SAD NEWS IN THE COMMUNITY

 Longtime Hindu Center Pioneer, Mrs. Ranjan Patel’s mother Shantaba (Ravi Patel's mother-in-law) passed away a few days ago in Dharmaj-India. She had lived a full life to the age of 95. Hindu Center would like to extend its deepest condolences to Ranjanben & Ravibhai & the whole family.  Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

SAT PSAT ACT Preparation and Educational Counseling

Given by a UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR to support HC Expansion

 A great value at only $150 Donations to Hindu Center

 Enroll your kids and support Hindu Center

             HitchHiker’s Guide to College

SAT PSAT ACT Preparation and Educational Counseling

Founded by a UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR

Another Great Fundraiser on November 5^th, 2011
We have collected or Received additional pledges in excess of $69K!!

We have also collected $74K from last year pledges!!

Total Amount collected or pledged including LY pledges = $143K

Hindu center Thanks to all the Donors, Navratri and Diwali group volunteers and Thanks to all the attendees!!

Hindu Center Appoints New Facility Manager

Mr. Loku Hemnani has been appointed the new facility manager begining from Saturday October  8th 2011. As most of you know Lokubhai very well for his dedicated service to temple for past 25 years. He has been there whether he holds any position or not. His kind of volunteers make the Hindu Center move forward to serve our members and community at large. We are proud and elated for his acceptance of this position which was vacant since the departure of Mishraji almost two years ago. He has a hard task in front of him to catch up with where Mishraji had left. We have been managing the Hindu Center with the help of Balaji, who has rendered tremendous help during the past year. Lokubhai's effort will start with coming to speed with all the facets of administration and then start training Shri Goplaji Bhattar as well other priests as backup to his efforts. We had published for this position online and had received almost 22 resumes. After going thru those resumes of all the capable individuals, the decision was made in favor of Mr. Loku Hemnani due to his familiarity with the operations of the Hindu Center. We wish all the applicants our appreciation for the interest shown in this position.

Latest News On The Construction Progress for New Vedanta Hall  :  Hindu Center LRPC and the Civil Engineering team has submitted the Civil Package for the City/County Permit last week. We are hoping to receive the permit by this week. Also, Final Bidding for the Site Work, Fire Sprinkler System and Vihar Hall Bathroom Renovation have been received and negotiations with the contractors have started with full coordination of LRPC and our Construction Management Committee.

ARVA Scholarship Winners for 2011

Pratik Shah, Biplob Daas, Jaydave Patel, Manoj Mirchandani, and Tasha Mangaldas. 

Our heartiest congratulations to the recipients of the scholarship. 

www.hcclt.org/ARVA.htm

Breaking News :  Hindu Center Joint Board has Approved the Construction Budget for the New Vedant Bhavan. The detailed package is being sent out to the members for the Approval. Below is the link for the Details prepared by the Long Range Planning Committee with the help of Project Management Team. If you are a member and would like to Vote please download the ballot from the link below and follow the instructions. Your Vote will be valid if received on or before Tuesday 30th August 2011 by 8pm. Please note that this deadline has been extended to Sep. 21st 2011 8pm If you are not sure of your membership status, please contact admin@hcclt.org

New Vedant Bhavan Construction Budget Approval Document - Download Here

Ballot Paper- Download Here

Pictures from Brahmotsavam 2011

                    Long Range Planning Comm.

 If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Mr. Suresh Vyas – Chairman, LRPC at admin@hcclt.org

Progress Information On New Vedanta Hall Design Work

Latest :

Civil Site Permit & Pricing Set (09/19/2011)

Storm water and Erosion Control Calculations  (09/19/2011)

Master Drawing Set of Existing Buildings (07/05/2011)

New Devasthan Development Video Clip (05/23/2011)

 Preliminary Code Review Will be Held at City/County Dept. 700 N. Tryon Street on Jan. 28th 2011 from 1pm to 2pm -To View Completed Dwgs. Click Here (Uploaded 01/27/2011)

1. 70 percent Work(Arch. & Structural) Completion Drawings (Updated 12/09/2010)

2. Color Renderings ( Without Vedantic Architectural Details)

3. Color Renderings ( With Vedantic Architectural Details-02/10/2011)

4. Vihar Hall Bathroom Upfit Permit Set-02/26/11-For Bidding

Please Click here to read more details for New Vedanta Hall Plans

Vivekanand Hall Up Fit Work

Please click Here to See the Design Development Plans

Please Click Here to see the Renderings

Long Range Planning Committee – Progress and Status Report :

Those of you who have been visiting Hindu Center must have noticed major improvement projects underway or completed.

1.     The portico behind and in the front of Gandhi Bhavan as well the signage work is completed. The old shrubs have been removed and new shrubbery has been planted under the supervision of Mr. Devesh Jain. Very soon we will have the appropriate signage also installed. The benches have been installed in the front as well in the back for waiting CROP students and parents. This improvement will help our CROP students from inclement weather as well help beautify our campus.

2.     The Old Church steeple has been replaced by the new Hindu Center Flag Pole on the top of Gandhi Bhavan.

3.     The old Metal sign at the entrance (Bhojwani Lane) has been removed due to safety issue, as the support structure was badly damaged. The new temporary sign will be installed in next week or so.

4.     The rear of the Kitchen has been extended and covered area of 20’x100’ is created. This will help the Kitchen Volunteers to temporarily store as well cook while two simultaneous food cookings are going on for two separate programs.

5.     The Kitchen Stoves and some appliances are on the list to be replaced in next two weeks. The existing appliances have served their lifetime and becoming hazardous to operate. Mr. Loku Hemnani and Surendrabhai Patel are working to find appropriate replacements.

6.     The Trees around the Vivek Bhavan and remaining part of the City View Drive are cleaned. This work was to be completed in about three weeks but has gone over six weeks or so due to rains. The purpose was to give an exposure to Vivek Bhavan and building the Sports Pad for our younger generation. The Board has approved the funding and it will start once we are done with cleaning part.

7.      Vivek Bhavan Renovation work will start in next few weeks. All the funding for this project is donated by Bhajan Group. We appreciate the efforts put forth by Mr. Sanjivan Soni and all the Volunteers of the Bhajan Group to help us beautify our decaying facility. If you want to see further details of the renovation, please vist the www.hcclt.org/ and scroll to “Vivekanad Hall Upfit Work”.

 New Vedanta Hall Update:

The work is progressing at the lightening speed. You may not see any physical activity on the ground but behind the scene all the technical details are being worked out. Mr. Praduman Chauhan has been appointed the Chairman of the Construction Management Team and will be supervising the construction activity.

1.      We have received the bids for Vihar Hall Bathroom upfit – which will serve as the main bathroom for the New Vedanta Hall. We are waiting on few more to come in the coming week.

2.      Soil Testing of the area is scheduled to take place on Thursday 28^th April. It will take place depending upon the weather. We had to cancel this twice due to excessive rains in last few weeks.

3.      The Old Vedanta Hall and Vihar Hall will be equipped with the Fire Sprinkler System. This is due to the mutual understanding reached between the Fire Marshal and our Architects. Our Engineer has prepared the drawings and it will go out for the bidding in the coming week. We have intentionally agreed with the Fire Marshal’s suggestion based upon long term savings in insurance rates, safety for our members and not a major difference in the expense to meet the fire safety requirements without the sprinkler system versus with the sprinkler system.

4.      The structural analysis is being done and discussion with Water Proofing engineers is continuing. All of you are aware that Navinbhai Shah is working very hard to devise the design to make our structural design sound and economical. He has spent several weeks in consulting, designing and trying various design options possible. His work to design the Vihar Hall years ago speaks for itself. His expertise to handle the most crucial design elements and dedication to our Hindu Center makes all of us proud.

5.      Mr. Raval of Columbia SC (Brother in Law of Mr. Shashin Patel) has agreed to supply us the steel at his cost for the New Vedanta Hall. He is also helping us to devise the appropriate design frame work for the steel.

6.      Several Professionals from the community have given their feedback and are helping us technically to design and expedite the process. LRPC sincerely wants to extend its appreciation to Mr. Sajan Dhaliwal, Mr. Ram Vidhyarthi, Mr. Gautam Patel, Mr. Shashin Patel, Mr.Jitendra Jain and Mr. Praduman Chauhan.

7.      The preliminary pricing work is going on with two General Contractors. We hope to receive these numbers by middle of the next week. Once received, we will put together the budget for the construction and send it out the expense authorization to our members.

8.      Our Architect will be starting the final bid as well permit documents preparation by the coming week. We hope to apply for the permit within next 45 days.

9.      It is a challenging task but our goal is to start underground utilities and the site work by the end of May to be followed by full construction activity by late June 2011.

Grand Event : Tuesday, June 14^th 2011 at 7pm:

 Param Pujya Bhaishri Shri Rameshbhai Oza  graced the visit to Our Hindu Center by Laying the Foundation Stone for the New Vedanta Hall. The Ceremony was held
on Tuesday, June 14th 2011 at 7:00 PM followed by Parvachan  and Mahaprasad.

This was an auspicious day for Charlotte, North Carolina based devotees of Param Pujya Bhaishri.

There was a three-phased event in which Param Pujya Bhaishri performed a divine ‘Aarti’ at the Hindu Center of Charlotte, North Carolina at the ‘Vedant Hall’ of the Hindu Center.  The ‘Aarti’ began promptly at 7:00 p.m. with the chants of ‘Om Jai Jagdish Hare’ and the devotees also joined in for the serene and respectful homage to the deities.

Subsequent to the ‘Aarti’, there was a ‘Shilanyas’ ceremony performed by Param Pujya Bhaishri for the impending construction of the new Hindu Center complex, which is a multi-million dollar undertaking and will be completed within the next two years.

The new Hindu Center at Charlotte, North Carolina will be built adjacent to the existing Vedant Hall and the approximate size of this undertaking will be in the vicinity of 20,000 square feet at an estimated costs of $3.5 million dollars.  The new Hindu Center at Charlotte, North Carolina will meet the existing needs and will also serve the future emerging generations of the youngsters within the community.

After the aforesaid ceremony, Param Pujya Bhaishri conducted a divine ‘Pravachan’ in Hindi pertaining to three temples --- it was enlightening, entertaining and uplifting.  The three temples that Pujya Bhaishri eluded to were the entire universe, which is the temple built by the Lord Almighty and within the universe in a place called Charlotte, North Carolina where the human beings built the temple to pray to the Lord Almighty.  The third temple that Pujya Bhaishri referenced are all of us human beings created by the Almighty with the unique aspect that Almighty resides in all of us --- divine indeed!

After a vote of thanks, the ceremonies ended at approximately 8:45 p.m. and about 700 devotees thoroughly enjoyed all of the events of the evening and the session was followed by ‘Mahaprasad’.