Media Release
Melbourne, Oct 26: The aura of the gala Monthi Fest celebrations that was celebrated with traditional fervour and gaiety under the banner of the Melbourne Konkan Community (MKC) on September 9 had hardly died down as the day had arrived for a new committee to be elected to oversee the activities of the association for the year 2017-2018.
Following the monthly Konkani mass on October 14, at St Joseph’s Church, Northcote in Melbourne, the members gathered in the Church Hall for the association’s sixth annual general body meeting (AGM) to elect the new officer bearers for 2017-18.
Stephen P D’Souza, the Election Officer welcomed the members who had congregated on the occasion. Philomen Fernandes led the prayers thanking the Lord for His choicest blessings for a wonderful year that had gone by and prayed for the success of the meeting that would oversee the election of new office bearers.
Secretary Stevin Carvalho read out the minutes of the previous meeting while the treasurer Wilson D’Souza tabled a detailed financial report of the association. Outgoing president Dolly Sequeira Cutinho thanked one and all for their cooperation for a successful year and wished the incoming Committee the very best in their future endeavours.
In the election that ensued, the following core committee members were elected unanimously for the following positions: Stevin Carvalho – President, Jane D’Souza – Vice President, Larissa D’Silva – Secretary and Richard Saldanha – Treasurer.
Stevin who hails from Colaba Mumbai is a Financial Advisor with Bank of Melbourne. Jane’s native is Brahmavar, Udupi district, Larissa is from Bandra, Mumbai and works in the Private health Industry and Richard is a professional from Mangaluru.
Manoj D’silva was appointed as the cultural secretary and Sunil D’Souza as the media secretary. In addition, Valerian Menezes, Wilson D’Souza, Philomen Fernandes, Valerian D’Souza, Auston Carvalho, Ambrose Cornelio and Stany Martis were appointed as general members.
The president-elect Stevin Carvalho thanked the outgoing committee and outlined his vision for the year ahead. Apart from focusing on taking the initiative to bring in more members to join the association which has nearly 150 families hitherto, he laid down his vision to introduce programmes for the benefit of today’s youth to mould them into responsible citizens of tomorrow.
Melbourne Konkan Community is a registered association based in Hoppers Crossing, Victoria, Australia. It welcomes all Konkani speaking Catholics from Melbourne residing in Victoria to be part of this growing community which has over 600 likes on its Facebook page.
MKC Committee members can be contacted by emailing to mkonkanc@gmail.com or via Facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/MelbourneKonkanCommunity.