ZANC-PZO dare-mehr

"As part of our anniversary celebration, we initiated a ‘buy-a-chair’ project and are happy to report that with the donations we received from all members of the community, we were able to buy 80 chairs for the atash kadeh, 150 new chairs plus 10 extra tables… and contribute towards the painting of the Dare-mehr this month,” reported Nazneen Spliedt, president of the 30-year-old Zarthoshti Anjuman of Northern California (ZANC) in the Association’s newsletter of April-June 2010.

The new look of the San Jose Dare-mehr with a fresh coat of paint, new exhaust fan and curtains was in the news in early March 2010 when an all-Parsi volunteer team had endeavored to spruce up the premises. The maintenance and supervision of the Darbe-mehr is officially handled by the Persian Zoroastrians Organization (PZO), explained Spliedt, "and their committee tries to keep it repaired and maintained with whatever funds are available and donations they get as well as what ZANC pays as our share of the maintenance costs. In the past year they have added new classrooms in the shed at the back as well as a ping-pong table and have gotten rid of all the broken furniture and other unused junk.”

A popular venue, the Dare-mehr is well used by all members of the community and even those who are not members. At the end of 2009, the strength of its membership was 574 adult paid-up members. "We would like to propose that each year, we do some kind of focused campaign, for the well being and upkeep of the Dare-mehr and our community,” reiterated the president whilst acknowledging that the recent renovation was primarily due to the efforts of "PZO’s past president and treasurer Kambiz Zomorodi… the people who did the painting as well as our caretaker Meherban who worked really hard to get everything done on time.”