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CHARTER OF the N.P.A.A. NP Alumni Assoc., Inc. (NPAA) Hello fellow NP Alumni - Sursum Corda! The following paragraph is a letter of introduction sent by
Fr. Van, Rector of North Point. Dear Alumni of the
North American Chapter, “Just about 14 months ago I visited many of you to talk about the
renewal and expansion development program that we were planning on and contained
in our NORTH POINT VISION 2000+. Many of you mentioned that you would be very
happy to help out since you acknowledged the benefits you had gained yourselves
from studying in this Home in the Mountains. We have established a committee
that would work at the formation of a registered alumni association with power
eventually to send out income tax exempt receipts for donations given. I want to
commend the hard and steady work done by this executive to bring this about, a
task that entailed a lot of meticulous research and much correspondence to
complete the task. Within the space of a few more months they will even be
empowered to issue these receipts. Some of you have already shown that your
promises have led to generous action and whatever you have pledged was not
forgotten about amidst your other daily cares and concerns. For this, too, North
Point has been very grateful. However, the vast majority have not yet responded
to my personal plea so we have been reluctant to start any major building
program until we can be assured of finishing it, or at least one segment of it.
I do understand that other preoccupations and commitments have priority but it
is my sincere hope that all of you will cooperate and help us begin to realize
what we consider to be very important if North Point is to continue to provide
more modern amenities and education relevant for our students of tomorrow. We
hope all of you share our great desire to keep North Point abreast with the
challenges that modern times presents to educational institutions of such long
standing. Let us hear from you. Please support the North American Alumni
executives` determined effort to keep North Point in the vanguard of modern
education. We cannot do it alone but together we will achieve all our goals.” Regards, Before proceeding, I would like to pay tribute to some of
the alumni whom we lost this past year. Many of you will remember Mr. Jack Vaz
as a very wonderful teacher. He passed away last October in Goa after suffering
several heart attacks. Nearer to home, we lost Jupiter Yambem in the horrific
attack on the World Trade Center where he worked as a manager
in the Windows of the World
restaurant. He was very much loved by many as evidenced by the wonderful turnout
at his memorial service on the bank of the Hudson river. At the end of December
we received the sad news that Tieh-Min Chen had lost his long battle with
cancer. One of his last wishes was for a scholarship fund to be set up in his
name at his beloved North Point. His family and friends have already raised a
substantial amount to achieve this goal. Our sincere condolences to all their
families – they will be missed. In 2001 the NPAA got off to a slow start but has been
able to make significant progress. Operating by word of mouth we have recruited
approximately 25 members, registered our organization in the state of
Massachusetts, established by-laws, and raised over US$40,000 in donations for
our Alma Mater. We also organized several informal get-togethers throughout
North America. Not a bad start. I would like to personally thank all the alumni
who have contributed and especially those officers and alumni who have donated
so much time and effort to bring us to this point. Recently we sent out a brief
email message to some of the NP alumni in North America informing you of the
formation of our association and inviting all of you to become members. An
attached Bio Form was also sent requesting biographical information, mainly for
the purpose of establishing alternate contact options. If you have not already
completed and submitted this form, please use and submit the form included with
this letter, as soon as possible, for us to update our records. Currently, the
organization of our association consists of volunteers, serving as officers at
both the national and regional levels, and whose names are included at the end
of this document. We hope that the use of both regional and national groupings
will help to promote the success of our endeavors and facilitate communication
amongst the NP alumni. Our first goal is to make every effort to reach all
alumni living in North America. As part of this endeavor, we developed the Bio
Form mentioned earlier. One purpose of the form is to have multiple means of
keeping in touch as all too often email addresses and cell phone numbers change
unexpectedly. Another purpose is to try and get North Point or the Darjeeling
NPAA to set up a central worldwide database of NP alumni. This effort will only
be successful if we request updates
on a regularly scheduled basis such as once a year. All alumni are urged to pass
along a copy of the Bio Form to any other alumni they may know and encourage
them to join our organization. Efforts will also be made to garner North
American alumni from the many alumni lists floating around the world. It is hoped that most, if not all, of the alumni we encounter will be persuaded to join our association. Those not willing to join, for whatever reason, will still be invited to participate in most of our activities but will be ineligible to vote for officers or on issues brought up by the general membership – as stipulated in our by-laws. Members in good standing will be considered to be those who have paid their dues during the past calendar year. All alumni will be encouraged to join in our fundraising efforts for the renewal of our Alma Mater and other causes. At this time we have established an annual membership fee of US$25. Any additional contributions to the development of the NPAA will be greatly appreciated. We feel that this nominal amount will cover our start up costs as well as our annual administrative fees and expenses. All monies in excess of these needs will be used to fund other NPAA objectives such as regional or national meetings, an NPAA Scholarship Fund, in addition to any other purpose voted on by the membership. The primary purpose of forming our chapter of the NPAA is to provide a forum in which we can rekindle a spirit of NP brotherhood and, by re-establishing our links with the old school, contribute to its growth and reputation in a meaningful way. To this end we will attempt to organize periodic business meetings and social gatherings on both national and regional levels. It was a pleasant surprise to find out recently that our long awaited web-site WWW.NPALUMNI.ORG is now up and running. Our grateful thanks to Ashok Sadhwani for his hard work, dedication and generosity. All alumni are urged to register themselves on the web-site and participate in its development. Our secondary purpose is to respond to the urgent appeal of our Alma Mater for donations to rebuild the school infrastructure and establish scholarships to help the needy. Over the last couple of years, Fr. Van and the Darjeeling NPAA have formulated plans to renovate and expand the school buildings to meet current and future needs. These plans are readily available to anyone by visiting the school web-site WWW.SURSUMCORDA.ORG under the caption ‘into the future’ . The NPAA has done an excellent job with their web-site and all alumni are encouraged to visit it and familiarize themselves with the plans of North Point Vision 2000+ . The bottom line is that the school needs to raise an estimated US$650,000 plus additional funds for ‘supplementary’ projects for which figures are not yet available. All alumni are urged to support
our Alma Mater in this great effort. North Point Vision 2000+ is a multi-phase,
multi-year program initially requiring a fairly large outlay to get construction
started. Our proposal consists of two steps. The first is aimed at meeting the
startup requirements of the plan and the second, to solicit annual pledges
towards the remaining phases of the project and towards a NPAA scholarship fund.
An annual pledge is extremely important as it will allow North Point to make
some long range plans based on reasonable expectations of future contributions.
The pledge will have two donations listed on it. One for the Renewal Fund and
the other for a NPAA Scholarship Fund. Alumni may also make contributions to any
other program of their choosing through the NPAA. Remittances of the pledge
funds will be at the convenience of each individual member and should be made
out to “Jesuit Mission Bureau” whose address is included in this letter.
This may consist of monthly or annual payments, either via check or the use of
PAYPAL.COM (a free internet service). We regret that at this time we are unable
to accept credit card payments as the processing costs are too high. Once the
Renewal Fund goals have been met, this specific pledge will be phased out. Some other goals that we have formulated to date are the
following: · Enable -networking- among our members for various purposes such as finding long lost schoolmates, job seeking, advice on investing, taxes, business ventures, etc. · Offer additional help to the school for such things as class trips, faculty self improvement, visiting teachers, student exchange programs, etc. ·
Publish an NPAA – AO (Among Ourselves). For the time being, we
may be able to obtain a web page on
the Sursum Corda web-site. We are also exploring
alternative methods of raising funds for the Renewal Project including an
appeal to various Foundations for grants… Towards this end, we are in
the process of obtaining materials suitable for putting together presentations. Until we receive our non-profit status accreditation (expected around mid-2002), the transmittal of dues and donations should be done as shown below: Annual NPAA, Inc. Dues (US$25 – more appreciated) Donations to NP Renewal Fund and NPAA Scholarship Fund Sincerely, Officers: Board
Members: Regional
Administrators: |
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Last Updated:
Friday, June 17, 2011
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