Preparing for the event

I wanted to share a couple of links regarding global fest preparation.

On Friday August 31st, we meet up to cook for global fest at the kitchen of St. Aquinas Church. We will start gathering at the kitchen at 5pm, so I would request to volunteers to show up as early as possible.

Link: Shortened Menu and Shopping list:
Link: Detail ingredient list for each item:
For those who missed the meeting last friday, this was our agenda.
Here is a checklist and some information for volunteers: [LINK]

Link to currents expenses: [LINK]
If you have spent any money, please write it here and turn in your receipts to either Tapan bhai or me.

Finally, the expected turnout for global fest is unpredictable at this point because weather for Saturday is not likely to be good. We will know more on Friday night and can decide to make less food if necessary. By Friday afternoon, we will also get some updates from organizers if they decide to change anything.

Volunteer for Charity

Dear BDSA members,

We have an opportunity to organize a fundraiser by having a food booth at the 18th annual Global Fest at Morton Community Center on Saturday, Sept 1st. This is also an excellent avenue to highlight the presence of our vibrant Bangladeshi community at West Lafayette. This event is organized by the city of West Lafayette, with an estimated attendance of 5000-8000 people.

Two years ago we had a similar food booth at Global Fest, we raised approx $850 dollars. The money was given to “Hridoya Bangladesh” for two year scholarship of two students (Shahmim Hossain and  Shahria Bashar Meem), they both completed their HSC with GPA 5. Check this link for more info about the students: [LINK]

This year we are trying to be more organized and efficient, so that we can raise an even larger amount of money for education of underprivileged students. We need lots of volunteers for cooking on Friday, August 31st (5-11pm) and Saturday, Sept 1st. We also need a few volunteers to be present at the food booth on Sept 1st.  Please sign up here [LINK] before our meeting on Friday, August 24th.

We have reserved the kitchen at St. Thomas Aquinas Church (it's opposite stewart center) for cooking, as all food have to be cooked at a health department approved kitchen. If you are unable to come to the kitchen for cooking, then we might be able to make an exception for you, please contact me at reazur AT gmail dot com or cell: 609 240 9307. 

As for menu, we are planning to go with the following menu consisting of snack items based on our previous experience. http://fundraiserforbangladesh.blogspot.com/2012/08/menu-submitted-to-parks-recreation.html

We will schedule a meeting on Friday, August 24th, so that we can plan and organize ourselves for the event. This meeting is mandatory for all volunteers. I will send an email about his as soon as the room reservation is confirmed.

To summarize:

1. Please sign up to volunteer before 24th: [LINK]

2. If cannot come to the church for cooking, we might be able to make an exception for a few people to cook from home

3. Plan on attending the meeting on Friday August 24th, PVCC room 133 @ 7pm

I believe that charity is one of the best ways of celebrating the spirit of Ramadan, so the timing of the event could not be any better for our community. We are looking forward to your enthusiastic participation.

If you have any questions, please contact me at reazur@gmail.com or cell: 609-240-9307. All information from our effort in 2010 and our current effort for 2012 can be found at this blog: http://fundraiserforbangladesh.blogspot.com/

-Reazur Rahman

On behalf of BDSA

Update: the meeting is scheduled on Friday August 24th in PVCC room 133 @ 7pm.

Menu submitted to Parks & Recreation office

This is the menu we submitted for Global Fest 2012 [LINK]

Bangladesh Student Association – (100% of proceeds donated for education of underprivileged students)
Shingara/Samosa   $1.50
Bengali Potato Croquette   $1.50
Pakora (Cauliflower/Potatoes)   $1
Piaju (Lentil Nuggets)   $1
Chola (Curried Black Chickpeas)    $2
Chotpoti (Curried Chickpea Salad)   $2
Bangladeshi Assorted Sweets       $3
Mango Lassi/Mango Borhani (spicy)   $2
Spiced Chai/ Spiced Ice Tea   $1

Letter to the Pastor

Following is the letter that I sent to the pastor at St. Aquinas to request a fee wavier for use of their kitchen. I figured that this could be useful in future.

http://tinyurl.com/lettertopastor