Asha For Education - Syracuse Chapter

All new members were warmly welcomed into the group and introductions were made all around. Interestingly we did not have to do the round robin so many times as in the past, since all attendants were fairly on time. So little time was lost here.

New Member Feedback to Republic Day Event:
Most recognized it as being very worthwhile and were impressed with Jagdish's powerful and riveting story. And though we were short on food they enjoyed the food and the entire evening.
One comment: The powerpoint presentation (for Asha) needs to be regularly updated as it was missing a few points.

Open Dance Night:
A final call to all members to help in the setup of the dance event on Saturday, Feb 1st.

Web-Updates & Construction of a Database:
As of this meeting:
1.) Database Management: Akshob and Mudassar will be working on the new database along with Sucharita.
2.) Sunil will be working on web updates and should contact Natarajan

Dr. Sudarshan's Talk:
The money still needs to be sent and requires an address that Radha will provide.

Movie Screening:
Discussions continue with Westcott Theater awaiting change in time as the manager has provided 2 choices of times thus far: 4PM Fridays, and 12PM Saturday at a cost of $250. Additionally, screening costs for Hoyts Carousel Cinema is $700 for a Friday night showing. But discussion to negotiate the prices continues here as well.
These are only two venues available to us for screening a 35mm film. However, since discussions continue with management, no decisions on this matter were made.

Mehfil:
No final word on costs and expenditures. This will be pursued by Nikhil. Just as a note: $250 remains of GSO money currently.

Notes of Hope Newsletter:
The task is currently being undertaken by Veronica but any new ideas and articles are strongly encouraged from new members. The proposed deadline for completion is: Feb 15th.

Inter-Religious Consortium Food Drive:
The focus of this drive is to not only help stock the local community's food pantry, but to help spread the word about Asha as an organization within the surrounding community. The tentative week for the food drive has been decided as: 2/17-2/22/2003 Sucharita will call and set up the date.

Those participating:
Vishal, Mudassar, Shanmuganathan, Aarti, Mallika, Radha, Haripriya, Sucharita, Neelakshi

Everyone that has signed up to collect donations, please ask your respective departments if a food donation box will be allowed in or near their offices. Additionally, prior to the food drive and during, all members should send out emails and flyers outlining the food drive. Remember this is YOUR chance to tell everyone what Asha represents.

Cricket Screening:
Discussion on this topic brought forth tremendous interest and this topic was debated for quite some time. The cost of screening it anywhere costs $3000 (includes installation and coverage of the entire match.) However, no places were found on campus that would be open and would allowed to be used at such odd hours of night. Therefore, ACC was suggested again and Sucharita and Shanmuganathan will follow up on the details. Additionally an online poll will be sent out to define the interest within the Student Indian Community. A team has been formed to further explore the possibilities.

Basant Mela:
The listserv is known as NAMASTE and anyone interested in participating should subscribe to this. An email will be sent out regarding an initial planning meeting very soon....so stay tuned.

Note: For those people not attending meetings regularly, please do remember to send out the meeting minutes on the Asha-Syr listserv in order to update all members.