Indian-American couple donates $ 1.75 million to construct first Hindu youth campsite in Texas

An Indian-American couple from Houston has donated $1.75 million to start the construction of the first Hindu campsite in Texas, which will hold heritage youth camps every summer.

Similar to schools and colleges providing academic education, the Hindu Heritage Youth camps provide a life-moulding education, a media release said Friday.

Subhash Gupta and Sarojini Gupta, who made the mega donation, said they are passionate about the camp because it inculcates critical values and skills in the next generation.

“This is the best thing we can do for the next generation,” Subhash said.

“We are already losing youth in this country because they are not interested in our Hindu dharma and preserving our value system, so whatever we can do to cultivate that, the better,” he said.

The campsite, located on a 37-acre property in Columbus, Texas, will be complete next summer, just in time to welcome campers for a six-night and five-day camp.

The camp started in 1985 and has historically been held at a variety of campsites, such as Camp Lantern Creek in Montgomery. However, the organisers said it had become increasingly difficult to find a location that could accommodate the 1,200 plus youth who want to participate.

The new campsite will include cabins, a swimming pool, a dining hall that will accommodate 200 people, an outdoor amphitheatre, covered basketball courts and classrooms.

By 2024, there will likely be two week-long camps, Subhash said, adding that his ultimate goal is to run as many camps as necessary to accommodate everyone interested. During the school year, other groups will be able to rent out the campsite to host their own retreats, corporate events or family gatherings there.

“We hope this can be a place kids can be proud of,” said Sarojini. “It’s not only for this generation. It’s for many more generations to come. It’s a community property for everyone.” Subhash is from Uttar Pradesh’s Pilkhuwa town in India. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Science with a degree in metallurgical engineering in 1971.

With a research assistantship, he came to the US to complete a master’s degree in metallurgical engineering from the University of Nevada and worked as a research engineer at Cities Service Co., an oil company, until 1979.

Sarojini hails from New Delhi, the national capital of India, and completed her master’s in political science from the University of Delhi.

The couple got married in 1975 and lived in New Jersey and Arizona until they settled in Houston in 1979. After a few years of consulting with an engineering company, they founded a research publications company in Houston.