By Arun D. Jatkar, Monroeville, PAÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â ajmarathi@yahoo.com
Founded by Pittsburgh’s senior citizens to serve the interests of Pittsburgh’s senior citizens and open to all senior citizens regardless of creed, color and country of origin, here is the United Seniors Association of Pittsburgh (or USAP for short).
USAP was founded in December 2017 and registered as a non-profit organization in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It has also received approval as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable organization from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
USAP’s mission statement reads:
To promote healthy aging through education, participation and social support, and thus, dignity, independence and longevity of its members in their senior years; and provide a forum that would encourage able seniors to help fellow seniors in need, with goal to minimize their dependence on society.
Current office holders L to R: Rajnikant Popat, Chetan Patel, Subash Ahuja, and Dilip Desai.
Two hundred and forty-two senior citizens of Pittsburgh have already become members of this rapidly growing organization. This includes 31 life-time charter members.
USAP members are vibrant professionals from all walks of life — doctors, engineers, computer specialists, teachers, businessmen, entrepreneurs — with wide interests and passions on diverse topics.
During 2018, its first year of operation, USAP organized fourteen well-attended, well-received informative and entertaining events. These included, among others, informative talks by professionals on healthy aging and financial and social wellbeing. Topics included :
- Yoga & meditation, physical fitness,
- Ayurvedic approach to healthy eating and living,
- New tax laws affecting senior citizens,
- Health insurance, protection of personal identity,
- A music gala, a bowling bash, introduction to bridge and other card games, a golf outing, and
- A three-week organized tour of eastern Europe!
One might think that all this must amount to a big fat membership fee that a middle-class senior living off his or her limited life savings and Social Security income can only dream of. Nothing could be further from the truth! Now get this: It is only $30 per person for 2019. This number was at the insistence of the all members because refreshments and snacks are served free of charge at these events. Beverages like tea and coffee are always on the house at all events. And one could go for Charter Membership by paying only $ 500 per person.
Organizationally, four officers run USAP: Mr. Chetan Patel (President), Mr. Dilip Desai (Vice President), Dr. Subash Ahuja (Secretary) and Dr. Rajnikant Popat (Treasurer), with these committee chairs:
Mr. Girish Thakar (Life and Finance Planning), Dr. Chetan Ladani (Health and Fitness), Dr. Ved Kaushik (Hobby and Sports), Chetan Patel (Cultural, Social and Humanitarian), Dr. Kiran Bakshi (Tours and Travel), Mr. Jayant Mirani (Membership) and Dr. Juginder Luthra (Social Media and Publications).
When I asked Dr. Ahuja, the secretary of USAP, what he would like to tell the as-yet-uncommitted seniors of Pittsburgh, his face lit up and without any hesitation he said, “Join USAP, ASAP!”
More information is available at www.usaofpittsburgh.org.  ♠