Page 128 - Shri Venkateswara Book

saved the Berkeley temple from foreclosure and
dissolution and rebuilt the temple and community to
attract new American devotees from 1987 to 1991. In
1991 he moved again to rejuvenate the Seattle temple.
He was invited by temples in Vancouver, Phoenix and
Hawaii to help resolve their financial and administrative
difficulties which he did till 2016.

With a lot of zeal, he organized the first Anandamela
Festival of India 2008 in Redmond WA. It went on to
become the largest festival of Indian culture in the
Pacific Northwest attracting over 20,000 people. The
festival celebrated its 14th anniversary in July 2022. He
has inaugurated many such festivals - Holi Color Festival
March 2018 to 2022; Vegetarian Vegan Raw Food
Festival 2019 to 2022; Jagannath Rathayatra Festival
2001 to 2022; Namaste India Festival 2019 to 2022;
Diwali Lights of India Festival 2016 to 2022.

Wanting to do a bit for the future generation, he
channelized his energies to open a daycare centre for
children in 2009. Same year, he was instrumental in the
opening of a temple in Portland/Hillsdale, Oregon.

Never resting on his achievements, he opened a fulltime
accredited school in Seattle from pre-school to sixth
grade. The school began in 2010. In 2013 the school
moved from the temple to newly purchased school
building in Issaquah, WA. By 2018, thanks to his efforts,
a vibrant community of devotees had come alive in
Seattle with more than 130 initiated devotees and over
five hundred families.

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Venkateshwara Book.indd 127 28/04/2024 05:13:57