SURATI FARSAN MART WE SHIP NATIONWIDE 11814 186TH ST, ARTESIA, CA 90701 (562) 860 2310 9494 BLACKMOUTAIN RD, SAN DIEGO, CA 92126 FRESH SWEETS (858) 549 7280 FRESH SNACKS SINCE 1986 ORDER ONLINE SURATIFARSAN.COM LEUVA CONNECTION Leuva Patidar Samaj of USA 716 Sweet Water Circle, Old Hickory, TN 37138 LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Phone# 615-712-6199, Fax# 615-873-4650 Board of Directors President Dear members, Bharat (Bobby) Patel (916) 478 0475 1st Vice President First and foremost, I would like to thank you for your attendance and support in helping Hasubhai Patel (281) 870 0606 to make our most recent LPS of USA National Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, a 2nd Vice President successful one. As the convention chair, I would like to give sincere thanks to the entire Jayesh D Patel (615) 370 8255 Secretary Louisiana volunteer team who were the true backbone to the board in making this convention Kirit Kantilal Patidar (904) 571 9241 a triumph. Joint Secretary Sanjay D Patel (615) 399 0017 I feel very confident in saying that each Leuva Patidar including the LPS board, the great Treasurer volunteers, and the supportive attendees gained something of significance and merit at the Satish (Steve) M Hari (662) 895 0876 convention. Joint Treasurer Sunil Patel (615) 377 7768 Personally, it is a great honor and privilege to have the opportunity to humbly serve as your Editor current LPS of USA President for 2011-2012. Furthermore, I am truly excited to continue the Harshad D Patel (562) 809 2623 excellent work done by our former presidents and boards. I would like to thank those who Joint Editor have accomplished so many achievements which continuously improve the strength and Shailesh Patel (918) 361-5955 Publication unity of Leuva Patidars from all over the United States. P K Patel (214) 339 0935 LPS of USA is a non-profit organization cultivating unity and providing a platform for Youth Chairman generations to preserve our religion, culture, and heritage through society, education, and Rajendra Patel (615) 867 5055 Joint Youth Chairman communication. The organization’s ultimate goals are to bring awareness, as well as promote Nayan Patel (931) 723 2243 and preserve our heritage and cultural traditions of the Leuva Patidars in the USA. Every Ex Officio community and society has its precious heritage which must be passed on and it is our society’s Mukesh Mowji (408) 268 4747 responsibility to transfer that heritage to the next generation, which is our Leuva youth. Public Relations Ron Patel (972) 432 8856 In the upcoming weeks we will be scheduling a meeting with the current board in New Orleans, Mahendra Arvind (415) 259 4059 Louisiana to strategically plan the future of our association. We must also remember that Nagin Das (770) 384 0784 Mahendra Patel (956) 761 8500 serving on the board is a volunteer effort, meaning the entire board travels on their own Hargovan Desai (562) 402 3332 expense and dedicates their time for the betterment of the association. Ramanbhai Patel (650) 873 9300 At this upcoming meeting we will be creating several committees with goals, which if Hitesh Patel (580) 622 6500 IT Technology unaccomplished may be passed on to the next president, such as: Suresh Patel (904) 826 3345 1. Directory Committee – Produce an updated directory Womens West & Joint Publication 2. By-Laws, Policies, & Procedures – Review and recommend changes to our current by-laws Nayana Nancy Patel CHO (404) 886 9179 3. Unity & Leadership Conference – Promote leadership skills and unity Womens Rep East/Youth Lina Patel (513) 257 6700 4. Lifetime Membership & Financial Freedom – Achieve lifetime or annual membership and revenue stream Send editorial submissions to [email protected] 5. Youth & Women’s Conference – Network and build relationships through conferences 6. Website Update – Enhance and renew the look of the LPS website LEUVA 7. Regional Meetings – Use member participation to gather feedback across the USA CONNECTION 8. Youth – Promote and engage our youth in cultural activities Membership is the heart and foundation of the LPS of USA and I kindly request that everyone Visit us at participate in being a part of our organization. This is your organization and we encourage w w w . leuvapatidarsamaj.com you, your relatives, and fellow Leuvas to help promote and preserve our culture. Your support Leuva Connection is published by Garavi Gujarat Publications (USA) Inc on behalf of can help us in making a better future for our generations to come and participation can the Leuva Patidar Samaj of USA. empower the youth in our community. Please visit our website www.lpsofusa.com and provide Designed & Printed in the United King- feedback and suggestions for our organization along with making sure each family member dom by Garavi Gujarat Press, a division in our Leuva households reads the Leuva Connection magazine. If all of us collaboratively of the Asian Media & Marketing Group unite, our organization will become much stronger by way of involvement. Garavi Gujarat Publications (USA) Furthermore, it is my utmost request to every Leuva Patidar across the USA to Inc. encourage those who are non members to become a member of the LPS of USA this 2020 Beaver Ruin Road, Norcross, Atlanta year as we will be working on publishing our resourceful LPS of USA Directory with GA 30071-3710 vital information as an essential source to reach people which will be useful for Tel: ++ 1 770 263 7728 many years to come. Moreover, only members will be listed in the directory so it is Fax: ++1 770 263 8617 imperative to please complete the membership form included in this magazine and email: [email protected] become a member TODAY. www.amg.biz www.gg2.net With my determination and dedication, I look forward to serving our community and I am very confident that the LPS of USA will attain new heights in the future years to come. I © Garavi Gujarat Publications (USA) Inc. 2011 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may look forward to meeting all of you soon so please look out for the next regional meeting in be reproduced by any means without written per- your area. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions please feel free to contact me mission of the copyright owners. Although every personally at HasuDPatel@ aol.com. effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, the publishers cannot accept re- sponsibility for any errors or omissions. It should be noted that any opinions and recommendations Hasu Patel expressed in this magazine are the views of the President writers themselves and not necessarily those of the Leuva Patidar Samaj or Garavi Gujarat Publica- LPS of USA 2011-2012 tions (USA) Inc. Tel.: 281 236 6200 Please visit our website www.lpsofusa.com for full coverage of convention and current updates September 2011 3 LEUVA Executive Board of Directors LEUVA CONNECTION President 1st Vice President 2nd Vice President Secretary Joint Secretary Hasu D. Patel (Bajipura) Jayesh Patel (Chikhli) Kirit Patidar (Afva) Sanjay Patel (Kharvasa) Sunil Patel (Kharvasa) Treasurer Joint Treasurer Editor Joint Editor Publisher Harshad Patel (Saroli) Nayan Patel (Puna) Manish Desai (Digas) Jayesh Lallu (Ambheti) Samir T. Patel (Dhaman) Youth Joint Youth Ex Officio Public Relation Public Relations Dipesh Patel (Pardi/Pata) Hitesh Patel (Bajipura) Bharat Patel (Pathron) Hasubhai B. Patel (Astan) Dipak Patel (Kantali) Public Relations Public Relations Public Relations Public Relations Public Relations Dipak Patel (Kharvasa) Satish Hari (Pata Pardi) Shailesh Patel (Isroli) Jitu Patel (Chikhli) Mahendra Patel (Ruva) Womens East/ Youth IT Womens West & Jt Publication Lina Patel (Vadhvania) Suresh Patel (Puna) Nayana ‘Nancy’ Patel (Soyani) Please visit our website www.lpsofusa.com for full coverage of convention and current updates 4 September 2011 LEUVA LEUVA Letters from Board CONNECTION LETTER FROM PAST PRESIDENT My Dear Brothers and Sisters, Jai Shree Krishna. Wow what a year! It has been a wonderful journey personally for me and my entire board. Rain or shine, our goal stays same: as I’ve said before, LPS of USA has one goal and one goal only, to pass on our colorful culture and rich heritage to our new generation and generations to come. As the new year for LPS of USA begins, the old board moves on and new board hails in, but our duties are same or rather increase. LPS of USA has set a goal to achieve financial sustainability. In the past, financial crunch was a norm for LPS of USA. Back then the board worked very hard to grow our association and thanks to them our association now has more than 4500 families in our database. But today, time has changed. We need funds for youth activities, senior programs and daily operation. The Founding Member Partnership program is very handy for achieving this goal of financial sustainability year on year. Thanks to Hasubhai Patel, Jayesh Patel and Kirit Patidar, along with the entire board, we’ve managed to lift this program to the next level. Now the control is entirely in their hands to take the Founding member partnership program to even a higher level! We have completed the year with 150 new lifetime members ($150,000.00) and the membership including annual membership of 4500 families. Our daily operation and convention are both profitable. The top seven officers, EC Board and other board of directors have traveled extensively during the past year attending 25 town halls, regional and other meetings across the country. Now, more about the LPS of USA Convention in the Bayou state of Louisiana. What a success for LPS of USA! More than 2,500 people (including 1000 youth) attended the convention that also saw the participation of 90 vendors for the trade show.