Rajeshwar Prasad, a veteran community leader and pioneer and founder president of The National Indo-American Association for Senior Citizens (NIAASC) was elected President of SHANTINIKETAN Shaniniketan1 (SN1) Community in Tavares, Florida during elections held on January 17, 2020.
“January 2020 has been hectic for the Shaniniketan1 (SN1) Community in Tavares, Florida,” Prasad said. “Theannual election of the Board of Directors of Shantinuketan1 which has 54 condos was completed.”
This is an annual event to elect five Board members. Election was conducted by and under the supervision of Sentry Management, (SM), a well known entity which conducts such tasks nation – wide. SM sought nominations for the five positions on the Board: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Director.
In all, there were eight nominations for the five positions: The nominees were Geeta Chandran, Hemendra Desai, Indu Desai, Shanti Kalathia, Indu Kumar, Abnash Narula, Rajeshwar Prasad, and Jitendra Sanghvi. SM selected an Election Committee of three residents, Krishna Kumaran, Rana Gupta and Suman Rane. to undertake the task of counting ballots and announcing the top five as members of the new 2020 Board at the General Body Meeting.
As per SN1’s Constitution and Bylaws, the newly elected Board elects the officers immediately following the General Body meeting. There were about 30 residents present at the Board meeting.
Final results were as follows: President: Rajeshwar Prasad; Vice President: Shanti Kalathia; Treasurer: Hemendra Desai; Secretary: Geeta Chandran; and Director: Abnash Narula.
Prasad, in his brief comments, underscored that all Board meetings will be open to residents, except for sensitive issues and personnel matters, when it will go into executive session. He said he would make efforts to develop collaborative relations with Shantiniketan 2 which is only about a mile away, with 120 condos.
He then asked the residents present to speak on issues and concerns they have regarding Shantiniketan1 and other matters. The President emphasized that the purpose of seeking their comments was to help the Board form committees to address the issues and other pertinent concerns faced by residents. The Board would work to form such committees in the next two weeks or so. He also announced that there would be a minimum of four Board meetings in the year, and the next meeting will be in April 2020; date and time will be announced well ahead of time.
ShantiNiketan (SN), a retirement community based in Tavares, Florida, about an hour Northwest drive from Orlando. This is an age-restricted community where at least one of the residents should be above 55 years of age. Guest of any age can visit and stay with the residents. Children below the age of 18 can stay only for a maximum of 30 days in a year. Phases one and two of SN are operational with 174 condos – 54 in phase one and 120 in phase 2. The two phases are within a mile on the same boulevard. The gated complex with full security was initiated around 2011 though the concept of developing such a community was floated by Iggy Ignatius, Founder & Chairman, ShantiNiketan Retirement Communities, in 2004. The complexes are closer to shopping area, hospital, YMCA, and about an hour drive to Disney World, and it is about 45 miles from the Orlando International airport.
This is the first retirement community where Indian Americans can spend their golden years among the peers; get rid of loneliness; have clear conscience not to burden their children; and live free of daily chores around the house and if desired to avoid cooking and maintaining kitchen décor. It does not mean that you have no role in SN! Besides the full-time staff, such as cook, landscaper, manager etc. the SN depends heavily on volunteers to keep the residents involved.