Date: September 30th 2005

From: Srinivasan Kalyanaraman <kalyan97@gmail.com>; Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2005

DFW HINDU TEMPLE SOCIETY
EKTA MANDIR
1605 N. Britan Rd., Irving, TX 75061
www.dfwhindutemple.org 972-445-3111

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Contact: Sashi Kejriwal

972-333-5705

Hindu Temple offers Temple premises for Hurricane Rita Evacuees

Irving, Texas September 24, 2005 - The Hindu Temple in Irving Texas,
opened its doors for Hurricane Rita evacuees Thursday night. Many agencies
like Red Cross, Texas 211, Texas Department of Public Safety were informed
about availability of its premises for use as shelter.

When emails went out to Temple devotees, offers of supplies and help
poured in, clogging the phone lines. Volunteers were busy redirecting calls
about offers of help to their personal cell phones, so that the main lines
could be left open for calls from evacuees and agencies calling to get latest
capacity information.

"It was heartwarming to see two kids jumping up and down in joy, just
because they could have a warm shower after being cramped in an ac-less
pickup for 24 hours", said one of the volunteers.

Doctors from the Hindu community were on call, and provided valuable
assistance to evacuees who were pregnant, had stomach aches, flu-like
symptoms, etc.

Calls poured in from agencies as far out as California, trying to
locate shelter for evacuees still on the road. Calls from Security company
employees, Corporations, Government agencies, other charities trying to
place evacuees was indicative of the enormous effort by the whole
community. Updated lists of shelters with available space were all over the
internet, and thanks to agencies maintaining those lists, it was
rather smooth to
find shelters for evacuees that reached a full shelter.

In all, about 200 people found shelter at the Hindu Temple. When asked
regarding his views about helping those in need, R.K.Panditi, a
volunteer, said "The Gita has said that this kind of charity, with no
expectation
in return, is the best kind". Gita is one of the main holy books of
Hinduism.

Dr. Jagannath Rao of the Hindu temple said "It was very encouraging to
see so many devotees that showed up to help. Some volunteers had to be
turned away." Manoj Parikh, President of the Temple said "Hindu temple is
open for shelter to all Americans, and we are happy to see evacuees from all
walks of life being served". For further information contact: Sashi Kejriwal
972-333-5705.


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