IACF Distributes Funds, Offers Proactive Assistance
IACF President Ramesh Cherivala (left) with Daya Houston President Jyoti Kulkarni, IACF Board Member Lachman Das, IACF President Elect Shesh Bala and IACF Director of Couseling and Client Services Vyoma Majmudar-Banker.
By Pramod Kulkarni
HOUSTON: Indo-American Charity Foundation held its 26th annual funds distribution event last Wednesday, Feb. 29 evening at the Madras Pavilion restaurant in Sugar Land.
Funds were distributed to a total of 22 organizations. The group included mainstream charity organizations as well as organizations catering to the local South Asian community. The types of services provided by these organizations ranged from social services to healthcare and education.
IACF Treasurer Neeta Balsaver (left), IACF Board Member Nanda Vura, IACAN Treasurer V. K. Dorai, IACAN Board Member Indu Gosar, IACAN President Kanchan Kabad and IACF President Ramesh Cherivirala.
The mainstream organizations included long-time recipients such as Casa de Esperanza, Child Advocates of Fort Bend, Fort Bend Women’s Shelter, YMCA Summer Camp, Turning Point, Search Homeless Serices, Turning Point, Literacy Advance, Reach Unlimited, Houston Greeters, Meals on Wheels, Houston Area Women’s Center, Richmond State Schools, Meals on Wheels and Life Beyond Cancer Foundation.
South Asian organizations included Daya Houston, Indian Senior Citizens Association, Friends Helping Friends, YLDP, AADA, Indian Doctors Clinic, Sewa International and AADA.
IACF also supports the iEducate initiative to tutor local school children in math and science that was inspired by past President, the late David Raj.
IACF Secretary Dr. Vanitha Pothuri described the mission statement of each of the recipient organizations and then asked the attending representatives to accept the donation check prepared by IACF Treasurer Neeta Balsaver and presented by one of IACF board members. During dinner, each of the recipient organizations received the opportunity to explain their organization’s relationship with IACF and how the funds were being used.
Several of the IACF office bearers spoke to the audience—President Ramesh Cherivirala, Past President Murthy Divakaruni and President-elect Kamala Raghavan. In unison, the IACF office bearers said they wanted to go beyond just issuing donation checks and participate with each organization with the assistance of a board member and a host of volunteers.
IACF also recognized the contributions of Madras Pavilion by presenting a shawl to partner Rajan Radhakrishnan. Shawls were also presented to Murthy Divakaruni and his wife, the well known author Chitra Divakaruni, for their contributions to making IACF events, including the recent gala a great success.
The evening concluded with the rendition of popular Indian film songs by Attorney Uma Mantravadi, TV Asia correspondent Manisha Gandhi and Madras Pavilion’s own Rajan and Alpa Shah., who is also an IACF board member. Even Murthy joined in the jovial Karaoke singing.