Sri Meenakshi Temple Society Corner Temple Renovation Project (CTRP) Reaches a Milestone

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SUGAR LAND: On a hot balmy July evening, Sunday, July 24, about 130 of Sri Meenakshi Temple society’s devotees had gathered at the popular culinary place, Madras Pavilion in Sugar Land, MP as it is fondly referred. The mission was pretty focused, to reach the $500,000 Fund raising milestone by the end of the evening for the Corner Temple Renovation Project (CTRP).  The special group of attendees had heeded the call to upgrade beyond the Core donor level ($1,000) and generously partook in the Upgrade Pledge initiative with nearly fifty families participating.   The event started with a prayer to the almighty and Chairman Narayanan welcomed the gathering.  Treasurer Sasi’s message was pointed to encourage participation from the gathering.  MTS’s inception and growth were recounted by Honorary President Sam Kannappan, including work to enhance the corner Sannadhis in the late’90s.

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Fund raising (FR) co-chair Dr. Appan, who had conceived the idea to hold the Fund raising event and had worked tirelessly on its planning for this evening, explained the nexus between the three religious area upgrades, which includes the current Corner Temple Renovation project, CTRP being the third phase; as well as the recent past projects (Ganesh Temple Renovation, GTRP; Main Temple Renovation Project, MTRP). Dr.  Venugopal Menon then joined the stage and in his inimitable style encouraged all to participate in the Upgrade, with many witty comments. Two of the FR team members that have been instrumental in bringing many donors to join,  Dr T. Dorairajan and Kumar Bhashyam covered the significance of Nayanmars and Alwars. Construction details was presented by Vinod Kaila and Ashok Mungara. This was followed with the individual acknowledgement by the FR team members who read the names of all upgrade donors, individually recognizing them.

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There were also many new upgrades from those gathered including the FR team’s Dhani Kannan ($ 25,000) and Sundar Arun ($ 15,000).  As the evening progressed MTS chairman Narayanan and his wife Malar completely floored those gathered by announcing an unprecedented level of upgrade to the Grand Sponsor level donor with a pledge of $ 100,000. Chairman Narayanan and his wife Malar deserve our appreciation for setting the bar high with their generosity.  The great support from the donors easily allowed the target of $ 500,000 total to be exceeded.  When the final tally was announced the Fund raising total stood at close to $ 630,000, which exceeded by far the goal to reach $ 500,000.  All this accomplished by the Grace of almighty in fewer than 110 days and bodes well to strive to reach the $ 750,000 target on the MTS annual gala event on August 28.

The supporters gathered were treated to a sumptuous delight served by Rajan Radhakrishnan of MP; the dinner was sponsored by the Fund raising team.   MTS’s Asthana photographers included Srini Sundarrajan , whose handiwork graces recent MTS calendars and the great volunteer/original MTS photographer and current Board member Shetty uncle. As the event was concluded Secretary Prasad thanked all the Fund raising team members including AVN Reddy, Tupil Narasiman, Padmini Nathan, Somarajan Nair, Parthiban Dhanabalan, Ganesh Rajamani, Bhaskara Rao Mutyala, Narayan Dave, Vinay Kumar, Chandrakala Gupta and C. Vijayarajan.

MTS staff present included Silpi  Ramanathan whose handiwork had created the beautiful MTS model on display, and administrator Venkat and Vimal of MTS. Among the FR team young volunteer Muthuraman deserves special thank you for running the projection and preparing the Pledge list.   Indeed it was a special evening for all to savor the milestone reached on this special summer day !