Parent Community Meeting Invitation

Dear Parents,

I would like to invite you to, what I hope will be the first of many, Bhaktivedanta Academy Parent Community Meetings. Our first will be held Tuesday, January 25th at 6:00 p.m. Snacks and refreshments will be served but we are unable to provide child care.

The purpose of this meeting is to provide an open forum in which our parents can be heard. There will be no preset agenda. Instead, we ask you to tell us what you want to talk about.

Good communication between parents, teachers, and administration is the foundation of any great school. I hope many of you will take the opportunity to attend. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Visvambhara das
Director

Year-End Wish List

At this time of year, I am often asked if the school has a wish list of items it needs. In fact, we do, and I am taking an opportunity to make it available to all our friends. Each listed item has an associated cost, link and/or additional details. I encourage you to look through the list and consider either directly buying or making a contribution toward its purchase.

Item	Cost	Notes
iPod speaker dock	$60.00 each	One each for Bhakti, Audarya, Madhurya Bhavans, and Multi-use room.
Apple TV	$99.00	This device will allow us to stream video from our central media server to each classroom via an attached video projector.
Portable sound system	$100.00
External Hard Drive (2 Terrabytes)	$100.00	We need additional data storage capacity for the school’s media server.
Gas Powered Leaf Blower	$160.00
Video Projection Screens	$200.00 each	One each for Audarya Bhavan and Multi-use room
Harmoniam	$200.00	Estimated
iPod Touch	$275.00	One each for Bhakti, Audarya, Madhurya Bhavans, and Multi-use room.
Urmila's Krishna Conscious Learn to Read Series	$350.00
Security lighting	$400.00	Install security lighting at front of school property/parking lot and replace all outdoor lights with timed lights
Entrance sign	$500.00	Professionally produced outdoor sign with the school logo and name.
Soccer Goal Set	$550.00
High Definition video camera	$700.00
Video Projector	$800.00
Basketball Goal	$900.00
iMac computers	$1,000.00 each	Our existing classroom computers are very old and in serious need of replacement with quality workstations.
Perimeter fence for school campus	$7,000.00	A well constructed perimeter fence will better define the Bhaktivedanta Academy campus, prevent misuse/vandalism of the school's property, and help to prevent unauthorized persons from entering the grounds while students are present.
Audarya Bhavan classroom building	$11,000	The 1,400 sq. ft. classroom building we installed for the 2009-10 school year has served us well. It is a great space but we pay over $1000 per month to lease it. The purchase price for this building is $41,000, of which $30,000 is pledged. We only need $11,000 more for Bhaktivedanta Academy to finalize the purchase and to own a major asset.

Please consider making a tax-deductible gift of one or more of the items listed or a general donation at a level you feel comfortable. You may contribute online or mail a donation to:

Bhaktivedanta Academy
Attn: Wish List Fund
P.O. Box 937
Alachua, FL 32616

As a 501(c)3 organization, all contributions made to Bhaktivedanta Academy are tax deductible.

Thank you for your consideration and support of Bhaktivedanta Academy. I wish you and your family a happy holiday and a wonderful New Year.

Outreach Week Recap

Prior to the official start of Outreach Week we had the opportunity to welcome several guests who all shared how they give Krishna consciousness in various ways. Divyanga spoke about distributing Srila Prabhupada's books. Jaya Radhe and Manu brought their new festival tour bus and showed a video about the summer and winter tours. Visvambhar and Vrinda Devi from the Mayapuris spoke about their worldwide kirtan performances and sang and danced with the students. 

The 1st grade students in Audarya Bhavan visited with Mother Indrani (an elderly disciple of Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja) at her apartment in Alachua. They shared cookies, read from Krishna Book, performed kirtan, and got an opportunity to hear stories from a senior member of our community.

1st year students in Audarya Bhavan visit with Indrani at her home.

Groups of students from Audarya Bhavan (2nd and 3rd year) and Madhurya Bhavan accompanied Divyanga Prabhu and Mother Satyaki on store-to-store book distribution in Gainesville. They all returned with happy faces and stories of positive exchanges and appreciation with the people they met. All together, they distributed 82 prasadam cakes and over 150 books, including 48 Bhagavad Gitas.

The Bhaktivedanta Academy book distribution teams.The Bhaktivedanta Academy book distribution teams.

Thank you to everyone who contributed items during our recent Food and Necessities Collection Drive. The Ashraya representative who picked up the items was overwhelmed by how much was donated and thanked Bhaktivedanta Academy for helping a local family in our community that is very much in need at the moment.

Overall, this year's Outreach Week activities were a great way for our students to get a chance to foster a spirit of generosity and compassion for others by sharing Krishna consciousness in a safe and supportive way.

Thank you to everyone who inspired and supported our students during this year's Outreach Week.

Holiday Fundraising Results

Sunday marked the conclusion of Bhaktivedanta Academy's 2010 holiday fundraiser. We sold 420 tins of prasadam cookies and fudge and as a result collected over $4,500! We are still tabulating all expenses but expect to raise over $3,000. This was, by far, our most successful holiday sales event ever.

I want to thank our community of parents, teachers, students, and supporters who all helped make this possible. In particular, I would like to acknowledge our army of volunteers who baked, packaged, and sold on behalf of Bhaktivedanta Academy:

• Adi Gopi
• Ananga Manjari (Herrera)
• Ananga Manjari & Bhagavan (Bauer)
• Gopi Prema
• Haridas (De Pena)
• Jadurani
• Jagannath Kirtan
• Jahnava (Rico)
• Jatamamsi
• Jaya Govardhana
• Jvalamukhi
• Kamala
• Kanchambala, Hanuman & Vishnu
• Krishna Dhama, Gaura Shakti & Krisangi
• Ksina
• Lali Shyam
• Madhavi
• Madhuri
• Malati
• Narada
• Narottama (Esser)
• Nataka-candrika
• Nitai Lila
• Nrsimhananda
• Padmaksi
• Pishima & Ramacandra
• Radha Kunda
• Varshana
• Vrindavanesvari
• Yadurani, Param & Anasuya
• Yamuna & Raghunath

Special thanks goes to Padmaksi, who for the third year in a row spearheaded the production effort. We would have been completely lost without her.

I also want to thank the New Raman Reti temple administration for allowing us to use its new kitchen. Use of this great facility made our work immensely easier.

I wish you all a great holiday and am looking forward to a wonderful new year.

Baking Volunteers Urgently Needed

Thank you to everyone who came out to help bake and pack orders last week. We are on track to make this the most successful holiday prasadam sales fund-raiser ever but we urgently need 11 more volunteers to help Saturday, December 18th to get them all fulfilled. Please sign-up online or call the school office at 386-462-2886 to help.