Mettilotsava, VMS Retreat, Pittsburgh

February 18, 2005

Dear All,

For the last 3 years, we have been gathering in Pittsburgh area for the

annual Vishwa Madhava Sangha (VMS) Retreat and Mettilotsava in Sri

Venkateshwara Temple during the Memorial Day weekend (end of May). The

feed-back from the participants every year had been great and there were

always ideas and suggestions for improvement. Usually around this time

of the year, the planning and discussion process starts in earnest.

Accordingly, in the preliminary informal discussions in our Allentown

group, the following issues came up for discussions:

1. End of May is still cold, weather can be unpredictable regarding the

lows in the nights and early mornings, especially stay in cabins in

State Park (last year was Laurel Hill State Park) without heating not

comfortable.

2. For upper class children in school, end of May is tough due to final

exams in June.

3. The Camp " experience " was not fully realized last year due to want of

time as well as due to not all participants staying in one location

(some stayed in nearby hotels).

4. Availability of hot water in the camp site for bathing was an issue

last year.

Considering all the above valid suggestions, either July 4 weekend or

Labor Day weekend in early Sep is a better choice than Memorial Day

weekend in May for our annual gathering. The Labor Day weekend is better

since all visiting India will be back in the US for start of the school

for children and the weather is also warm.

Accordingly, it is proposed to have our annual gathering during Labor

Day weekend in early Sep from this year, instead of Memorial Day weekend

in May. Also it is proposed to have our stay and gathering in Racoon

Creek State Park, about 35 miles (as per driving directions) from

Sri Venkateshwara Temple. The Camp 2 in this State Park is available to

us (since we are non-profit organization) with kitchen, dining hall,

cabins, play area etc similar to Laurel Hill State Park with one

important exception that electrically heated hot water is available in

the bathing shower stalls in the bath rooms and kitchen in the Camp 2 in

Racoon Creek. A deposit will be paid to this State Park next week for

reserving our use of Camp 2 during Labor Day weekend (Sep 2-5). Please

visit the site

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/raccooncreek.aspx for info

on Racoon Creek State Park. Camp 2 is an organized group cabin camp.

We will begin planing well ahead of time for our annual Retreat to be a

good " camping and fun " experience this year as well as spiritually

satisfying as in the prior years. Suggestions, your enthusiastic

support, participation and help are most welcome.

Vande vandyam sadaanandam Vasudevam niranjanam

Namaskaragalu

Bindu

March 1, 2005

Dear All,

Our application and non-refundable deposit were accepted by the

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Park Permit issued by the

Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), Bureau of State

Parks was received today for holding our Vishva Madhva Sangha (VMS)

annual retreat in Camp-2 in Raccoon Creek State Park during Sep 2-5

(Friday afternoon-Monday noon,the Labor Day weekend).

Hare Srinivasa

Namaskaragalu

Bindu

Madhavan,G V. Bindu

Friday, February 18, 2005 10:52 AM

Vishwamadhvasangha ( ); Nagaraj Kotekal

(NKotekal); Sridhar Padaki (padaki); GV

Srinivasan(office) (SrinivGV); Badarinarayan Herur

(baddinon); Sheela Padaki (sheelapadaki2003);

Veena Raghav (v_raghav); Sripadaraj (sreepadlaw)