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The first meeting of the SEBS-North America executive committee was held on Saturday, July 15th at 4:15 pm EST.

The following members were present:

President: Bhupendra Pant (550B)
Vice President: Roshan Shrestha (002B)
General Secretary: Yubraj Acharya (063B)
Treasurer: Laxman Pandey (328B)
Joint Secretary: Ekta Ghimire (402C) (absent)
Immediate Past President: Sagar Onta (477B)
Executive Member : Rahul Rauniyar (542B)
Executive Member : Rupendra Pant (766B)
Executive Member : Hari Sharma (353C)
SEBSonline Webmaster: Rajan Nepal (418B)

The following issues were discussed:

• Rupendra summarized the SEBS-NA activties at the ANA convention in Newark. He commented that although many SEBSers attended the ANA events, some were not enthusiastic about SEBS-NA official events, and that more work needed to be done to make SEBS-NA an attractive platform for SEBS members. It was also suggested that SEBS-NA should arrange for pins or T-shirts to distinguish SEBS-NA members/volunteers and to publicize the presence of SEBS-NA. Hari suggested that SEBS-NA should re-start selling SEBS merchandise on the sebsonline.org. Rupendra and Hari to follow up.

• Rahul presented his idea on network projects that would also potentially be used for fundraising. It was discussed that organizing soccer, suggested by Sagar, in major cities might be a good networking strategy. Organizing bowling and momo parties were suggested as other options. Rahul to follow up.

• Rahul also proposed to promote and publicize the Emergency Assistance Fund and to set up another fund of much bigger scale to support SEBSers in need. Hari suggested that further relaxations were needed in the EAF application requirements and that some clauses needed to be clarified. Ekta and Rupendra to follow up.

• Yubraj informed the meeting that the $2018 raised for the Andolan victims had been sent to SEBS General Secretary Prashant Subba and that the Alliance for Human Rights and Democracy in Nepal, NY, had agreed to send $2,000 raised by Samudaya.org and the Alliance to SEBS-NA. He informed the team that the money would be sent to Nepal as soon as it was received. The committee thanked Bal Joshi of Thamel.com for transferring the initial amount without any transaction fee. Yubraj to follow up.

• Yubraj also updated the meeting about the meeting with Chris, an American citizen who wants to build a school in Barabise. He informed the team that whether to go ahead with the project would largely be contingent on SEBS’ decision and that discussion had already been initiated with the NSP chairperson regarding this. Yubraj to follow up.

• Yubraj proposed either forming an independent technology team or empowering the existing web team under Rajan for better functioning of the SEBS website. Rajan suggested that a website with URL sebsna.sebsonline.org was almost complete, which SEBS-NA could use for most of its online administration. Ekta suggested through email that some activities of SEBS-NA, including the EAF, needed to be publicized better in the website. Bhupendra and Ekta to follow up.

• Sagar at the end advised the newly elected team to focus on networking. He added that if we can succeed in bringing together all SEBSers in North America, organizing new programs and raising money for BNKS, SEBS and specific projects would not be a problem. He also suggested that the monthly giving program should be given a new vigor.

The following proposals were passed:

1. Proposed by Bhupendra that the broad objectives of this term will be networking, initiating new programs and raising funds (with an emphasis on networking). This team will spend the first 3 months “putting the house in order”, which will include updating each other on ongoing activities of SEBS/SEBS-NA, agreeing on financial guidelines, setting up points of contacts at BNKS, SEBS, and FOBS, and deciding on project ideas and individual responsibilities of the team members for next year.

2. Proposed by Laxman that SEBS-NA will publish its financial records on a quarterly basis, with the first set of financial documents to be published on Aug 1, 2006.

3. Proposed by Roshan that his upcoming visit to Nepal will be focused on meeting up with BNKS teachers, representatives of various clubs (at BNKS), and SEBS and NSP officials to discuss ways to consolidate existing joint programs, to find new avenues for NSP-NA to work together with NSP, and to seek feedback on SEBS-NA. Roshan will also discuss with NSP, SEBS and BNKS ways to facilitate communication among each other going forward.

4. Proposed by Ekta through email that she will start reaching out to undergraduate members in the U.S. to seek feedback on SEBS-NA, SEBS website and BNKS and to inform the members about existing programs of SEBS-NA.

5. Proposed by Yubraj that SEBS-NA will bring out a quarterly newsletter, hopefully jointly with SEBS. The first issue will come out on August 15, 2006.

6. Proposed by Yubraj that a few interested “interns” will be assigned to Rajan to help him with the website-related work and to learn the technical aspects of the website.

The meeting concluded at 5:45 pm EST. Time, venue and 'menu' of the next meeting will be posted in the general forum soon.