Chairperson’s Message

Industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie once called teamwork “the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results”. I am going dedicate my Chairperson’s Corner over the next couple of months to showcase some of our wonderful volunteer groups. These volunteers have shown exemplary teamwork and has helped us manage our temple operations over the years.

Never was that concept better exemplified than over the last few weeks, when temple volunteers banded together to pull off a Herculean feat: cutting down 12 dead trees, beautifying our temple garden and landscape, and starting a community vegetable garden. This was done under the direction of two of our dynamic trustees; Raji Ramesh and Murali Elambilan, who is also our treasurer.

This effort was unprecedented – we unfortunately have neglected some routine maintenance of the temple grounds, and the service these volunteers have performed to correct this oversight should not go unnoticed! We did not have a Garden Committee before to orchestrate this clean-up; SSVT devotees, some meeting each other for the first time, teamed up in perhaps the most labor intensive, manual effort we have undertaken as volunteers. Some of our Priests also pitched in to help with this effort – they truly went above and beyond their priestly duties to help. I also want to single-out Dr. Tripuraneni Rao, our Governance Board President, for his devotion and help every weekend to this effort.

In addition to the manual labor, many devotees have donated plants, trees, and landscape material to help make our temple grounds presentable. I am especially thankful to Dr. Ajay Reddy, and our local chapter of the Boys Scouts of America for helping set up an excellent outdoor dining area under the canopy of the trees. Now that the temple is fully open, devotees should visit the temple and see for themselves the work that has gone to beautify the outdoors. I am also inviting volunteers who normally work inside to come out and work outdoors. If you are interested, please contact Raji or Murali by sending them an e-mail at Rajiiram98@gmail.com or Melambilan@gmail.com.

Apart from this, we have many other committees made up of volunteers who work tirelessly to support the functioning of the temple. Whatever your interest may be, we have a committee that could use your help starting with Kitchen Committee, Public Relations committee, and Flowers committee to name a few. This is your temple and while many of you support us by donating financial resources, you can also provide sweat equity to help with the operation of the temple.

On June 30, we welcomed members of the Prince George’s County Police Department to our temple. As part of public outreach, they visited our temple to see how things are going and if there are any public safety concerns. I sincerely thank our local law enforcement partners for their continued support in keeping our community safe.

If at any time, I can be of assistance, please feel free to contact me via email at chairperson@ssvt.org or by phone at (919) 381-7606.

Thank you!

Krishna Bappanad
Chairperson, Board of Trustees