DAYA: GREATER HOUSTON AGENCY SERVING SOUTH ASIAN FAMILIES IN CRISIS Appealing As a Local Charity, Daya 2014 Gala Raises Awareness
Daya board, staff members and volunteers gathered for a group photo with Gala chairs Annu Naik-Rao and Charu Verma. Photos: Andrew Wolf
By Pramod Kulkarni
HOUSTON: Successful members of our community are often besieged with worthy appeals for charitable donations. But the donors at Daya’s 2014 Gala felt emotionally satisfied as they helped families that are truly besieged—victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, in our own greater Houston region.
Dance instructor Anjali Thakkar (far right) led gala enthusiasts, such as advisory board member Sheela Rao (far left), in disco dancing as part of the “Dine and Disco for Daya” theme.
Daya Inc. a local agency serving Houston’s South Asian families in crisis, staked its claim as a local charity. “Daya was started by Houstonians, for Houstonians, and so, together we can help make Houston a better community,” explained Daya President Jyoti Kulkarni.
Both emcees, Dr. Sapna Singh and Mustafa Tameez, made emotional appeals for Houstonians to open their hearts to Daya. President Jyoti Kulkarni (right) urged greater community participation to rebuild lives affected by domestic violence. Visit DayaHouston.org for more information.
Founded in 1996, Daya is a non-profit organization with a mission to serve South Asian families, whose lives are marred by domestic violence and sexual assault. Daya’s 18th annual gala revolved around the theme of “Dine and Disco for Daya”.
Anand Ramaswamy and Vyoma Majmudar – Banker stand before the highly successful “Lotus for Hope” donation board during Daya’s “Dine and Disco for Daya Gala 2014.
The event brought more than 200 South Asian donors and their mainstream guests to the Rice ballroom in downtown Houston on Sunday, April 27. Donors pledged more than $122,000. A silent auction, and a “Lotus for Hope” donation for specific needs, such as rent and transportation, raised an additional $9,000 for a total of 131,000 and counting—highest in Daya’s history.
Special guests at the gala included Indian Consul General P. Harish, and his wife Nandita, who serves on Daya’s advisory board. Also in attendance were Pakistan Consul General Afzal Mehmood and his wife, Harris County Judge Steve Kirkland and Fort Bend County District Attorney John Healey. Special guests also included Houston Police Department representative Muzaffar Siddiqi and Githa Hariharan, an author visiting from India, who has been involved for 35 years in the women’s movement in India.
Serving as the emcees were Dr. Sapna Singh and Mustafa Tameez. Sapna is a pediatric physician, who is the daughter-in-law of Ramesh Parikh, who was one of the initial supporters of Daya by providing much needed office space.
Mustafa is the founder and managing director of Outreach Strategies, a public affairs and communications firm, based in Houston. Mustafa provided a background on Daya’s current operations. “Daya has experienced an exponential increase in the number of calls and clients,” he explained. “In 2013 alone, Daya handled 5,837 client calls, which comes out to about 22 calls per work day. Of the 310 total clients, 265 are new clients, who required help in 2013.”
According to Mustafa, the average of a Daya client is 34, and includes mostly South Asian women, but a few men as well. “In addition to the type of abuse that most of us are familiar with—physical, emotional, sexual and financial—clients also experience in-law abuse and immigration abuse.”
An example of in-law abuse is monitoring via Skype. Immigration abuse is the witholding of green cards, work permits and passport by the abusive spouse or in-laws.
About 46% of Daya’s clients are of Indian origin; 25% originate from Pakistan; and 5% from Bangladesh and small percentage from other South Asian countries. A majority of Daya’s clients (51%) live in Harris County and 21% in Fort Bend County.
The emotional highlight of the evening came when Daya presented two current clients—a man and a woman—who made a heart rendering public disclosure of their experience of domestic abuse.
Daya is now a full-service agency with three full-time and two part-time staff members, 11-member active board and also an advisory board of community leaders. Daya recently set up its transitional home- Harmony House, which is used to provide long-term housing to the clients.
In 2014, Daya received a grant from the Department of Justice Office of Violence against Women (OVW) to meet its current expanding needs and also offer more sexual assault counseling, and education. Daya also receives grants from Houston Endowment, Simmons Foundation and Indo-American Charity Foundation, George Foundation of Fort Bend and Asian American Bar Foundation.