"It gives us great pleasure to announce that the Zoroastrian Association of Metropolitan Chicago (ZAMC) has received our very first Endowment donation of $ 50,000 (Rs 37,08,950)… the largest since the initial donation from Arbab Rustam Guiv for the construction of the Darbe-Mehr,” noted the Association’s October 2021 newsletter.
Donated by Minoo and Zarin Press to perpetuate the loving memory of Minoo’s beloved mother Putla (pictured), it will be named Putla Dara Press Endowment Fund. The earnings from this Endowment will be divided annually between a scholarship in memory of Putla and the ZAMC General Fund, the proceeds of which will be used towards the maintenance of their Darbe-Mehr. "We hope that their selfless act of setting up this Endowment Fund will motivate others in our community, young and old, to think and plan for their own endowment funds for various causes of their choice to perpetuate fond memories of their beloved ones,” added the newsletter.
"This Endowment, as structured, could well serve as an example to be emulated by others in our North American community,” stated long-time Chicago residents Roshan and Rohinton Rivetna, in response to queries sent by Parsiana. Describing the generous couple as "stalwarts of the Zoroastrian community in Chicago who have served selflessly since the 1970s,” the Rivetnas appreciated that these "dedicated members of ZAMC are always ready to enlist and help whenever needed. Minoo has served on the ZAMC board as treasurer and even after his term was up, continues to serve in various ways: he audits ZAMC funds and finances; and also very diligently keeps meticulous records of donations received for the current ZAMC Ava project (for bringing city water and sewerage to the Darbe-Mehr); he also heads our ZAMC Library Committee, very ably keeping the library catalog up-to-date, etc.”
This donation is considered "a tribute to a mother who raised four wonderful children — Aban (residing in Bombay), Minoo (in Chicago), Rusi (in New Jersey) and Cyrus (in Chicago) — single-handedly, having lost her husband, Dara, in 1954 when Minoo was only five years old. Minoo, having been raised in a humble household, knows well the value of philanthropy and service.”
Although reluctant to speak to Parsiana about the "very modest donation,” Minoo acknowledged that his "entire bachelor’s degree was possible because of donations from Parsi charity trusts.” A retired mechanical engineer, Minoo yet recalls his mother stitching sudrehs and leghas for customers on a foot pedal sewing machine until she passed away in 1988 at the age of 67 following heart trouble.
"Our religion has an embedded concept of Ganj-e-Dadar (Treasury of Dadar Ahura Mazda) teaching us that whatever we possess, be it wealth, knowledge, skills, etc, they all belong to Ganj-e-Dadar. We are endowed with these possessions in order to share them with others. We need to judiciously manage this Treasury of God entrusted to us,” reminded the newsletter.
Having partnered with AmazonSmile two years ago, ZAMC regularly urges members to "do all your future Amazon shopping at https://smile.amazon.com.” Once ZAMC is enlisted as "your AmazonSmile recipient…it will remember your selection and automatically donate 0.5% of the amount of each item you purchase toward ZAMC.” "It takes a concerted effort to remind people to go to smile.amazon.com instead of amazon.com, and a lot of people buy from their phones instead of the website which makes it even trickier,” ZAMC treasurer Tushad Driver responded to queries from Parsiana. As he further clarified, "The proceeds aren’t that great, we average about $100 (Rs 7,400) a year.”
Presently the Association directory is in its final stages of publication, according to an update from the ZAMC board, giving credit to Dilshad Antia for her efforts in coordinating the inputs from all members. While presenting the highlights of some of the past few board meetings, the newsletter notified, "the ZAMC board meets every second Sunday of each month. The board meetings are open to all members interested in attending them.”