July 30, 2009

Dear Devotees,

This message has four announcements from the Bharatiya Temple of Lansing.

1) Honorin g Sharmaji during First Sunday Puja on August 2: After nearly 12 years of dedicated and honorable service to our temple and our community, our senior priest Sharmaji has decided to move with his family to the Dallas area to be priest at the Sri Ganesha Temple in Plano, Texas. His last day of work at our temple is August 7. The Board of Trustees, while sad to lose one who has served our temple with excellence and devotion for so long, wish him and his family the very best as they move to Texas. Please join us during the First Sunday Puja on August 2 as we honor Sharmaji and give him a warm sendoff.

2) First Sunday Puja on August 2 will begin at the usual time of 11:30 AM and will be hosted by Sunil Wahi, Ashok Gupta, Deepak Kakar, and Mohit Sehgal families. The program will be followed by lunch at 1 PM.

3) We invite sponsors for the Second Sunday Birthday/Anniversary Havan on August 9. This monthly program, from 11 AM to 12:30 PM, was started just this month (July). The inaugural program on July 12 was a great success, with about 20 sponsors who celebrated their birthdays, anniversaries, and graduations with the havan. We hope to see an even bigger response for the August 9 event, when the havan will be for Lord Shiva. To sponsor, please contact any one of the following:
Ajay Bhargava, 517-347-3718, youngrehab@sbcglobal.net
V.K. Jain, 517-203-0888, jainvk@comcast.net
Rajat Shah, 517-349-7762, shah.rajat@comcast.net
Temple Priests

4) Fun, Fitness, and Fundraiser 5-kilometer Walk on Saturday August 8:
Details are posted at: http://lansingtemple.org/misc/walk.pdf
By walking 3.1 miles (5 kilometers) with your spouse/kids/family or just by yourself--this should take less than an hour even if you chat and walk--you will not only get healthier and have fun, but you will also be helping to generate funds for your temple. That is because the temple has got sponsors who are donating an amount to the temple for each walker. Already we have a collective pledge of $70 per participant completing the walk, and we are in the process of getting more sponsors. All you have to do is to show up at Hartrick Park Pavilion, 3685 Hulett Road, Okemos, MI 48864 on August 8 any time between 9:30 AM and 11 AM, register for the walk (there is no registration fee), and walk the 5 kilometers along a specified route. The more the number of participants, the more is the fund raised for the temple. Thank you in advance for your participation.

Sincerely,

Bharatiya Temple of Lansing
955 Haslett Rd
Haslett, Michigan 48840.
Phone: (517) 339-633