Fourth Anniversary Celebrations of the Houston Desi Friends Group

HOUSTON: The Houston Desi Friends group, a unique WhatsApp group with over 20,000 members, celebrated its fourth anniversary at India House on Saturday, September 29. Event objective was to celebrate 4 successful years of the group, to honor the noble charity and cultural organizations, to bring awareness about rare diseases to the community, and to create awareness about bone marrow & white blood cell donations. This group supports sharing information of events, business deals, job opportunities, immigration related information, travel companion information, Harvey support related information, Investments groups and many other, using WhatsApp as a communications tool. The group members are spread across Greater Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Seattle, Bay Area, Michigan, Ohio, and Chicago. Communication happens between all the groups with the support of 40+ Admins that manage the groups.

Admin team honored various charity and cultural organizations, who support the needy in US and in India. Representatives from various non-profit organizations such as FARA (Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance), Sewa USA, Asha Jyothi, IACAN, EKAM, ISCA Houston (Indian Senior Citizens Association), ICC (India Culture Center), Manoranjan, KPL (Katy Premier League), RTL (Royal Texas League), ORDI (Organization For Rare Diseases India), Let them smile again, Shankara Eye Foundation (SEF), Shri Sita Ram Foundation, Swaravedika, VT Seva, Be the Match, Hindus of Greater Houston, Indo American Charity Foundation (IACF), American Telangana Association, Andhra Pradesh Non Resident Telugu Association (APNRT), American Progressive Telugu Association (APTA), NATA (North American Telugu Association), Telugu Cultural Organization (TCA Houston), Telangana Association of Greater Houston (TAGH), Ashirwad, IT Serve, Telugu Association of North America (TANA), Swasthi, Sneha Hastam, NATS (North American Telugu Society), Vibha, Siliconandhra Manabadi, India House, Andhra Mirchi Radio, AsiaTV, NNN, TV9, TV5, V6 and Indo-American News participated and received honors for their great community support. 

 As part of the appreciation event, Admins of the group (Kishore Ramaraju, Umang Mehta, Ravi Gunishetti, Ketki Shah, Amrutha Varna, Indira Nimmagadda, Praveen Ponugoti, Srikanth Jakka, Bhavesh Ranka, Jiju Kulangara, Ratnakar Moderkuti, Subhasree Gokul, Devi Sirigiri, Soniya Goyal, Pooja Tiwari, Srikanth Vankadaru, Svarup Krishna, Sharaddha Bane, Kartheek Epuri and Sreedhar Aaloori) honored representatives from various charity and cultural organizations. Saritha Ethirajan & Abhiya Olivia kept all the attendees engaged with their humorous anchoring. Akhila entertained the audience with her soulful songs. Bollywood Beats Dance School by Poonam, Sunanada Dance Academy, Khushboo Dance School entertained the audience with their energetic dance performances.

Sponsors of the appreciation event included: Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA) as the grand sponsor, Deep Foods, Travenue, CWC Internationals, Minis Collection, Freedom Automative & Collision, Greenrich Highlands, Right Tax Mate, Smile Rangers Dental, Star Dental, Ace Pain Management, Deco Arts, Karthik Photography, DJ Tariq, India House, Pepon Digital, Biryani Pot, Biryani Factory, Bawarchi, Biryani Flavors, Tandoori Nite, Tandoori Grill, Godavari, TRu India, Anjappar, Gayatri Bhavan,  and Universal Bakery. Thanks to our Media Friends Indo-American News, NNN, Andhra Mirchi Radio, Desi Plaza TV, TV9, TV5, V6 Channels for covering the event.

Admins of the group would like to thank all the organizations, Sponsors, Volunteers and all members who joined the event and made it a grand success.

Members who want to be part of this group can send an email to houstondesifriends@gmail.com with their name and location.