Minute June 04, 2016
Minute : Nepali American Friendship Association
Date : June 4th, 2016
Venue : 2800 Royal Ave, Madison WI 53713
Start time : 3:00 PM
Members Present :
a. Executive Member –
1. Purna Shrestha
2. Ramesh Khanal
3. Kabindra Adhikari
4. Archana Dhakhwa
5. Archana Malla
6. Mahendra Pathak
7. Abiskar Bharati
Agendas:
1. Review of past events and programs (New Year 2073; AGM and Bylaw amendment; Brat Fest)
2. Review of continue Program (Kakshya and Utkhanan)
3. Discussion/review on Membership drives (# of renewed annual members, new members, Lifetime members, discontinued members and potential members).
4. School Rebuild Project in Nepal (SRP/N): Info updates, announcements and deadlines.
5. Replacement of Public Relation Officer (PRO); Rashesh Shrestha, the PRO at present is moving out.
6. Discussion/Preparation on Future Programs (Scholarship application, Picnic (July 23) and Sahitya Sanjh)
7. Treasurer's Report (Financial Status)
8. Discussion on online payment system of NAFA.
9. Arrangement of Joint Meeting with HDC to discuss about Nepali Community Center.
10. Discussion on NAFA Social Media (Facebook, Youtube, Email and Website)
Agenda #1 – NAFA Past Events :
- AGM & Bylaw Amendment
o New proposal was proposed - keeping ‘Open’ for the support of outside the NAFA community.
o Suggestions will be incorporated and Purna Shrestha will circulate a notification to community and will send an updated(amended) by-law to State(to inform them of change, a must thing to do)
- New Year Program
o Coordinator was Navraj Pandey
o Event was on Saturday, April 16th, 2016 from 4PM to 11PM at Eagle Heights Com Center
o No negative feedback from community, a successful event.
o Bills yet to pass through treasurer, being worked on with Mirch Masala.
- Brat Fest
o Coordinated & Briefed by Purna Shrestha
o Event was on Friday, May 27th 2016 (Memorial Day Long weekend)
o Total 7 people signed up and there was no extensive participation from NAYL(Nepalese American Youth Leadership).
o NAFA did not ask/push members to sign up because NAYL had requested the slot and Purna Shrestha contacted NAYL leaders but they did not signup affecting NAFA as well as NAYL’s chance of generating some fund.
o NAFA will encourage community members next year to participate/volunteer for NAFA .
Agenda #2 – NAFA On-going Events
- Kakshya
o Coordinator - Archana Dhakhwa briefed about Kakshya.
o Great feedback from parents and progress of the children attending kakshya is very impressive.
o Increased the number of students to 25 needing 6 essential teaches.
o Ramesh Khanal suggested to take children for outing with NAFA covering the cost, Board agrees with the idea.
o Mahendra Pathak suggested to raise fund for this kind of outing along with the NAFA covering partially.
- Utkhanan
o Coordinator, Archana Dhakhwa briefed about Utkhanan.
o Utkhanan is going very well. A different platform and participant are enjoying the experience sharing and games played at the venue.
o Total of 15-17 adults participated.
o Utkhanan is more of an experience sharing platform to engage adults whose children have left the home (empty nesters).
o Organizers/Coordinator were providing food but next time participants are interested to bring the food as potluck.
o Ramesh Khanal asked/suggested why not include Utkhanan with HDC Sunday puja. The suggestion was defended by Archana Dhakhwa(not feasible due to time constraint).
Agenda #3 – NAFA Membership Drives
o Old natives of Madison also did not renew their membership.
o Executive board member will reach out to their members to remind them of laps membership.
o 4 new life members are added and board should encourage to sign up for life membership.
o Mahendra Pathak reminded Abiskar Bharati of an error in website about membership fee. The membership fee needs to be $10 for Single and $15 for Family. Abiskar Bharati will immediately rectify the correct amount in website.
Agenda #4 – School Rebuild Project in Nepal (SRP/N)
o Translation of EOI is being worked on by Santosh Lamichhane and Abiskar Bharati.
o NAFA will provide the document of guidelines to those who approach and in accordance with these guidelines an organization or school will be selected.
o After the guidelines are finalized, it will be made public via FB page, website and mass email.
o Proposal will be accepted till August 31st 2016. SRP/N committee meeting on July 6th 2016 decided to accept proposals till September 30Th, 2016.
o 12-15 different school has already approached NAFA for the funding through word of mouth.
o Nepal government approved NGO\ INGO to work on earthquake relief/reconstruction work a week ago only.
o A fundraising can be done after a school is selected.
Agenda #5 – Public Relation Officer (PRO) selection
o Rashesh M. Shrestha is moving out of states for his career.
o Need to find a public relations officer, board will look for the interested candidate soon.
o Appreciation letter for Rashesh’s service to the community will be presented to him.
Agenda #6 – NAFA Future Events
- NAFA Summer Picnic
o Coordinators : Archana Malla & Archana Dhakhwa
o Venue : Token Creek Park, Shelter No. 5, Deforest WI
o Date : July 23rd 2016
o Venue is already booked by Rajib Karna.
o Archana M & Archana D will send out a signup sheet soon.
- NAFA Scholarship
o Coordinator : Purna Shrestha
o Purna Shrestha will send out an email calling for the NAFA scholarship.
o Students applying need to comply with the rules and criteria of Scholarship including the fulfilling 40 hr community volunteer hours.
- NAFA Sahitya Sanjh
o Coordinator : Som Khanal
o Date : November 2016
o Need to explore venue, eagle heights community hall will not be a good place due to echo.
o Sponsors need to be present in the program, shifting from regular November month(ending NAFA event for the year) is not good .
Agenda #7 – Financial Report
o Mahendra Pathak has already sent the email about the financial report.
o Earthquake relief fund of $412 has been handed over to NAFA from Hindu Dharma Circle (HDC).
o Earthquake relief fund has been kept in a separate book. Donations are still coming in. For more details, Please contact Treasurer.
Agenda #8 – Online Payment System
o The online payment system is up and is in our website.
o Abiskar Bharati will check a test deposit and find out if there is any commission involved. If there is no commission involved then it can be used to collect fee for NAFA events as well.
Agenda #9 – Joint Meeting w/ HDC
o HDC board would like to meet with NAFA executive board to discuss possible investment into a common community house as per Purna Shrestha.
o Board expressed the discontentment of past members and reminded of past comments made by few members.
o Board suggested to form a small subcommittee which can explore the idea further.
Agenda #10 - Miscellaneous
- Websites/ YouTube
o NAFA website is up to-date with current information and has a new domain i.e. www.nafa-online.org
o Website will have SRP information in it as well.
o YouTube channel of NAFA has few more videos added to it, per Abiskar Bharati.
o The link to the YouTube channel : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf778gnxaAD80OPthwclnZw
- NAFA Facebook page
o More than 1455 likes(at the time of meeting).
o Lots of message from Nepalese community coming to Madison get information about NAFA and Nepalese community in Madison from facebook page.
- NAFA Library
o Abiskar Bharati is numbering all the books present in NAFA Library to avoid missing books from library.
- Next meeting will be on 1st week of August , 2016
Meeting End time : 5:05 PM
Minute Prepared By :
Abiskar Bharati
Secretary
On behalf of NAFA.