Hindu gods will reportedly be getting married in the coming weeks in grand ceremonies in Arizona, Wisconsin, Oregon and Washington states of USA.

Marriage between Lord Sri Venkateswara and Goddess Padmavathi, referred to as “Srinivasa Kalyanam”, will be conducted by team of priests from India’s ancient and sacred Sri Venkateswara Temple in Tirumala, said to be the  most-visited holy place in the world; in collaboration with Sri Venkata Krishna Kshetra of Tempe (Arizona) on May 19, Hindu Temple of Wisconsin of Pewaukee on May 26, Portland Balaji Temple of Hillsboro (Oregon) on May 27, and  Vedic Cultural Center of Sammamish (Washington) on June two.

Meanwhile, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, applauded efforts of India’s Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) and temple communities in USA to organize this ancient ceremony.

Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, further said that it was important to pass on Hindu spirituality, concepts and traditions to coming generations amidst so many distractions in the consumerist society. Zed stressed that instead of running after materialism; we should focus on inner search and realization of Self and work towards achieving moksh (liberation), which was the goal of Hinduism.

Reports suggest that like priests, idols of Hindu deities involved in these wedding ceremonies, and laddu prasadam (blessed food) to be distributed to the attendees, are also flying from Tirumala. Wedding will be held amidst recitation of the Vedic mantras. The sponsorship levels for this ceremony, lasting around 2-3 hours, go up to $1,116. Participation spaces are said to be limited.

Arizona celebration, claimed to first such event in the state, invites the devotees to “witness this celestial marriage here on earth”. Washington ceremony is also said to be first such ceremony in Seattle area.

According to Wisconsin temple website: “it is believed that, the region, where these celestial Kalyanams are performed, would be bestowed with peace and prosperity.” Dress code for participants: “Dhoti & Uthareeyam for men. Saree for women. Kurta/Pajama and Salwaars are also permitted.”

Oregon event, claimed to be first time in Portland and described as “divine opportunity”, will be performed in a special mandap ordered from India. It is said that during the ceremony, the idols of the bridegroom and bride face each other with a screen in between and are “allowed to see each other only at the appropriate auspicious moment when the screen is removed.”

TTD, headquartered in Tirupati, maintains 12 temples and their sub-shrines, including Sri Venkateswara Temple in Tirumala. According to TTD website: “The Sastras, Puranas, Sthala Mahatyams and Alwar hymns unequivocally declare that, in the Kali Yuga, one can attain mukti (salvation), only by worshipping Venkata Nayaka or Sri Venkateswara.” Kanumuri Bapi Raju and L.V. Subramanyam are Chairman and Executive Officer respectively of the TTD Trust Board.

Hinduism is oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents.

Cast Iron Studios was designed to host both intimate and large private events and parties as well as specialty food and wine workshops led by the company’s cast of expert chefs, wine directors and bartenders. The space will also serve as a headquarters for the company’s popular catering services.

“Our vision of a dedicated event and workshop space has come together at just the right time and in just the right place,” said Larry Kurofsky, owner of Heavy Restaurant Group. “We are excited to have the opportunity of sharing our culinary passion with food enthusiasts as well as offer the region’s top businesses a new and exciting space for all levels of events. The space has been designed to comfortably accommodate everything from an intimate private gathering to a large corporate event to our specialty workshops.”

Private Events & Catering

With space for up to 250 guests, Cast Iron Studios allows Heavy Restaurant Group to meet the growing demand for large parties – those that go well beyond capacity at one of their individual restaurants.  In fact, Cast Iron Studios, which is connected to both Purple and Lot No. 3 in Bellevue, can expand to include both restaurant spaces and parties of up to 500 people.

The Food

With full access to Purple Café’s sophisticated and fresh Northwest fare and wine, Barrio’s modern Mexican cuisine and cocktails, and Lot No. 3’s menu of gastropub comfort food, craft brews and spirits, events at Cast Iron Studios have one of the widest catering selections available.  Expert staff is available to assist in designing the perfect food and drink pairings for all types of events.

In addition to events, Cast Iron Studios is also the company’s home base for their growing pick-up and delivery catering services ranging from reception packages and box lunches to dinner buffets.

Workshops

One of the most anticipated elements of Cast Iron Studios is the series of specialty food events, wine tastings and cocktail classes. These workshops allow Heavy Restaurant Group’s expert staff to share their experience and enthusiasm for all things food and drink from Baking 101 to the basics of mixing classic cocktails.

“We want Cast Iron Studios to be a place where people could come together and learn about the joys of exceptional cuisine and beverages. Our custom workshops, allow us to engage with those passionate about food, wine, beer and spirits in an intimate and interactive fashion,” said Kurofsky.

The current schedule includes seven different workshops in June and July with topics ranging from Pacific Northwest Cuisine taught by Harry Mills, Executive Chef for Heavy Restaurant Group, to A History of Whiskey led by Chris Faber, Bar Manager at Lot No. 3.  A schedule and description of upcoming Cast Iron Studio workshops can be found online at www.castiron-studios.com/workshops .

Custom workshops can also be created with the help of Heavy Restaurant Group’s team of chefs, wine directors and bartenders to make for a fun and hands-on learning experience with friends and family or as a great team building activity for local businesses of all sizes.

Cast Iron Studios is now open at 10650 NE 4th St. adjacent to Purple Café and Lot No. 3 in Bellevue.  Those interested in learning more about Cast Iron Studios can visit: www.castiron-studios.com. Private tours of Cast Iron Studio’s event space can be arranged by contacting David Yusen at davidy@heavyrestaurantgroup.com.

About Heavy Restaurant Group

Heavy Restaurant Group began in 2001, when Larry and Tabitha Kurofsky opened the first Purple Cafe and Wine Bar in Woodinville with the goal of providing an experience that delivered “approachable expertise”. Purple paired a global wine selection with Northwest cuisine made from local seasonal ingredients—all in an informal atmosphere. All menu items were designed to be enhanced by wine pairings and vice versa.  The idea took off, and in 2003, a second Purple Cafe and Wine Bar opened in Kirkland.  In 2006, Purple opened in downtown Seattle, followed in 2009 by a fourth location in downtown Bellevue.  In 2008, the company continued to build on its experience pairing food and drinks with the creation of Barrio in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, a restaurant that combines Mexican cuisine with innovative craft cocktails in an energetic urban space.  In 2010 the company introduced downtown Bellevue’s Lot No. 3, a restaurant and bar that combines comfort food, classic cocktails, and craft brews in a vintage industrial setting. And in May 2012, Heavy Restaurant Group unveiled Cast Iron Studios, an event venue and Heavy Restaurant Group’s catering hub featuring a schedule of regular special food and drink workshops.

Ramp captain Kara Macias, of Chown Hardware, will build a free wheelchair access ramp for Guonei Liang of Renton.

Art Castilleja, the 2012 Rampathon chair explains, “Builder captains will lead their teams in constructing access ramps giving recipients the ability to get in and out of their homes with greater ease and flexibility.  For many of them, it will be the first time in years they have not had to rely on family or friends just to get in and out of their homes.”  According to Castilleja, each ramp represents a unique challenge for the team as they adapt design and construction to the existing landscape and the recipient’s needs.

The Master Builders Care Foundation is the philanthropic non-profit arm of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties.    Founded in 1909, the Master Builders Association is a trade association comprised of nearly 3,000 companies involved in the residential and light commercial construction industry. It is the nation’s oldest and largest local home building association affiliated with the National Association of Home Builders.

Culinary classes begin May 17th and will be offered throughout the year on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at various times. Classes are hands-on and small class sizes allow direct interaction with the chef instructors. The majority of ingredients for the featured menus are certified organic or pesticide-free and are sourced through the 21 Acres Market and additional local farm connections.

Along with core culinary skills, such as bread and cheese making, preserving and knife skills, class themes include farm-to-table menu planning; cooking with raw ingredients; dinner parties and special events; meals from simple ingredients; wine and food pairings; outdoor grilling; and special diets and allergy-free cooking.

Upcoming culinary classes scheduled for May and June are: Raw Food Vegan; Spring Dinner; Cook for a Week; Water Bath Preserving; Gourmet Grilling; Intro to Food Processing; Farm Fresh Soups; Tapas and Local Wine; Home Bread Baking and Spring Brunch.

New Culinary Class Director, Gill Dey, is the newest staff member at 21 Acres. Dey has trained as a home economist and has over 25 years of experience as a magazine journalist, book editor and food consultant. She is a cookbook author, food writer and organic gardener. “I have high expectations,” Day said, “for meeting the gustatory demands of our students. We plan to offer hands-on learning experiences in food preparation and cooking for people with all types of skill levels.” Along with Dey, local chefs and instructors come to the 21 Acres School with backgrounds from the New York Culinary Institute, the California Culinary Academy and Seattle Central Culinary Arts.

Located in the new green-built Center for Local Food and Sustainable Living at 13701 NE 171st Street, Woodinville, WA  98072, the 21 Acres School offers both multi-day and one-day courses and classes aligned under our focus areas: Growing, Eating, Living. Faculty possess diverse backgrounds related to sustainability and have excellent reputations of helping people learn how to cultivate, demonstrate and advance systems that support sustainable agriculture.

Download the entire Culinary Catalog at http://21acres.org/school/culinary-program. Register early, class size is limited. You can also find information about 21 Acres on Facebook and Twitter @21acres.

“We’ve evolved over the years and wanted a new name to reflect who we are now,” said Barbara Langdon, LifeWire Executive Director. “We’re not just on the Eastside. We provide comprehensive services and programs all around the community, and LifeWire is like a ‘lifeline’ for a lot of people who are in an abusive relationship.”

LifeWire is an innovator of highly successful programs, including a 24-hour crisis line, shelters that provide safe housing, advocacy services, groups for children and teens, a Latina outreach program, counseling, and women’s support groups. These programs are critical when you consider that last year, LifeWire answered nearly 11,000 crisis line calls and worked with almost 5,200 local victims of domestic violence. Since 1982, LifeWire has served more than 115,000 victims and their children, helping them escape from abusive homes and relationships.

“This agency literally saved my life,” said Stacy, a LifeWire client who experienced domestic violence.  “Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to move into a safe place, find a new job, and help my children heal. It’s made the difference for me from being desperate, to starting a new life and having hope.”

“This is what we do,” said Langdon. “We’ve been providing this full spectrum of comprehensive care all along, and now, with our new name LifeWire, we know that people will better understand the range of services and prevention that we provide.”

LifeWire drives prevention through community-based initiatives to cause change in behaviors and attitudes about domestic violence. LifeWire’s recent World of Hope dinner and auction provided a platform to educate the community about ways to prevent domestic violence and highlighted the continuum of care, raising $400,000 for agency programs.

“We are thrilled with the response from our community, and the generosity of our donors,” said Kelly Becker, LifeWire Development Director. “This is a time for all of us to come together and celebrate the progress we’ve made over the past 30 years. As we move forward as LifeWire, we will continue to look for new and innovative ways to address domestic violence.”

For more information, please visit www.lifewire.org. You can also contact Kelly Becker at kellypb@lifewire.org or call 425-562-8840, ext. 253.

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LifeWire (formerly Eastside Domestic Violence Program) is one of the largest domestic violence service providers in Washington state. For over 30 years, we have provided safety to victims of domestic violence, offering a comprehensive range of programs and services that help people regain strength and courage. As an ally, problem-solver and an advocate, we not only assist victims in crisis, we also partner with our communities to educate our citizens so we can prevent abuse before it happens. Our goal is to create a safe environment for everyone. If you or someone you know is in an abusive relationship, call LifeWire’s 24 hour Crisis Line at 425-746-1940 or 1-800-827-8840. Visit LifeWire at www.lifewire.org. 

The event will give small businesses from across the country gathered for National Small Business Week an opportunity to have face-to-face meetings with prime contractors and federal agencies to learn about specific contracting and subcontracting opportunities.   This is part of SBA’s Procurement Day which will also feature federal contracting panels on gaining access to federal prime contracting and subcontracting opportunities.

The business matchmaking sessions are open to small businesses that register for National Small Business Week.  Small businesses must have a DUNS number, which can be obtained by going to the DUNS official Web site at (www.dnb.com/us), and must be registered in Central Contractor Registration (www.ccr.gov), the federal government’s official database of small businesses wishing to secure federal contracts.

The face-to-face matchmaking meetings will be 15 minutes, matching approximately 150 businesses and 20 buyers based on their compatibility and the buying needs of the federal agencies and corporations.  Small business owners interested in participating must first register for National Small Business Week at www.nationalsmallbusinessweek.com.

Once registered, they will receive a code to allow them to complete their business matchmaking registration at:  https://nsbw.mybusinessmatches.com.  Registration for the event will close on May 18, 2012.   One session will be held on May 22 from 10:00am-12:30pm and the second session will be held from 3:00pm-5:00pm.

During the forums, small businesses will learn how to market themselves to the federal government and go after government contracting opportunities.  Once small business owners register for the workshops, they will have the option of attending any of three sessions:

• Government Contracting 101: Small Business Contracting Programs

(10:00-11:15am)

• Insights into Federal Contracting Opportunities with Federal Agency Offices of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBUs) (10:00am-11:15am and 11:30am-12:45pm)
• Improving your Business through Subcontracting Opportunities (11:30am-12:45pm)

For more information about the Matchmaking event, visit: https://nsbw.mybusinessmatches.com and National Small Business Week http://www.nationalsmallbusinessweek.com.

Small Business Week 2012 sponsors and cosponsors include: AARP, Association of Small Business Development Companies, AT&T, Dun & Bradstreet, InterContinental Hotels Group, International Franchise Association, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, National Association of Development Companies, National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders,  National Association for the Self-Employed, National Small Business Association, Neustar, Northrop Grumman, Office Depot, Paychex, Inc., Prudential, Raytheon, Sage Software, Inc., Salesgenie, SCORE, Small Business Investor Alliance, T-Mobile, VISA, Wall Street Journal and Women Impacting Public Policy.

The U.S. Small Business Administration’s participation in this cosponsored activity does not constitute an express or implied endorsement of any cosponsor’s, donor’s, grantee’s, contractor’s or participant’s opinions, products, or services. All SBA programs and cosponsored programs are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Reasonable arrangements for persons with disabilities will be made, if requested at least 2 weeks in advance, by contacting sbw@sba.gov. Cosponsorship Authorization #SBW2012.

Jeannie is a busy woman.  She has teenage grandkids, loves to sew, and spends quite a bit of her time traveling.  But her two great loves are training guide dogs, like Webster, and driving with Senior Services’ Volunteer Transportation Program.

Jeannie was shopping for fabric when she noticed a flyer announcing the need for volunteer drivers.  She decided that since she couldn’t take her own mother to the doctor, this opportunity would be the perfect fit.  Sixteen years later, Jeannie’s still hooked.  Once per week, she picks up seniors at their homes, waits with them at their appointments, and then takes them home again.

“The people I meet are so grateful for a ride, and I’ve never had a senior say to a dog on a ride,” Jeannie says.  “You really feel like you’re making a difference right then, not sometime down the line.  You can see it on their faces.”

Transportation is one of the top problems facing the Eastside’s elderly population.  For seniors who no longer drive and have no families or friends to help out, getting to medical appointments can be very difficult.   More and more seniors are turning to Volunteer Transportation for help.

Unfortunately, the program doesn’t have enough drivers to meet this demand.  This past week, the program had to turn away 45 seniors who called and asked for rides.  Volunteer Transportation needs more drivers like Jeannie to help people get to their medical appointments.

Volunteers use their own vehicles and choose the weekdays, times and areas in which they want to drive. No special license is required, and Senior Services provides supplemental liability insurance.

For more information, please contact Melissa Tribelhornat (206) 748-7588 or melissat@seniorservices.org, or visit our website at www.seniorservices.org.

Thursday, April 26, 2012, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will recognize Godwin as the 2012 Washington state Financial Services Champion of the Year for her company’s positive impact on scores of small business owners and impressive results from years of contributions and advocacy efforts.

Godwin is known as the “velvet brick” for her direct yet sensitive approach when mentoring entrepreneurs. She volunteers as an accounting consultant for the NW and South Sound Women’s Business Centers, contributes to Femme Finance radio program on 1150 KKNW, in Bellevue, and gives back to the community by teaching business and financial workshops.

“Godwin does more than guide and direct,” said Seattle SBA District Director Nancy Porzio.  “Through her efforts to remove the mystery behind financial concepts, she helps companies resolve their issues and become more bankable.”

“Our financial services champion is a genuine and candid advocate who helps company owners better manage their bottom lines and positions them to more readily obtain financing,” said Assistant Associate Administrator Calvin Goings.

“We proudly recognize Audrey L. Godwin as the SBA’s 2012 Financial Services Champion of the Year,” said SBA Seattle District Director Nancy Porzio.
About the SBA Awards

An independent panel of judges selected the winner based on several criteria, including assistance given small businesses to obtain financing, advocacy for changes in the financial services industry, encouragement of the flow of investment capital to small businesses. Information on SBA’s National Small Business Week 2012 celebrations in Washington, D.C. can be found at www.sba.gov

Publisher’s Note:  Congratulations Audrey!  You should be a member of the Eastside Business Directory!

HearthLight Project Presents “Home is Where the Bills Are” preview. This video will introduce you to the need for energy efficiency among low-income families. We can deliver it — with your help. Donate online at www.indiegogo.com/HearthLight.

Gregorek and Associates, PLLC