Gujarati Samaj Atlanta

Area Served

About Gujarati Samaj Atlanta

Gujarati population, in Atlanta, in the sixties was less than 50 families. The community was primarily constituted by Engineering and Medical Professionals who migrated in search of jobs. In the late seventies, there was a surge when many ventured in businesses mainly in motel business. In the seventies, Gujaratis used to celebrate Diwali and Navratri in small groups at private residences or clubhouses in apartment complexes or at Gujarati owned motel meeting rooms, especially Conyers Motor Inn and Golf-land Motel. As the Gujarati population grew, people felt a need of some kind of organization.Looking from a distance, or from historical perspective, it feels some years are more memorable than others since they brought our goodness from within. They were years with lots of ups and downs, however, they made us stronger! Just like a crisis makes a man stronger at the end! On a fine evening in late October 1980, over fifty members of Gujarati community met at Mr. Sharad Shah's residence in Stone Mountain to discuss the formation of a Gujarati association. It was unanimously decided to form an organization with the main goal of preserving Gujarati Culture and helping the community. An ad hoc committee was formed to prepare article of incorporation and draft a constitution and bylaws. Thereafter in December 1980, a meeting was held at Gold-land motel where it was decided to form “Gujarati Samaj” and drafted bylaws were approved. The General body elected Jitubhai Patel as our first President, Sharad Shah as treasurer and Deepak Shah was elected as a secretary. The executive committee worked very hard to get this organization registered as not for profit organization and obtained tax exempt status with IRS within 6 months.At the end of first year, Samaj membership was at 200. First year ended with a variety program where the main performance was a traditional Bhavai "Lalwadi-Fulwadi" performed by all local talents.