ZAPANJ
ZOROASTRIAN ASSOCIATION OF PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY
Newsletter January 2008
www.zapanj.org
President: Porus P. Cooper Vice President: Adil R. Masani
Treasurer: Veera P. Karanjia
Secretary: Behnaz C. Toorkey Joint Secretary: Khushru S. Jokhi
The ZAPANJ Board wishes the entire membership and their loved ones a Very Happy New Year filled with Health, Wealth, and Happiness.
PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDERS FOR THE UPCOMING EVENTS
a) The Jamshedi Navroze function will be held at the Palace of Asia in Cherry Hill, NJ on March 29th, 2008 at 6:00 pm. Please refer to the attached materials at the end of this Newsletter for additional information.
b) The Annual General Body Meeting will also be held on March 29th at the same venue as the Navroze function at 6:30 pm. Members are requested to renew their membership dues for the 2008 calendar year. (All member families are reminded that they do have to pay $2 per family as FEZANA dues even if they do not owe ZAPANJ dues)
c) The religion classes for January to May 2008 will be held at Gibson Hall in Evesham, NJ. Volunteers are needed for preparing the food for the religion classes and those interested are requested to contact Mrs. Freny Ranji at
(856)-854-2251.
In the fourth quarter of 2007 ZAPANJ had the following activities:
a) The annual gambhar was held on Oct. 7th at the Palace of Asia, Cherry Hill, NJ and was well attended by members of ZAPANJ as well as members from our neighboring associations, ZAGNY and ZAMWI. We are thankful to Jehan and Behroz Kasad and to Neville and Maharukh Kermani for sponsoring the event. Thanks also go to the Palace of Asia for providing us with a venue for the function as well the food for the same. The teachers and students of the religion class were recognized for their participation and effort.
b) On Nov. 10th. our ZAPANJ young adults enjoyed an evening out in Philadelphia.
The event was arranged by Tina Mehta and was attended by 18 individuals. The group met for dinner at a Middle Eastern restaurant, Sahara, in center city Philadelphia followed by a trip to Lucky Stripes bowling alley where they had a fun evening of socializing and networking with other Z-young adults. Kudos to Tina for pulling this off. If you are interested in attending future ZAPANJ Young Adults events and are between 21-35 years of age, please contact Tina Mehta at .
c) The religion classes were held during the months of November and December and we would like to thank Khorshed and Jamshed Unwala, Benaifer and Rushad Eduljee and Riah and Shahrukh Sidhva for providing the food for the November class.
d) The December religion class was held at the residence of Adil and Nivedita Masani and the Board acknowledges their kindness in opening their house to the community for this function. The food was provided by the Masani family as well as by Adi and Persis Kasad.
e) At the December religion class participants brought in unwrapped toys for needy children and filled gift socks with the same. This was part of a program called ‘Stockings For Kids’ under the auspices of the Salvation Army. The children filled over fifty stockings with toys and more toys were bought from the cash donations sent in. These were then presented to the Salvation Army on Dec. 21st at the NBC 10 News station in Philadelphia. The presentation was broadcast live on that day itself at 11 am. We thank Khorshed Vakil-Unwala for taking the initiative and bringing some holiday cheer into the lives of needy children. This program also helped to expose children of ZAPANJ to the concept of giving back to the community.
f) Another successful campaign initiated by Khorshed Vakil-Unwala was the food drive undertaken during the January religion class. Donations were forwarded to the food pantry in Schwenksville, PA. Representatives from the food bank were present and discussed their activities and operations. They were indeed very thankful for the overwhelming response and left with their truck well stocked with the donated food. Our thanks also go to Hutokhshi and Porus Cooper, Anoo and Diniar Sukhia and Katayun and Kersi Kapadia for providing the food for the religion class.
g) On January 6th, 2008 some of the ZAPANJ children and their families enjoyed a showing of ‘Disney’s High School Musical – The Ice Tour’ at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.
COMMUNITY NEWS TO SHARE
a) Ongoing discussions between ZAPANJ and ZACUCE:
Pursuant to the extraordinary general body meeting of members of ZAPANJ last June, representatives of the ZAPANJ and ZACUCE boards held two joint meetings to discuss a potential new structure that would bind the two groups more closely together.
While detailed minutes of the meetings are available upon request, this is a summary account of the discussions and interim outcome of those discussions:
As an initial discussion point, ZAPANJ board representatives proposed that ZACUCE consider merging into ZAPANJ in the form of a subcommittee or similar entity. This panel would be ensured a reasonably long tenure so it could continue its work of obtaining/building a community center without interruption. The benefits of this structure, as seen by ZAPANJ representatives, would be that it would involve more members of the community in the community-center effort and democratize the process, while at the same time keeping the community’s leadership undivided. Given the small size and years of cohesiveness of our local community, ZAPANJ representatives feel that is important to not have multiple points of leadership.
ZACUCE representatives, for their part, expressed concerns about merging with ZAPANJ. One concern was that doing so would slow down the work toward the community center project by adding another layer of bureaucracy. They also expressed concern that a future ZAPANJ board that might not be favorable to the project would be able to reject it if ZACUCE were simply a sub-committee within ZAPANJ. Keeping the two separate may also be beneficial from a liability standpoint, they suggested. Finally, they expressed willingness to consider merging the two entities once the community center was a reality or the project was so far along it could not be reversed. To democratize the process, they suggested that a new ZACUCE board be elected by community members in a separate election. Currently the ZACUCE board is essentially self-appointed.
At this juncture, the ZAPANJ board has decided that a pause in the discussions would be useful so members of the community can weigh all these points and offer their input. The ZAPANJ board invites ideas and suggestions from the general membership as to the best way to proceed. Please send your opinions on this matter by mail or e-mail to any of the board members.
b) ZAPANJ shares in the pride and joy of our Feroze P. Karanjia achieving the status of Eagle Scout. This was conferred on him on Jan 5th, 2008 at a ceremony held in East Brunswick, NJ. Feroze’s Eagle Project was the construction of foul line fences for two softball fields at East Brunswick High School and replacement of old benches with movable ones, allowing players and other field users to play a ball game in safety and comfort.
b) ZAPANJ welcomes Darayus Gorimar into the Zorashtrian faith. Darayus is the son of Shiraz and Tehmus Gorimar. His Navjote was held on January 3rd 2008 in Mumbai. Congratulations Darayus!
FEZANA NEWS
FEZANA announced that Zoroastrian community leaders will be participating at the 52nd Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Conference to be held on Feb.25-March7, 2008 at the UN headquarters in New York. More than 2000 representatives from over 80 countries are expected to attend and participate in roundtable, panel and workshop discussions. The theme of the conference is “Financing for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women”
Membership Dues: If you haven’t already, please renew your membership now for the 2008 calendar year. If you are not a member of ZAPANJ yet, we urge you to become one. Please mail your check to Veera Karanjia, payable to ZAPANJ. Membership fee checks can be mailed together with your Navroze function payment (details below). Please make sure that there are two separate checks, one for the Navroze function and the other for membership dues. Please note that FEZANA dues ($2 per family per year) need to be paid even if you are a Life Member and do not owe ZAPANJ annual dues.
2008 ZAPANJ ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DUES:
Life Membership = $300 plus $2/family/year FEZANA dues
Family Membership = $35 plus $2/family/year FEZANA dues
Single Membership = $20 plus $1/individual/year FEZANA dues
Student Membership = $10 plus $1/individual/year FEZANA dues
MEMBERSHIP DUES FORM
Please make a check payable to ZAPANJ and mail it along with the attached slip to:
Veera Karanjia, 2 Brookdale Road, East Brunswick, NJ 08816
Name ______Amount Enclosed: $______
Address ______
Type of Membership requested: Life _____ Family _____ Single _____Student _____
CELEBRATE NAVROZE
AT
The Palace of Asia
2389 Route 70 East, Cherry Hill, NJ 08002
(856) 317-1900 or (856) 773-1200
SATURDAY, March 29, 2008, 6:00PM
Enjoy food and fun with family and friends!!
Please return the registration form below with your checks payable to ‘ZAPANJ’
All checks must be mailed to Veera Karanjia at 2, Brookdale Road, E. Brunswick, NJ, 08816. Checks must be received by March 22, 2008. You may call Veera at 732-390-1993 to make your reservations prior to sending your check.
RATES:
______Adult Members @ $30 per person
______Student Members @ $10 per person
______Children (3-12 years) @ FREE
______Children (13-18 years) @ $10 per person
______**Kids meal (Under 12) @ FREE
______Adult non-members @ $35 per person
DIRECTIONS TO PALACE OF ASIA FOR NAVROZE:
FROM NORTH: New Jersey Turnpike South to Exit 4. Take exit ramp to Route 73 North. Stay briefly on Route 73 North and then take exit to Route 295 South. Take Route 295 South to exit 34B (Cherry Hill). Exit ramp merges onto Route 70 West. Take Route 70 West until you see America’s Best Value Inn on your left. Make a U Turn, taking the U Turn exit indicated at this point.
FROM DELAWARE AND POINTS SOUTH: Take Route 295 North to Exit 34 B (Cherry Hill). Follow rest of the directions above.
FROM CENTER CITY PHILADELPHIA: Take Ben Franklin Bridge to New Jersey. Follow signs to Route 70 East and stay on Route 70 East until you reach America’s Best Value Inn on your right.