Date: Sunday, March 12, 2000 12:45 AM

The Member(s)
Bengali Cultural Society

Dear Friend(s):

On behalf of your Executive Committee (EC), I am very happy and proud to inform you that IRS has granted our BCS tax-exempt status under code 501(c) 3.

We had begun this difficult process, as you may recall, about a year ago, and as informed earlier, we received the Certificate of Incorporation from the state of Ohio in October, last year. As advised by our legal counsel, the next step was to submit the application to IRS, that was filed on December 17, 1999. The letter of approval, received from IRS yesterday (March 11, 2000), brings this long process to a happy and successful conclusion. I am sure that we all feel very happy about this accomplishment. All members of our Society deserve credit and congratulations for this important achievement. Thank you all for your active support, good will, encouragement and advise.

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all the members (and their spouses) of last year's EC for their hard work and kind support that have made this success possible. Next I would like to thank the members of the Advisory Committee that had guided us in writing a new constitution (By Laws) for BCS. Our heartfelt and special thanks go to Gopalda (Dr. Gopal B. Saha). As a member of the Advisory Committee, he had spent countless hours in first, writing a new constitution and then making many changes to it over several months, as advised by the committee and the general body. We would also like to thank the Trustees, who did a commendable job in keeping us properly focussed.

As we all know, privilege and responsibility go hand in hand. This year's EC will establish policies and procedures in the areas of record keeping, audits and reporting, as required by IRS.
We are very fortunate to have such a talented group of members in the EC. We are confident that these members will take the new challenges in good stride and will do what ever is necessary for the progress and well being of our Society. So let us thank and congratulate this year's EC in advance. Dear friends, we all should feel proud to see so many good accomplishments and new possibilities happening within our Society:

We are proceeding full speed in raising money for the 'BCS Scholarship Fund'; response has been very positive.
Our 'Web Page Committee' is working hard; and in few weeks, we all will see the wonderful BCS Web Page.
Saubhik, our Cultural Secretary is trying to form a 'BCS Theater Group'; kindly help him and your Society by joining the team.
Many members, specially the ladies are exploring new Protimas one more time; kindly listen to them.
All these have been made possible through your active participation and generous support; be kind, please continue your support for our Society. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Ajit Patra
(President)