Bhandara benevolence

"Due to our strong ties with Pakistan we have always wanted to donate money here, to Parsi causes, and to help people from all communities. By our donating here we want to serve as an example to others who have emigrated from Pakistan to give back to our homeland and remember the place that we came from.” Houston based Feroze (Fred) Bhandara explained his rationale for setting up the Feroze and Shernaz Bhandara Charitable Trust (FSBCT) that was launched in Karachi in March 2015.
The corpus of the Trust is US $ 3.1 million (Rs 196,850,000) the interest from $ 2.1 million (Rs 133,350,000) will be earmarked for beneficiaries in Pakistan and the rest in US, reveals Feroze whose father Peshotan Bhandara had bought Murree Brewery in Rawalpindi (see "Murree and minority matters,” pg 20) and mother Tehmina had launched the Bhandara Foundation in Lahore which over the years has supported worthwhile causes and members of all communities in Lahore, Rawalpindi and the Punjab. Feroze subsequently launched the Houston Bhandara Foundation that is the principal donor to the newly formed FSBCT in Karachi.

Houston mayor Anise Parker with Shernaz and Feroze Bhandara

At the FSBCT launch function, Feroze presented a cheque of one million Pakistani rupees (INR 620,000) to the Bhandara Foundation Lahore, and equal sums to the Karachi Zarthosti Banu Mandal, the TCF (The Citizens Foundation) Schools, the Parsee General Hospital in Karachi besides making further pledges to assist the Mama School and the cause of hemophilia.
"Most of the younger generation of Parsis have emigrated from Pakistan due to tensions in the religious state. I wanted to help the Parsis left behind in Pakistan,” says Feroze who would like the Trust to "help Parsi seniors with medical care and assisted living. In this effort we are helping fund the construction of Arman house in Cyrus Colony, Karachi, a facility that will provide living for the elderly who cannot take care of themselves.” The Trust will additionally provide education grants to the larger community and also assist agiaries and poor Parsis in Pakistan.
Having emigrated to the US in 1972, Feroze earned his BS Engineering degree and MBA from the University of Wisconsin and followed it up with the Stanford Honors Program four years later. For over a decade he worked as manufacturing engineer with Ford Motor Company and Ford Aerospace. As president of the Ardenwood Group he has transformed a small investment company dealing in rental homes into a real estate and construction business worth multi million dollars. The Ardenwood Group encompasses several business divisions including Mazda Construction that has developed Ardenwood Homes where over 300 residences have been built in the Houston area and a further 205 acres are being developed with plans to add 400 home sites and 50 acres of commercial development. Yet another division, Feroze Bhandara Interests manages 10 commercial and real estate projects in Houston whilst Regency Crossing oversees a 432-unit apartment complex.
Besides contributing to the Zoroastrian centers in San Jose, California and Houston, Texas, the Bhandaras have pledged funds to build an agiary in Houston which will be the first agiary in North America. The atash kadeh, designed by architect Dadi Surti, has provided for a kebla to house the sacred fire, an urvisgah for use in paav mahal ceremonies, a hall with balconies above, facilities for inhouse training of navars. This year they also made a magnanimous donation of $ 300,000 (Rs 19,050,000) towards the New York Darbe Mehr and as acknowledged by Edul Daver who was delighted that they could cross the finish line, "It is people like you who make a difference in this world and I salute you for your magnanimous and noble gesture.”
For further enquiries contact fsbctrust@gmail.com or write to FSBCT at 66-B, South Circular Avenue, D. H. A. Phase II, Karachi 75500.