March 21, 2003 | May 4, 2003 | June 1, 2003 | July 20, 2003 | Aug 24, 2003 | Sep 13, 2003 | Feb 8, 2004

Meeting Date: March 21st, 2003
Location: US West Taekwondo School at Beaverton

Member Present
Daya Shakya - President
Kush Shrestha - Vice President
Anupama Shrestha-General Secretary
Hari Ranabhat - Treasurer
Dillu Thapa - Member
Shuddhodan Ranjit - Member
Sagar Onta - Member

Nepali New Year Preparation:
Venue: Daya Shakya has confirmed the New Year Party venue at Bethlehem Lutheran Church 39h Ave.
The New Year program details will be posted on the website by Sanjeev) and email to the yahoo email group will be sent out by Anupama.

New Year Charges Member Non-Member Door
Adults $10 $12 $20
Kids (6-12) $5 $6 $10
Students $10

Payment Deadline: April 10, 2003; payments to be sent to Hari’s address.
Food: Anupama will contact Abhiruchi for catering.
Drinks & Other Supplies: Daya & Shuddhodan

Achaar Competition
Need to send email to everyone about the New Year party highlighting the Achaar competition. Some basic rule for the competition is to ask to prepare for at least 10 judges with the participation deadline of April 10, 2003. Kush and Anupama will work out the details.

Cultural Program:
Dillu Thapa will coordinate the cultural program. NAO will also use the new sound system.
Daya dai will arrange for the kids activities to engage them with coloring and also try to find a TV.

3rd Open Friendship Taekwondo Championship
NAO will sponsor ½ page advertisement in the souvenir publication of the championship. NAO will also participate in the cultural program on June 18, 2003. Daya & Dillu will coordinate with the Taekwondo Championship organizers.

Meeting Date: May 4th, 2003
Location: US West Taekwondo School at Beaverton

Member Present: Daya Shakya, Kush Shrestha, Anupama Shrestha, Hari Ranabhat, Dillu Thapa, Shuddhodan Ranjit, Sagar Onta.

1. Evaluate NAO Organization
The 7 people in the executive committee will work together and the 2 open seats will be closed by the summer picnic. It was decided that if there are interested party it should be 2 people and if there are more than 2 the executive members will chose the 2 people. This information will be posted in the website.

2. Check Writing Responsibility
The check writing responsibility will be of Daya Shakya and Hari Ranabhat. Daya,
Hari and Raju will coordinate the transfer of check signing authority.

3. Membership Fees
We will research this issue further and on the next meeting decide whether we should implement this or not. A suggestion was made to do a survey on the summer picnic regarding this issue. In the meantime any ideas will be shared through email.

4. Four Yearly Meetings
The remaining two meetings will be held on June 1st and September 7th. These meeting are open to all members. The other two meeting was held on April 13th and May 4th.

5. Major Events for the Remaining Year 2003
Summer Picnic will be held on June 21st or July 21st at the Oak Park or Summer Lake Park. Daya Shakya will look into this and contact Raju Mali, if failure at Oak Park. At the next meeting we will detail out the cost and events. All members should bring forth ideas.
Dasain will be held on October 11th. All members should look for venues and look for ideas. Suggestion made to acknowledge people that have contributed to Nepali issues.

6. Namaste Newsletter
Namaste newsletter will be sent out twice a year On Dasain and Nepali New Year. The new member of the Editor Board is Sagar Onta replacing Purna Ranjitkar. This issue will be mailed out on the week ending May 10th. The publication delay was due to election and formation of new executive committee. Newsletter should contain the information of the two additional people for the executive members. Also email should be sent out to members to provide information for the newsletter.

7. Website Management
Raju Mali will talk to Rajesh Tamang for maintaining the website and will coordinating it with Kanihya Vaidya's website.

8. Logo
No decision made on the logo yet, however suggestion made to improve upon the submitted logo.

9. Academic Discussion
Sagar Onta and Daya Shakya will venture into setting up Academic discussions. Ideas were brought forward of getting involved with Himalayan Research Bulletin by helping them or having them participate in talks.

10. NESCO
NAO will support the Table tennis Tournament on May 18th organized by NESCO. NAO will try to have a better and open communication with this new organization and coordinate future activities.

11. NAO will explore conducting activities for children in the Nepali community.

Meeting Date: June 1st, 2003
Location: US West Taekwondo School at Beaverton
Members Present : Daya Shakya, Sagar Onta, Hari Ranabhat, Dillu Thapa, Shudhodhan Ranjit, Anupama Shrestha

1. Review from Last Meeting
-Check Writing Responsibility
The check writing responsibility will be of Daya Shakya Hari Ranabhat and Anupama Shrestha. Anupama will be added so that there will always be two people out of the three. Daya, Hari, Raju and Anupama will coordinate the transfer of check signing authority. Due to time constraint this was not processed but should be taken care of within two weeks.
- Logo Status
A logo has not yet been decided. A discussion led to the idea of incorporating Mt. Everest, Pine trees and Namaste icon in the logo. Hari and Anupama will try to talk to artist to see if this is feasible. Other ideas are still welcome.
- Website
The website is being maintained by Rajesh Tamang. There has been many changes already .Inputs were brought forward to either add links that contained information of trekking in Nepal or us writing about it. This way we can provide needed information for interested people.
- Academic Discussion
Sagar Onta and Daya Shakya will explore the possibilities of organizing academic discussions.
- Comments on Namaste Newsletter
Some information was still missing. Some information that was in the final draft when printing did not show in the newsletter. We will continue to work together to improve the newsletter.

2. Picnic Plans
Picnic will be held on June 2nd at Oaks Park from 2PM till 7PM. Cost will be $7 for adults and $5 for students and children 5years through 12years and under 5 years is free. Detail information of the picnic will be posted on the website. Daya will send an email to the Nepal Oregon list. Division of work will be done so that each executive member will call 10-15 people and get confirmation of their attendance and notify the committee by June 14th through email. NESCO will handle the sporting activities. Sagar proposed and will work on a map to determine the dwelling of members. This will be a fun activity at the picnic.

3. Survey for Future Plans
Sagar and Anupama will work on putting together a survey that will collect information of how NAO is doing and members expectations for the future. The purpose of the survey is to form a guide for future work for the committee and better serve the members. This survey will be conducted at the picnic

4. Nomination of the two members
The 2 open seats for the executive members are still open. It will be closed on summer picnic. It was decided that if there are interested party it should be 2 people and if there are more than 2 the executive members will chose the 2 people. This information will be posted in the website. Currently there are no individuals that have come forward.

5. Nepali Language Class
A pilot Nepali Language class will be held
Month -August and September
Days-Sunday
Time- 1 - 3 PM
Location- US West Taekwondo School at Beaverton
Target Age groups: 5- 18years

Sagar will contact DC and Anupama will contact Denver to see if they can obtain any vital information and supply that can lead to the success of the class here in Oregon. Daya has already prepared a guideline of what should be taught. There will be a sign up sheet at the picnic. We are still seeking volunteers and teachers to help make this a success. A few interested names have been collected .There will also be a trainer’s training as well to set up guidelines to make this Nepali class a success.

6. Nepali Cultural Night
There will be no Nepali Cultural Night this year due to time constraint and resources. A request was made for a performance at someone’s house. Daya will get more details and bring the proposal forward to the committee before a final decision is made.

7. Fundraising Project
A suggestion was made to do a Nepal Day where there would be an exhibition of Nepali items, Academic Discussion and movie showing. A proposal was made to show a Nepali movie “Mukundo” that has been shown in other states. Research needs to be done on how well this movie is rated and whether we can find a location and audience to show this movie. The successful Momo party was also another suggestion for fund raising.

8. Communications with Other Members and Interested Friends of Nepal
It was decided that we would update the list we have of the member and any interest individuals during the picnic and see how they would like to be contacted. We will need to utilize our website more by adding information that is relevant to interested people like trekking information. The map during summer picnic we are hoping we help on this issue as well.

9. Membership fee
Research of executive members by questioning other members showed that there are many people willing to pay membership. Hari and Anupama will work together to build a form for membership and present it to the executive members for approval. The constitution and website contains the information of the rates of membership
1. Family Membership (5 or more members) $35
2. Family Membership (up to 4 members) $25
3. Single membership $10
4. Student membership $5
The executive committee members, through email voting made following amendments with regard to the above membership categories (as per Daya Shakya’s email of June 19, 2003):
Family membership includes a member, spouse and their children under 18 years of age. A family membership is voted to be $25. Other membership categories and charges (Single and Student memberships) remain unchanged.
The committee also voted to include the membership benefits in the membership registration form.

Meeting Date: July 20th, 2003
Location: West Taekwondo School at Beaverton

Members Present: Daya Shakya, Kush Shrestha, Hari Ranabhat, Dillu Thapa, Shuddhodan Ranjit, Sagar Onta

1. Ramjham Sanjha 2003 - Reimbursement
Issue was raised about some concern among the committed patrons (those who agreed to contribute $40) regarding reimbursement of the contribution if the program gains profit. The reasoning behind the concern is based on the fact that the program is being supported by the committed patrons with the understanding that ticket sales and other traditional source of revenue is not adequate to cover the fees of the program, including paying for the performers and rental fee for the hall. The executive committee agreed and decided that 50% of the profit (after all expenses are deducted) will be distributed among all the committed patrons. However, the reimbursement will be limited such that the out-of-pocket cost for the patrons will not be less than the general admission fee ($20/person) of the program.

2. Ramjham Sanjha 2003 - Seattle Discount
To support the relationship with Nepalese living in Seattle and build on the close friendship, the executive committee decided that Seattle residents will be given 20% discount on the general admission fee for the program. Hence, the general admission fee for the program for Seattle area residents will be $16/person. All other fee will remain the same.

3. August 16th Program
It was informed that Daya Shakya has tentatively made the list of performances for the program and is seeking participation from the performers. It was also decided that he will contact Birendra Shakya to seek his availability to play tabala and participate in the program. Dillu Thapa and Hari Ranabhat will work together to finalize a flute number for the program.

4. Recognition to Roji Mali
Daya Shakya informed the committee that he talked to Roji about providing financial contribution for her performance at the 16th August Program. The committee unanimously agreed that Roji's past contribution to the Nepali community, especially her performance at cultural programs, has been exceptional. However, concerns were raised by the committee regarding Daya Shakya's unilateral decision to provide such a contribution to an individual without discussion at the committee. In any regard, the committee decided that certain percentage of the income from the program will be provided to the artists. Also, issue was raised about establishing an annual program to honor the most outstanding volunteer.

NAO-NESCO Preliminary Meeting Notes

On 20th July, 2003, a first ever meeting between the members of Nepali Association of Oregon (NAO) and Nepali Sports Club of Oregon (NESCO) executive committee was held at the Beaverton US West coast Taekwondo School.

NAO Executive Committee members present:
Daya Shakya - President
Kush Shrestha - Vice President
Hari Ranabhat - Treasurer
Dillu Thapa - Member
Shuddhodan Ranjit - Member
Sagar Onta - Member

NESCO Executive Committee members present:
Diwakar Maharjan - President
Love Gorkhali - General Secretary
Laxman Darlamee - Treasurer
Ashok Shrestha
Kebin Maharjan
Suva Shakya

NAO and NESCO Relationship
The first NAO and NESCO meeting was commenced by Daya Shakya explaining the reason the meeting was called for. He explained that the meeting was called to clarify the relationship between NAO and NESCO.

To clarify NESCO's establishment, Love Gorkhali read out NESCO's goals and objectives. The goals emphasized that NESCO was organized as a club to provide sporting opportunities for all Nepalese living in Oregon. The long-term goal of the club included organizing various sports activities including soccer, table tennis, basketball, carom board, badminton, chess, baagha chaal etc.

Issues were raised by Dillu Thapa whether it was/is possible for NESCO to operate as a sub-committee of NAO. While the benefit of such an association can be substantial, especially to solidify the brotherhood among all Nepalese living in Oregon, NESCO explained that it does not intend to operate under such a structure and felt it could best fulfill its objectives by operating as an independent entity.

Further discussion took place to clarify the relationship between NAO and NESCO. Laxman Darlamee explained that while NAO can be viewed as an umbrella organization, NESCO would best operate as a separate entity. Kush Shrestha agreed that NAO does not have the authority to formalize any organization, and could only request NESCO to operate with close coordination with NAO.

It was agreed that as two independent entities, NAO and NESCO could operate separately. However, since both of them are catered towards providing services to the same community, close communication and coordination of programs is vital for the success of both entities. In addition, it was agreed that NAO and NESCO should work together to put forward a united front in the community so that baseless rumors do not damage the image of social bodies. Members present agreed to meet after August 9th Soccer game to discuss more on this issue.

Seattle Soccer
An issue was raised by Ashok Shrestha regarding the soccer game that took place in Seattle on July 12th, 2003. There were reports of tension between several players in the game regarding participation of NESCO in an alleged informal game. With regard to the disputes among the players about formally representing NESCO on August 9th friendly soccer game with visitors from Seattle Nepali community, NAO's position was that it was an internal NESCO issue and NAO, as an umbrella organization, offered to mediate the disputing groups. A key issue of dispute between the NESCO and non-NESCO members, regarding the August 9th game, revolved around whether the game will be held as a formal match or an informal game. It was agreed to find a way to put a unified soccer team representing Oregon Nepali community. After August 9th, a meeting of all concerned parties will be called to resolve the issue for good.

The meeting ended with better understanding between NAO and NESCO.

Meeting Date: August 24, 2003
Location: US West Taekwondo School at Beaverton
Member Present: Daya Shakya, Hari Ranabhat, Dillu Thapa, Shuddhodan Ranjit, Anupama Shrestha

1. Seattle Picnic on August 31st
Daya Shakya will be going along with interested members to the picnic of the Northwest Nepali Organizations that will be held in Seattle. The detail information for members will be sent through email from Daya. A friendly football match will also be held along with the potluck. Plan so far is for Oregon to host the event next year.

2. Ramjham Sahja
Expenditures need to be turned in to finalize the expenses of the event. Discussions was made whether money should be refunded or not to the $40 patrons.. It was decided that an email would be sent by the Kush Shrestha to the $40 patrons to decide whether they wanted the refund of the money of the profit. This was decided with much debate based on the decision that that was made in a previous meeting to return money if there was profit. The email should be sent giving the patrons the option to get their money back.
Also note worthy lesson was that many members felt uninformed of the event and that in the future that it is best to keep all members informed of the progress of events through email.

3. Dasain Party
Dasain Party will be held on October 11th. We still need to locate a venue and final food. Shuddhodan and Anupama will ask the two vendors that they know for food. Others are welcome to check as well.
Delegation of task for the Dasain party as follow:
Sagar and Dillu- Cultural program
Shuddhodan & Kush– Food and Venue
Hari and Anupama– Finance
We are hoping the cost per person is $15 for adult and $10 for student. The will be finalized with the venue and food cost and will be made on the next meeting September 14th. As previously the executive members will have a list and will be responsible for collecting the money from them. The deadline for money collecting will be October 8th.
4. Nepali Language Class
The Nepali language class has not made any progress. Anupama will talk to Sagar to see the progress so far.

5. Namaste Publication
It was decided that ideas should be collected for the Namaste Publication. Any ideas should be emailed to the executive members. Daya Shakya, Kush Shrestha, Sagar Onta and Anupama Shrestha can be contacted for information.

Meeting Date: September 13th 2003
Time: 10AM – 12PM
Venue: Anupama’s House

Members Present: Daya Shakya, Kush Shrestha, Anupama Shrestha, Hari Ranabhat, Dillu Thapa, Shudhodhan Ranjit, Sagar Onta

1. Dasain Preparation for September 16, 2003
Venue-This has not been found. However Shudhodhan Ranjit and Dillu Thapa will look at some sites. Also Kush is trying to find a venue.

Food- Shudhodhan will confirm the price of food at India Palace which he thinks is $5. However we will be responsible for bring the food and serving. He will check with them and notify Anupama who talked to manager of Abyruchi who said they would give 50cent less than other place. This caterer will provide food and 2 people to oversee things. Anupama will talk to Abhiruchi based on Shudhodhan’s response.

Cost – It was decided that the cost per head would be
Adults - $12
Students$10
Children (5-12 yrs) -$5
Kids Under 5 years Free
At the door- $20
All should report to Anupama of the collected amount by October 9th latest thought the deadline for general members and friends should be the Oct.7th.

Raffles- We will need to find sponsor for the raffle. Ideas were brought forward of getting tickets to the OMSI or zoo. Kush Shrestha will try to correspond and get sponsor with them otherwise we will buy tickets. Raffles will be given free of cost as an entertainment

Decorations – Sagar with the help of friends will decorate the venue

Culture Program – Dillu and Hari will be responsible for getting the performer for the cultural program.

Dinner- will be served at 7:30PM. IF we get food from India Palace Sagar will get friends to help unload and serve

Beer – We will try to find a sponsor for this else NAO will buy it. It was mentioned that it should be less than $100.

Utensils_ Sagar and Anupama will coordinate and buy the needed utensils. Anupama will check with Daya to see if we have anything left from the previous functions.

Clean Up – Shudhodhan will try to see if there is anyone that we can hire within $50 to clean up or else all should work as a team to clean up

Communication to the members-It was decided that we would call people based on the distributed call list that was provide during the picnic. Anupama will resend the list to everyone. All money should be collected by October 7th. We will be responsible for the people on our list and should also have the check mailed to us.
Kush Shrestha will inform Rajesh Tamang to update the website and also send an email to the Yahoo group. The information that should be included aside from the general is for interested individuals to contact Dillu and Hari for Cultural program
Sponsors for beer and raffle prizes
Anyone has Karaoke that they can lend

Overall Program – Sagar and Anupama will be in charge of the overall program. Sagar brought up ideas of making it different by including slide show, introducing newcomers up front. If anyone has pictures please send it to Anupama and Sagar. Also contact them for any ideas or questions.

2. Namaste Newsletter
The newsletter is published twice a year once in New Year and the other during Dasain. All agreed that it was important to publish it this Dasain. Sagar will contact Daya to discuss his involvement in the newsletter as he is chief editor. Editors Sagar, Kush and Anupama will coordinate in the information gathering. All agreed that the information that should be included are the Ramjham Sanjh, Summer Picnic(Oaks Park), Fund Raising Project at Dave’s Party, events in the Community such as newcomer and deaths, Survey , NW Picnic. We also hope to include information that could be useful to the public. Please contact any or all for any further information or ideas.

3. Ramjham Sanjh Account
Everyone looked at the expenses for the Ramjham Sanjh. As decided previously 50% of the profit would be sent back to the $40 patron. Calculation reflected that $15 should be refunded. It was decided that an email should be sent to the patrons inquiring if they wanted the money with the assumptions that there may be individuals that may not want the money back. . All agreed to the format of the letter drafted by Kush with minor changes. It was decided the letter will be sent out in email format by Kush as he was responsible for collecting money from them as well.

4. Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held on September 28th per the two dates recommended by the president. October 4th did not work for the rest due to the Dasain celebration.

Meeting Date: Feb 8th 2004
Time: 10am-12pm
Location: Beaverton Taekwondo place

Newsletter Distribution and status
The newsletter was distributed by hand to most of the members to save the cost of mailing as the newsletter was 10 pages. Lesson learnt was to mail the newsletter next time as it would be ensure everyone got the newsletter. Also putting the newsletter in the website needs more research as it can save money and have many viewers. Another lesson learnt was to only give the final proof to the designer as it can affect the layout. Logo- Daya Shakya will talk to Sanjeev about putting the logo on the NAO website for members to choose among the existing four logos. Anupama will send an email with the logo and link to the website to the Nepali yahoo group informing them to vote. It was decided that the logo votes should be casted by March 13th and logo with the most votes known on the March 14th meeting.

Membership Drive- There is a few that have become NAO members. We will need to encourage people to join even by word of mouth. Payment of membership through PAYPAL requires more research as it should be available at all times. Hari will look research PAYPAL payments possibilities.
Survey collection – There are a few surveys collected. Daya will talk to Sanjeev about posting it on the web.

Outstanding Volunteer Award
Roji Malakar (Joshi) was chosen as the outstanding volunteer for 2003. She was not present during the Dasain Party to receive the award and cash hence it was decided that she would be honored on the next function but her announcement of moving to another State led to acknowledging her during her wedding as it would have most members present there . But she declined to accept this during the occasion informing she would be back in summer. Thus it was decided that Daya Dai would talk to Roji and if she her coming does not fall on our function the award and $301 cash should be mailed to her.

Selection of Dates for regular Meetings
Date Major event Dates Chosen
March 14 Nepali New Year (April 17th)
August 8th Summer Picnic (Sept 5th)
Oct 10th Dasain (October 30th)

Nepali New Year Plans and Responsibilities
Venue – Daya mentioned the venue and will get more information of its availability and cost .Sagar will also view the venue.
Food – Anupama will send an email to yahoo group asking if there are anyone interested to cook needs to contact her by March 1st otherwise she will find cater .
Activities – Idea of having an acchar competition was introduced for the party. Also singing competition will be organized to demo the new NAO sound system. Daya will look into having a coloring competition for the kids. This will be based on the venue.

5) Fund Raising projects -Printing tshirts with logo for sale
Daya shakya will do more research of printing shirt with logo as we need to know cost and feasibility.

6) Plan for the Year
Daya will research more about showing of the movie “Muna Madan” and inform the executive members.
Sagar and Anupama will look into doing a show for the Cancer Kids.
Nepali Class has been postponed as the helping hand and those that have taken initiative have shown less interest. Anupama and Sagar will talk about how to move forward with this as all executive member s agreed we should move forward with it.

Anupama Shrestha
NAO General Secretary, 2003-2005