by Vishnu Panjwani and Daxesh Modi

• No objections were raised

• Motion carries 6. Approval of resolution passed by Board of Trustees in board meeting of Sept 17,

2017: that only one member (Life Member or donor Member) from a “Family

Unit” of (Parents, Brothers, Sisters, Spouse, Children or any relative) can serve as temple board of trustee in any given year

• Since Jatin ji wanted to raise a question, Manoj ji wanted to remind Jatin ji that all the board members were sent the AGM Agenda and no questions were raised by Temple Board members regarding this Agenda item

• Jatin Desai raised the following points regarding this agenda item

• The Agenda was sent to the board last week for review only

• This Agenda item is indirectly amending the constitution

• Jatin Ji referred to the following items in the Temple Bylaws ▪ Article VI and Article X ▪ According to these articles, temple did not give proper notice to the General body members. The proper

notice should include data/time/Agenda and it should have been distributed at least ten days in advance ▪ Anytime Amendments are proposed. The Temple by-law committee needs to solicit feedback from

temple voting members. There was no Temple by-law committee meeting happened last year.

• Jatn Ji expressed his objection to this item and according to him, this item should have been shared with Voting members with its pros and cons and temple board should have obtained feedback from its members.

• Manoj ji read the following motion to the General Body

• Approval of resolution passed by Board of Trustees in board meeting of Sept 17, 2017: that only one member (Life Member or donor Member) from a “Family Unit” of (Parents, Brothers, Sisters, Spouse, Children or any relative) can serve as temple board of trustee in any given year

• Manoj ji had the following comments regarding this item

Majority of Board passed this resolution, subject to the AGM approval. Manoj Ji emphasized that temple temple

has never sent out agenda to the temple members prior to AGM meeting

• Jatin ji respectfully disagreed and according to him this item is governed by Robert’s Rule and Temple board should have given proper notice (Time, Place and Agenda) to the voting members

• The following discussion happened between Tom Patel and Manoj Sachdeva:

• Tom Patel: Temple should have given proper notice to the board members. 10 to 60 days in advance, so that members have time to understand this agenda item”

• Manoj Sachdeva: Proper notice was given. Bylaws does not mention sending Agenda to voting members. By laws only mention sending notice of AGM to voting members at least 10 days prior. We have been announcing about AGM meeting during Sunday prayers in prayer hall. We also put notice on the website and on the TV and we have also sent notice via email to members

• Tom Patel: “do we have everyone’s email in the file”

• Manoj Sachdeva: “we do our best to notify everyone using email, TV, website announcement and Sunday Prayers”

• The following is discussion between Manu Patel and Manoj Sachdeva

• Manu Patel. “We should also send notice in the mail”

• Manoj Sachdeva: We have never done, we can send notice in the mail if requred

• Surendra Bhargav: “We have been member for long time since 1994. We have always felt part of this temple. We could have difference of opinion but this is a god’s place so let’s pray together and work together”

• The following discussion happened between Darshan Parikh and Manoj Sachdeva

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• Darshan Parikh “I completely agree with Surendra’s comment. In the spirit of what has been said, the comment I heard that I am the Chairman and you are not is not the correct message to display and my other comment is we are a large organization and we should not restrict anyone from serving on the board”

• Manoj Sachdeva: I did not mean to sound like that (Regarding chairman comment). It is just that as chairman, I am conducting this AGM meeting. It is just a title. Everyone is equal in the temple. I am also a board member and devotee of the temple. We are not objecting from anyone serving as a board memebr. Family members normally do not go against each other so we just want to have only one member from a family unit to serve on the board in a given year”

• Jatin Desai: “Question is whether proper notification was given or not. You always have to look at the larger picture. This is a constitutional amendment so it should follow the proper protocol. So, all General body members should have been notified in advance”.

• Manoj Sachdeva: “We should defer this item as a last item and we will take more questions as that time the QA session” 7. 2017 Financial Report and 2018 Budget presentation (Mr. Anil Sakhuja, Audit and Finance Committee Chair/Treasurer assisted by

Vishnu Panjwani, Assistant Treasurer

• Budget copies were shared

• Anil Sakhuja: “Budget and forecasting based on the past performance. We add/remove/change events so collection might change. Building is getting older so surprise expenses can happen. We can go over with everyone, please contact me or Manoj ji or Vishnu ji or any board members”

• Anil ji went over the attached budget.

• The following were key points

• Pledge receivable has not gone up due to not having annual dinner this year

• Thanked all the members who have given interest free loans to temple

• Have increased expenses and income by 10%.

• Temple is expecting to get an interest free loan to pay off the loan. So we have no debt obligation to pay.

Tom Patel: We should recognize board of trustees and management, they are doing wonderful job. They could pay $ 625000

of the principal amount, and God will help us to pay off the loan

Bhagu Bhai Patel: “The balance sheet is showing increase of $230,000 cash from September to December. Is it achievable?”

Anil Sakhuja: “It is normal for non-profits to receive large amount of donations for tax reasons in December and beginning in

January that is why balance in last quarter is high”

Dhaval Vaishnav: “Operating expense for kitchen is around $39000. Our company had donated kitchen and cleaning supplies

for January February and March. So why this expense is so high? Are these charge for kitchen or something else?”

Manoj Sachdeva: “This is actual cost paid”

Anil Sakhuja: “We thank you for your donation. This includes food supplies and flowers and other supplies.”

Manoj Sachdeva: “Manohar ji brought to my attention that every member gets a temple calendar and AGM is listed in the red

letters”

Jatin Desai: “How much are we saving in interest cost dues to interest free loan?”

Anil Sakhuja: “it depends on how much interest free loan we will get in future and that will decide out actual savings”

Manoj Sachdeva: Temple will potentially save around $100,000 yearly in interest expense, fees and admin expenses

Somil shah: “Is $300,000 revenue increase from 2017 to 2018 realistic?”

Anil Sakhuja: “We did not have fund raising dinner this year and we normally get $ 200,000- $ 300,000 during Annual Fund

raising and we are planning to do fund raising next year so it is possible to achieve that”

Darshan Parikh: “We have $ 1,025,000 million worth of interest free loan now and we will potentially get 1.3 million interest

free loan in the future. But do we have diversified base for interest free loans?”

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Anil Sakhuja: We always ask for people to donate during every event and during fundraising time for people to come forward

and donate. But at this time, one family has contributed towards majority of this interst free loan. Today again, we are

requesting each one of you to please come forward and give $ 5000, $10,000 or any amount as interest free loan

Manohar Jagasia: “When we will be debt free. I will donate some money today”

Manoj Sachdeva: “We cannot project it but we can and are always trying”

Somil Shah: “Is there any legal requirement/obligation for these interest free loans”

Manoj Sachdeva: “Interest free loan is an unsecured loan, it is subordinated to bank. This money goes to the bank. There is no

maturity for this loan, it needs to be paid back. This will not be turning into donation. It is not used for operational expense.

If the additional interest free loan pays off temple loan then just like bank, first mortgage will need to be given to member

giving interest free loan”

Urmil Salvi: “I have the following two observations/comments – On one hand we are restricting family members to be board

members. On the other hand, only few members are providing majority of interest free loan. So board should restrict that

also”

Anil Sakhuja: “Great point, I agree other people should come forward and give loan. Board is trying but board understands

that it is very hard for people to put their hard-earned money towards interest free unsecured loan. So board is really thankful

to them and requesting other people to come forward”

Mahesh Desai: ”I am a founding member of the temple, Gujarati samaj and MAI family services. I want to thank Manoj ji and

other board members for their services. We are having a dialogue and that is the purpose of this meeting. We all make mistakes

but we have to learn from our mistakes. We have two kinds of people - workers and financial supporters. I am a worker and I

understand temples have financial supporters also, but if people from same family cannot be on the board because of bias

and conflict of interest then financial supports should not be given authority because only few people can donate at that level”

Brenda Vaishnav: “Yuvabharti had essay contest and they had decided to raise money for a person to get wheelchair. Half the

amount for the wheel chair was paid but the other half was not paid. Is temple going to pay the rest of the check amount?

o Manoj Sachdeva: “I believe that check has gone out but will double check to make sure that check has in fact gone out” o Dhaval Vaishnav: “The person got the chair is getting calls to pay the remaining amount. It is not right for that person to

get those calls” o Manoj Sachdeva: The person is not going to pay a single dollar for that chair. Chair was not supposed to be delivered

directly without temple’s knowledge, so it is temple’s obligation to make sure that chair has been delivered. Again, the person is not going to pay a single dollar for that chair”

- 8. Approval of 2018 Budget by Voting Members of General Body

• Motion was on the floor by Manoj Ji to approve the 2018 Budget as presented

• Motion was seconded by Avinash Rachmale, Somil Shah, Jatin Desai. Keshav Raizada

• Manoj ji asked All in favor, to raise their hands, everybody did

• Motion carries. 2018 Budget as presented is approved by Voting Members of General Body 9. Continuation of Item number 6th

Raj Vaishnav: “I have been serving the temple for last three years. Family restriction is a conflict of interest issue, but conflict

of interest arises everywhere - in family, in business, and at work also So temple needs to take care of all conflict of interest

including business interest. And I have another point If you are approached uninvited by board members or priests, please do

not entertain to the those talks”

Dhaval Vaishnav:” I and Brenda including our kids have done lots of seva for the temple for last 5 years. I would like to request

everyone to not go personal regarding me and my wife and having marital issues. We are part of this community, please

respect our family”

Suresh Shah:” Temple had a clause in the old constitution also restricting only hunsband and wife to come to the board at the

same time. But the new amendment is going too far. How far are we going to go? second cousin/third cousin”

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Vijay Chowdhary: “We all have shortcomings, only god is perfect but over last month we had time to work with Manoj ji and

other board members and Tom Patel ji. Everyone wants betterment of the temple. They are OK to update constitution. There

are issues left but board will work it out. They had made sure that there are no elections. So I want to thank the board and

Manoj ji.”

Manoj Sachdeva: “If we want to Amend the language, we can do it”

Jatin Desai:” The amendment is too broad. How far are we going to go? What is the rush? Why don’t we send this out to

everyone with pros and cons. We are invading someone else’s constitutional rights because we are not letting them become

a board member because of relations. Conflict of interest arises not only in family but due to business relations also. So we

need to address overall conflict of interest issue”

Manohar ji: “Tempe is doing excellent job. Temple’s welcome center is not getting used properly”

Somil Shah “Can we combine conflict of interest issue and family and bring it to the board”

• Manoj Sachdeva: “We can change this definition and strike the word “relative” out from the amendment. Do board members agree? Answer was yes from majority of Board Members present. So, the new proposal is “that only one member (Life Member or donor Member) from a “Family Unit” of (Parents, Brothers, Sisters, Spouse, Children) can serve as temple board of trustee in any given year”

o Motion is on the floor proposed by Manoj ji o Keshav ji seconded it o Tom patel, Raj Vaishnav, Darshan Parikh and Jatin Desai voted against it o Motion carries

10. Question and Answer Session

• Manoj ji started the question-answer sesssion with the following comment:

• This session is chaired by me. We will run this session in a very orderly way. If any of voting members have a question about what we presented today or would like to know anything else about our Temple, you are welcome to do so. Please raise your hand:

• One of the Board Members/Volunteers will bring the microphone to you. • State your name for the record and then your question • The question will be directed to me. Either I will try to answer your question or depending upon nature of

the question, I may ask one of my fellow board members to respond. None of my fellow board members will try to answer questions unless otherwise directed by me

Manu Patel: “Can we have all meetings on Sunday. Last year we had a meeting on a weekday and that does not work for

everyone”

Manoj Sachdeva: “We will try to keep on weekend and weekday evenings as much as possible but we cannot do on weekend

all the time as we have Sunday Prayers”

Darshan Parikh:” What is temple doing to increase membership, can we do different cultural program to bring more people.

Can we bring the old members back”?

Manoj Sachdeva: “We are open to ideas, we want more and more people to come, so if you have any ideas, please tell us and

we can work on it”

Akhlesh Rohatgi: “I have been coming to temple for last 26 years and I was asked why I have not become board member

before but I have never been board member, if you want to serve then you don’t have to be board member, you can serve

regardless”

Jatin Desai: “ We can try to increase our membership by sending notification to the members who have not renewed their

membership by mail”

There were no further questions. Pandit ji offered prayers again.

2017 Annual General Body Meeting concluded at 11:40 AM

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Our Priests

Shri Prasad Muliyala Ishwara (Pandit Ji)

➢ With the Temple since March 2003 ➢ Well trained in Vedic philosophy from Maharshi Veda Vigjana Vidya Peeth,Theerthahalli, Karnataka ➢ Started his Vedic education at early age of 12 ➢ Has been honored with prestigious titles like ''Veda Murthi'' and ''Samhita Paathi' ➢ English, Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Tulu, Working Knowledge: Malayalam, Gujarati and Sanskrit

Cell Phone: (734) 383 -1872 Email: [email protected]

Shri Jitendrakumar Ranchhodbhai Sevak (Mukhiya Ji) ➢ With the Temple since July 2011 ➢ Underwent several years of formal education in the Hindu scriptures of Vedas and Upanishades, and in Sanskrit literature, prior to completing his Bachelor of Arts degree program in Sanskrit literature at Shri Bhagwat Vidyapith ➢ Served as a full-time Priest in Shri Vallabh Nidhi Trust Temple, a reputed Hindu temple in Mumbai ➢ Sings Melodious Bhajans ➢ English, Hindi, Gujarati and Sanskrit Cell Phone: (734) 272 -1667 Email: [email protected]

Shri Kiran Subramanya (Kiran Ji) ➢ With the Temple since October 2005 ➢ Well trained in vedic philosophy from family guru Shri Kumara Subramanya from Amai Samprathishtthana in Karnataka ➢ Started his vedic education at early age of 13 ➢ English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Tulu, Working Knowledge : Telugu, Gujarati, Sanskrit

Cell Phone: (734) 377 - 6138 Email : [email protected]


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2017 Statement of Activities & 2018 Budget

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We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

2017 Statement of Activities & 2018 Budget

TEMPLE TIMINGS

Monday – Friday: Morning: 8:00 am to 12:00 pm Evening: 5:00pm to 9.00pm

Saturday- Sunday: 9:00 am to 9:00 pm

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