Dr Dhun Noria who chairs the Zoroastrian Society of Ontario’s Building Capital Campaign Committee (BCCC) received the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America’s (FEZANA) Excellence in Business/Professions award at the North American Congress in San Jose in December 2004. "This is the second award that Dr Noria has received in one calendar year, the first being Business Woman of the Year Award presented to her by the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce in Toronto in June 2004,” states ZSO president Sam Vesuna in the society’s newsletter (February 2005).
"The awareness created by the BCCC has resulted in generous donations from our non-Zoroastrian friends,” writes Noria in her update on the funds collection drive aimed at rebuilding the Zoroastrian center in its current location. The ZSO report for the year ended March 31, 2004 had noted, "Our present building is too small, inconvenient and costly to maintain. Our growing number is compelling us to have our religious and community events in outside rented locations.”
With $ 1.3 million in the kitty and another $ 900,000 required to reach the goal of $ 2.2 million needed for the project as per Noria’s January 30, 2005 update, the BCCC requested 300 families to donate $ 3,000 each "to get us to the finishing line.” The newsletter of the BCCC records, "The response was phenomenal and within a few minutes we had 25 families pledge $ 3,000 each and one anonymous donor gave $ 25,000 bringing in a grand total of $ 100,000 for year 2005.”
Happily, the entrie funds raised at the Mehregan Jashan Gala held by the Iranian community on October 1, 2004 at Le Parc Hotel where Ontario finance minister Greg Sorbara and other members of the provincial parliament were present, had been contributed to the ZSO building fund, states Noria. The 2005 Golf Day on June 24, is an upcoming fund raiser.
Zoroastrian enterprise is finding a new point of sale — the Mehraban Guiv Darbe Mehr. The concept bears an interesting possibility for better use of community space to the advantage of the community as a whole. By an order of the ZSO executive committee, any current member of the Society can request for the use of the premises for the sale of their products and services. The committee requires prior information on the nature of the product on offer which must meet all the rules, regulations and laws of Canada, Ontario and the city of Toronto, along with some generic pricing, notes the entry in the ZSO newsletter of November 2004.
The areas on offer are the main hall and the seniors’ lounge. If the sale is planned to coincide with a function at the Darbe Mehr, the committee reserves the right to designate the space to be used. No sales will be permitted during the muktads. Some conditions with which the entrepreneur must abide include the responsibility for tidying up and putting away the tables and chairs. He/she is barred from cooking in the kitchen though warming up and distribution of snacks is allowed. While Zoroastrians and non-Zoroastrians may attend the sale, there is one bar on advertising: No flyers in the neighborhood.
Zoroastrian elan in the Toronto area receive a fillip with the Zoroastrian Cricket Club (ZCC) winning the 2004 Etobicoke Cricket District League 3rd Division by defeating the United Hunters Cricket Club in the semi finals and Jai Jalaram cricket Club in the finals, notes the ZSO newsletter. Though the semi-finals win was partly because the United Hunters were disqualified for using an ineligible player, the finals had Jai Jalaram dismissed for only 114 runs with some audacious bowling by Merwan Dubash (3 wickets, 17 runs), Dinyar Medhora (3 for 19) and Tauzer Dalal (2 for 31) supported admirably by the fielders in tough conditions, as notes the report. ZCC put up the winning total with seven wickets to spare! 2005 will be a bigger test as they will be promoted to the second division to play stronger teams.
"A proud signatory to the Toronto Peace Garden,” the ZSO participated in its 20th anniversary on September 19, 2004, notes the Society’s October newsletter. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau had turned the sod and Queen Elizabeth II had dedicated the garden. The flame in the multi-faith memorial had been lit in 1984 by Pope John Paul II from an ember carried from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Japan which commemorates the fire that burned in Hiroshima from the explosion of the first atomic bomb — a reminder of the need for tolerance and mutual respect in an interdependent world. The Garden celebrates the diversity of cultures that exist in Toronto and on the occasion the ZSO offered an information table for those interested in learning about the Zoroastrian faith. As 15 representatives of all the major world religions were invited to say a prayer, Ervad Yezdi Antia of the ZSO rendered Yasna 60, para five. He was accompanied by seven-year-old Sherazade Mahveer Javat who placed a flower in the symbolic bouquet, informs the newsletter. After the prayers the children, who had accompanied the adults in the prayer service, each took their turn in planting a tree to memorialize the occasion. Officialdom was represented by the mayor and the Toronto chief of police as well as the finance minister of Ontario province.