About Shree Pashupatinath Foundation, USA (SPFU)
Shree Pashupatinath Foundation, USA aims to provide a common place for all Nepali Hindus, Buddhists and other nationalities of these faiths to congregate culturally, spiritually and religiously, to pray in accordance with their faith, to promote and preserve Nepali cultural heritage, to strengthen social and religious harmony and to practice and promote Nepali cultural values. The immediate goal of SPF is to build and maintain Hindu/Buddhist Cultural and Spiritual Center (a joint project of Pashupati Temple, Buddha Stupa, and Community Hall), around Los Angeles area.
Brief History:
Greater Los Angeles and surrounding area has a long history of Nepalese living here, may be over 3 decades. The population of Nepalese has increased in fast pace in this area for 5 years or more. As population grows, it is obvious to have a common place for Nepalese to get together and celebrate our cultural programs as they are many. In the past, many organizations have been formed to help Nepalese community in Southern California. These organizations also initiated a plan to have a common place for Nepalese Community but the idea didn’t manifest until last year. There had been many discussions, ideas sharing, planning about establishing a common meeting place for all Nepalese in Greater Los Angeles area. After many discussions, a public meeting was held on December 12, 2009, at the India Cafe restaurant in Cerritos, and the following community members were selected to serve on the board of directors:
Executive Board
Chairman : Bhakta Thapa
1st Vice-Chairman : Gokul Poudyal
Vice-Chairman : Shiva Kumar Adhikari
General Secretary: Prem Guragain
Treasurer : Punnakhar “Rishi” Dhakal
Members:
Akaraj Pandey
Basudev Ghimire
Dinendra Bhattarai
Bed Dawadi
Amita Poudyal
Bisoraj Oopadhyaya
Arjun Tripathi
Bakhan Thapa
Ganesh Bogati
Prakash Chandra Ghimire
Uma Karki Thapa
Mukunda Dhungana
Anil Pradhan
Dil Bahadur Shrestha
Madan Prasad Pathak
Rajendra Siwakoti
The aforesaid board was expanded and this expanded board had 33 members, and an Executive Committee was formed with the following officers:
Chairman : Bhakta Thapa
1st Vice-Chairman : Gokul Poudyal
Vice-Chairman : Shiva Kumar Adhikar
Vice-Chairman : Basudev Ghimire
General Secretary: Prem Guragain
Secretary : Rajendra Siwakoti
Treasurer : Punnakhar “Rishi” Dhakal
Joint Treasurer : Madan Prasad Pathak
Executive Members:
Dinendra Bhattarai,
Mukunda Dhungana,
Arjun Tripathi
Now, we are in the process of creating many sub-committees to take care of various responsibilities.
Advisory Board (2010-2014)
Binod Tiwari
Deepak Shimkhada
Jeet Joshee
Kanhaiya Kayastha
Shambhu Dhungana
Shyam Tulachan
Veda B. Joshi
Executive Committee (2010-2014)
Bhakta Thapa – President
Gokul Poudyal- 1st Vice-President
Shiva Kumar Adhikari- Vice-President
Basudev Ghimire- Vice-President
Prem Guragain – General Secretary
Rajendra Siwakoti – Secretary
Rishi Punnakhar Dhakal – Treasurer
Madan Pathak – Joint-Treasurer
Mukunda Dhungana – Member
Arjun Tripathi – Member
Dinendra Bhattarai – Member
Board of Directors (2010-2014)
Akaraj Pandey
Amita Poudyal
Anil Pradhan
Arjun Tripathi
Bakhan Thapa Magar
Basudev Ghimire
Bed Dawadi
Bhakta Thapa
Bisoraj Oopadhyaya
Deepak Pathak
Dil Shrestha
Dinendra Bhattarai
Ganesh Bogati
Gokul Poudyal
Hari Ram Pant
Ishwari Bhattarai
Kiran Upadhyaya
Lal Kaji Shrestha
Madan Pathak
Manita Basnet
Mukunda Dhungana
Netra Mainaly
Prabin Man Shrestha
Prakash C Ghimire
Prem Guragain
Rishi Punnakhar Dhakal
Rajendra Siwakoti
Shiva Kumar Adhikari
Suman Rana
Sunita K Choudhary
Sushma Pradhan
Tara Black Gurun
Uma Karki Thapa
Likewise, the board also appointed five members to the advisory board that consisted of Dr. Deepak Simkhada, Mr. Veda Bhakta Joshi, Dr. Shambhu Dhungana, Er. Kanhaiya Kayastha, Dr. Shyam Tulachan. After a while, board decided to add Dr. Binod Tiwari and Dr. Jeet Joshee to the advisory board.
As we moved forward, we registered a corporation in the office of the Secretary of State of the State of California on February 3, 2010 and we got tax exempt status {501 (C) (3)} on May 10,2010.