JAINA Directors annual meeting took place on Saturday, October 4 at Siddhachalam. Rain didn’t dampen spirits of delegates from as far as San Francisco, Toronto, Houston, New York, Connecticut, Ohio and New Jersey as they met for a whole day to chart future path of JAINA.

The Directors got welcoming message from President Anop Vora and his report – his vision for JAINA. Newly revamped Patron Program under the chairmanship of Udai Jain was unveiled. New Directors at large were approved and Jain Society of Las Vegas was approved as newest member of JAINA. Lataben Champsee was requested to investigate issues related to chartering JAINA in Canada and possibly in other countries. Chair persons of various committees – YJA, Technology Committee, Teerthoddhar Committee, membership Committee, Education committee, JAINA Public Affairs Council, Scholar Visitation Committee, Jain Digest Committee, V. R. Gandhi scholarship fund and the Pilgrimage Committee reported on their current and future activities and answered questions from the floor.

JAINA functions mainly through various committees and the guidance of the Executive committee. Keeping in mind changing needs of the community, a redesigning of committee structure was approved. Five committees were discontinued, five new ones were proposed and roles of some older committees were assigned to other committees for greater efficiency. Senior Housing committee ( Bipin Parikh), Wheels of Hope (Ramesh Shah), Constitution Review Committee (Manibhai Mehta) N. A. Jain History Committee (Jaswant Mehta) and Patron Program Committee (Udai Jain) were the new committees under named chairpersons.

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Jai Jinendra. I would like to thank you for electing me your President for the next two years. Please rest assured I will do my very best to fulfill your expectations. We intend to take many initiatives to make JAINA more relevant to your needs. JAINA SPECTRUM is the first such initiative. Through this medium, we intend to communicate with you faster and stay closer to the pulse of the community.

Many of your were complaining about the stale news in Jain Digest. This will no longer be true since from now on, JAINA Spectrum will inform you of the latest news every month electronically. With this change, we aim to devote more space in Jain Digest to interesting articles that are of utmost value to you. You will also find Jain Digest more attractive and appealing to your eyes.

Our goal is to take JAINA to a higher peak over the next 2 years. Please join us in this mission by getting actively involved. If we work together, we can accomplish a lot. Only sky is the limit!

With Warmest Personal Regards,

Anop R. Vora

Mrs. Pramodaben Chitrabhanu - Jain Meditation International Center, NY
Mr. Madhav Jain - Siddhachalam
Dr. Mahesh Shah - Jain Center of Cincinnati/Dayton
Mr. Sanjay K. Pandya - Jain Center of America - NY
Mr. Samprati J. Shah -Jain Society of Metro Chicago
Mr. Vijay Chheda -Jain Center of S. California Los Angeles
Mr. Mahendra Mehta -Jain Society of Toronto

This is the Premiere issue of JAINA SPECTRUM. “The Jain Voice of North America”. This monthly newsletter will give you timely news of JAINA and report on Jain activities, events and trends. Some of you will recognize it as an electronic reincarnation of JAINA FOCUS which I edited for a couple of years. It would be nice to hear from you your views and suggestions. I would like to foster our old rapport and build a forum for new and constructive ideas for JAINA’s growth and well being. So send me the news of your center and your ideas: jainaspectrum@jaina.org I will weave them into multicolor tapestry and present them in JAINA SPECRUM.

Have a happy Diwali and best New Year celebration

Dilip V. Shah