“Dreams come true”

As an Iranian Zarathushti who has been involved with all aspects of the Zarathushti community in New York for the past 30 years, of which 15 years has been as the president of the Iranian Zoroastrian Association (IZA), I need to bring a few points to your attention.

During all these years I have been a determined advocate for bringing the Iranian and Parsi Zarathushti communities in the New York area together and with the help of the Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York’s (ZAGNY) open minded leadership we have been able to have harmonious coexistence as well as collaborative joint functions, events, seminars and congresses.
We jointly raised funds to purchase the current Darbe Mehr building in 2001 and also jointly started planning and fundraising for the new Darbe Mehr building in 2011. The presentation about building New York’s new Darbe Mehr which was given during the 2014 FEZANA (Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America) annual general meeting in Washington, had discussed the initial formation of the New Darbe Mehr Initiative (NDMI) in 2010 with 10 like-minded people whose contribution made up the seed money of $ 500,000 before going to the community to ask for their contribution. Three of the 10 were Iranian members of the IZA. In every one of those identified milestones in your article ("Dreams come true,” Parsiana, October 21, 2014), unveiling of the project, the process of site plan approval, the groundbreaking ceremony, IZA was and is part of the equation. There are Iranian engineers who are overseeing different parts of the site prep and building process, to name a few.
Building the new Darbe Mehr is a complete collaboration between both ZAGNY and IZA. However, you have referred to it as "ZAGNY’s” Darbe Mehr, which is not fair. It is New York’s Darbe Mehr and has been functioning with the dedication and contributions from both associations (ZAGNY and IZA) and now the new building is becoming a reality.
I know Parsiana is a Parsi magazine and it is published in India but the facts are the same anywhere and should be reflected as such. SHIRIN KHOSRAVI
President, Iranian Zoroastrian Association (IZA)
New York
sherrykiamane@hotmail.com