New York City Comptroller John Liu with Gyan Chandra Acharya at the Non-Resident Nepalis Association National Coordination Council (USA) program, held at Intercontinental Hotel, Time Square, New York City on Sunday. SAHARA SHRESTHA

At an event held at the Intercontinental Hotel near Time Square, New York, Executive Members of the National Coordination Council (USA) for Non-Resident Nepalis Association gathered to celebrate the 1000 new members registered by an auxiliary membership committee headed by Temba Sherpa. The membership drive raised $10,000 for the NRN National Coordination Council (USA).

John C. Liu, the Comptroller of New York, and Gyan Chandra Acharya, the Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations, were also present at the event.

“By August, we hope to register at least 6,000 new members,” Sherpa said at the event. The drive has been successful largely because he conducted a door-to-door campaign, mobilising friends and family to help his efforts, and navigating the occasional internal politics and bureaucracy of the Council. Jiwan Shrestha, who is mostly known in Nepal for his work in the Nepali music industry, has been working especially closely with Sherpa.

Speaking at the event, several Executive Members of the Council expressed their faith in the new drive and committed their support to extend it and even replicate it to other states across America. In the NRN elections, every 10 members constitute a single vote. NRN Association’s website lists Coordination Councils in 56 countries around the world.