Dear Fellow TAGC Members,
Namaskaralu!
We hope you all had a chance
to look up the previous e-mail message from us and the attachment to
it in which we have outlined our proposals for TAGC activities during
the year 2002. We thank the members for offering suggestions about the
various items in that message. In our meeting on March 2nd,
we had further discussions about the TAGC’s proposed activities and
about the UGADI Program.
The UGADI PROGRAM will be held
on April 13 (Saturday) at Cleveland State University UC Auditorium (Between
Euclid & Chester and 21st & 22nd streets)
starting at 5:00 p.m. Please mark your calendars and make it a point
to attend the program. If you or your children want to participate in
any of the items or if you have an item of your own, please contact
us as soon as possible. We would also appreciate your help in the form
of sponsorships for the UGADI PROGRAM. The program details will be mailed
to you separately in a few days.
We have learnt that some of
our members have not received our previous e-mail informing you of the
proposed TAGC activities for the year 2002. I am sending it again as
an attachment to this e-mail. Please take a look at it and offer your
comments and suggestions, if any.
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Other Matters discussed during
our March 2nd meeting:
1. The position of Secretary
remains still open. Unless someone volunteers for the position, we will
be seeking volunteers on ad-hoc basis to fulfill secretary’s role for
each function.
2. There was a suggestion
for recognizing the participants in TAGC programs at respective functions,
instead of waiting till the year-end function. It is really a good suggestion
and we will consider the change starting with the Ugadi function.
3. There seems to be good
support for publishing a new Membership Directory this year and we will
work on it starting this summer.
4. On the feedback received
so far, it appears that the idea of awards for recognizing our outstanding
citizens and youth is not good as it may lead to controversies and divisions
among our members. Therefore, we are not keen on pursuing it unless
we hear otherwise from our members.
Please contact any of the following
members of the Executive Committee with your suggestions and about your
participation in the Ugadi program.
Chenchuramaiah Bathala: cbathala@yahoo.com; Phone: (440) 878-9663
Mohan Kareti: gkareti@yahoo.com; Phone: (440) 816-0565
T. Seetharama
Reddy: tsreddy@grc.nasa.gov; Phone: (440) 878-8907
You may send membership dues and other contributions by checks payable to “TAGC” and mail them to:
Treasurer, TAGC
THANK YOU FOR
YOUR SUPPORT OF TAGC ACTIVITIES!!!!!!!
============================================================
Please take a look at the program items listed below and make suggestions, if any. Also, if you or your children want to participate in any of the items or if you have an item of your own, please contact us as soon as possible.
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15 mts. Prayer song followed by Ugadi Message
15 mts. Panchanga Shravanam – Temple Priest.
20 mts. Children’s Program: Sri Kalahastiswara Mahatyam
20 mts. Children’s Program: Bhuvanavijayam
15 mts. Group dances – by teenagers.
20 mts. Children’s Program – Jeopardy type Quiz
20 mts. Everybody’s Participation - Cine Vallari and Facts of Andhra Pradesh
20 mts. Songs / Poems – individuals or groups.
10 mts. Fashion Parade – Children and adults.
10 mts. Closing Remarks.
======
2 hrs 45 mts.
======
1 hr 30 mts. Dinner.
15 mts. Clean-up
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We will send an update on the Ugadi Program again during the first week of April – with the final list of items and names of all participants in the program. Please make it a point to attend the Ugadi Program. If you know of any Telugu persons or families new to the area, we would appreciate it if you let them know about TAGC and encourage them to attend the Ugadi program.
Dear TAGC Members,
Greetings!
Since the beginning of the
year, the Executive Committee consisting of Chenchuramaiah Bathala (President),
Mohan Kareti (Vice President), Seetharama Reddy Thondapu (Treasurer)
has been deliberating about a theme and programs for the year. The position
of Secretary is still open. We need to fill the position ASAP and will
appreciate it if someone comes forward volunteering for the position.
This Year's Theme
Lately, TAGC functions are
becoming more like extended family gatherings. As in the formative years
of TAGC, basement-type parties seem sufficient considering the fewer
number of people attending our programs. None of us likes TAGC sliding
in that direction. We also observe a declining trend in the number of
paying members, which is quite disturbing. The Telugu community is a
dominant force among the ethnic Indian groups in the Greater Cleveland
area, demographically, professionally, and financially. In discussions
with the long-standing community leaders, we find that TAGC prospered
in the past with high involvement and enthusiasm of members in its various
activities. With the help of generous sponsorships, TAGC was able to
organize music and dance programs by top professional artists from India
which cost in thousands of dollars. We would like to see the past support
back again so we can enhance our sense of belonging to a common thread.
Consistent with this overriding consideration, our theme for this year
is,
Community Activities
Planned for the Year
Our first program will be
UGADI CELEBRATION at Cleveland State University on APRIL 13 (Saturday).
Tentatively, we are thinking of a cultural program (about an hour),
food, and a Telugu movie. We will be meeting on March 2 to finalize
the Ugadi program and discuss about other TAGC activities for the year.
Please let us know your thoughts and suggestions. Anyone who wish to
attend the meeting, please call Chenchuramaiah Bathala (440-878-9663),
Mohan Kareti (440-816-0565), or Seetharama Reddy Tondapu (440-878-8907).
As in the past, we will have
a SUMMER PICNIC, either in metro parks or at the lake - during
the month of JULY or AUGUST. We will let you know as soon as
the date and venue are finalized.
On September 8 (Sunday),
we will have a program to celebrate
VINAYAKA CHAVITHI at Shiva Vishnu Temple. We will arrange with
the temple for having a special POOJA for TAGC members (starting around
11:00 am). It will be followed by our sponsorship of the SUNDAY LUNCH
program. We will need volunteers to prepare food for this event.
We would like to have our program
for DEEPAVALI FESTIVAL on NOVEMBER 2 (Saturday). The Parma
Community Center will work well for this function. It would cost $90
in rent and we need someone living in Parma to make the reservation
for us.
Last year, TAGC hosted a Year-end
Banquet for its paid-members and it was well received. We will be happy
to continue it, if we have enough funding available through membership
dues or sponsorships.
Other TAGC Activities
(1) TAGC Web site (http://cleveland-telugu.tripod.com):
Ravi Gudipati, last year's president, did some excellent work in developing
our web site. With the help of his father, Gopal Gudipati, he also designed
the logo for our organization. We will continue to make improvements
to our website and enhance its usefulness to our members. Especially,
we are thinking of enhancing the web site with (a) a narrative on the
history and development of TAGC, (b) lists of previous office bearers,
and life-members, (c) names and addresses of TAGC members, (d) links
to other Telugu Associations, and (e) other links of interest to our
members. We invite our members with a long standing association with
TAGC, its past presidents, and other office bearers to send us (a) narratives
about history and development of TAGC and (b) the list of office bearers
(by year) starting from the inception of TAGC.
Currently, we have our web
site on a free server with limited space. If additional space or more
capabilities are needed, we may have to consider a service provider
for a cost. We invite comments and suggestions from our members regarding
any additions they would like to have in the website.
(2) Membership Directory:
It has been some years since we have published a membership directory.
This year, we intend to print one with an updated listing of our members.
(3) Sports Activities:
In order to encourage group sports (indoor and outdoor), we intend to
initiate prizes for the winning teams in selected sports (e.g., volley
ball, table tennis, caroms, and bridge). It will also help making our
programs appealing to our children and youth. We can use our summer
picnics for this purpose, in addition having some sports on an ongoing
basis (in league format). The prize distribution will take place during
the last function for the year. We will discuss this idea in our next
meeting and develop guidelines.
(4) Outstanding Telugu
Citizen Award: In our community, we have individuals who have
contributed to TAGC in numerous ways. We also have individuals who have
distinguished themselves in their respective professions or made significant
contributions to the Greater Cleveland community. We would like to initiate
the "Outstanding Telugu Citizen Award" program in order to
recognize such individuals who brought us pride and laurels. We ask
our members to offer ideas and suggestions so we can make this a possibility
during the year 2002. The award will be the highlight of our last function
for the year.
(5) TAGC Youth of the
Year Award: Our youth are excelling in several ways - in academics,
sports, community activities, and leadership skills. We think it is
time we introduce youth award which will be given at our year-end function.
Please let us know your thoughts on this idea as we will be working
on guidelines for the award.
Expectations from TAGC
Members
In our pursuit to accomplish
the agenda for this year, we ask for wholehearted support and participation
from our members. Here is the hierarchical list of what you can do for
TAGC.
First, please
pay your annual membership dues ($35 for family, $20 for a single
person) if you have not done so already. We only have about 40 families
paying membership dues from out of a total of more than 150 Telugu families
in our mailing list. The receipts from membership dues, in the range
of $1,200 to $1,300, are not large enough even for programs of modest
nature.
Second, please
attend the TAGC functions. The attendance has been generally
poor at our programs, especially the summertime picnics. The largest
gatherings have been around 80 - 100 persons, including children. Some
functions cost anywhere from $600 to $800 each (rent, insurance, supplies,
refreshments, etc.), which comes to about $8 to $10 per head. Let's
lower the cost per head and feel good about spending the money by attending
our programs in larger numbers.
Third,
participate in cultural programs (music, dance, skit, etc)
and bring food to community events. Only a few individuals have been
actively contributing to the on-stage programs at our functions. We
need a wider participation to add variety to our programs.
With our limited resources,
we can't afford to have the food catered. Please do not hesitate to
bring a dish, especially when asked. We don't think we should have programs
without food, as the attendance will be even worse.
Fourth,
be a sponsor of our programs. Contributions of any amount
are appreciated. They will go a long way for filling the shortfall in
revenues from membership dues for supporting our community activities.
Those contributing $100 or more to a particular program will be recognized
for their generosity as "Sponsors of the Program."
Fifth,
make a life membership contribution $500. We have the
previous life membership receipts in bank CDs. With more contributions,
we can build an endowment and the interest it generates can be used
to fund any ad hoc contributions from TAGC or scholarships for our youth.
We hope our above ideas and
programs for the year are consistent with the consensus opinion of our
members. Please send us an e-mail if you have any suggestions for changes
or improvement. From now on, we will be sending out e-mails on a regular
basis to update our members about the TAGC activities or informing about
matters of interest to us. We don't want you to miss our communication.
To make sure you get our messages, please provide us the e-mail address
which you use most frequently.
We appreciate your cooperation
and support for TAGC.
Sincerely,
Executive Committee, TAGC
PS: Make your check payable to "TAGC" and mail it to:
Treasurer, TAGC
Mohan Kareti: gkareti@yahoo.com - Phone: (440) 816-0565
T. Seetharama Reddy: tsreddy@grc.nasa.gov; - Phone: (440) 878-8907