IACF Healthcare Networking Dinner, Book Donation for Literacy
At the healthcare networking mixer, IACF President Dr. Vanitha Pothuri (standing right) with President-elect Mahesh Wadhwa, and board directors Shobana Muratee (seated left) and Dr. Purvi Parikh.
By Jawahar Malhotra
HOUSTON: In support of one of the four pillars of its mission, the Indo American Charity Foundation held a networking session for healthcare initiatives this past Thursday, March 2 at the Seasons 52 restaurant in City Centre on the westside. Most of the IACF Board of Directors attended the session to mingle with many invited guests and supporters who are in the healthcare industry across the Metroplex and sit down for a social-hour and a four-course dinner.
Bard director Dr. Ajay Jain, a pulmonologist, opened up the evening by welcoming everyone and focusing on one of the IACF mottos, “we live here, we give here” to drive home the point of all the work done by the nearly 30 year-old organization. He touched on the healthcare initiatives that the IACF has undertaken and the groups it has supported in the past like the Turning Point Center, the Indian Doctors Charity Clinic, the India House Charity Clinic and as a key seed donor for the Indian American Cancer Awareness Network.
Brian Dean, Sr. VP and CEO of Memorial Hermann Hospital Texas Medical Center with a guest at the healthcare mixer on Thursday, March 2 at Seasons 52 in City Centre.
He was followed up by Brian Dean, Sr. VP and CEO of Memorial Hermann Hospital Texas Medical Center and a key sponsor of the IACF Gala last year. Dean spoke of the MH outreach through multiple locations and its high ranking among care facilities. Other speakers at the event were K.C. Mehta, Dr. K.T. Shah and Dr. Ravi Chundru from IDCC who explained what that clinic does and the new eye care service it has started to offer over the past four months. Dr. Manish Gandhi, President of the Indian Doctor’s Association spoke about its collaboration with the IACF at the Walkathon (slated this year on Saturday, April 22) to raise funds for the IDCC operations.
The program ended with thanks by Dr. Purvi Parikh and concluding remarks by Dr. Vanitha Pothuri who invited everyone to the IACF grants distribution night in May, the scholarship night in June, the gala kick-off mixer in September at Momentum Porsche and the annual gala on Saturday, October 7 at the Stafford Civic Centre.
The IACF donated over 200 books to Literacy Advance on Sunday, February 26
The dinner came on the heels of a literacy event, another of the IACF’s pillars, on Sunday, February 26 in which over 200 books were donated to Literary Advance, a group founded in 1964 to assist adults to achieve personal goals and self-sufficiency through improved literacy. Trained volunteer tutors help deliver a variety of free programs at multiple locations across the Houston area. Kushboo Bansal, Outreach Program Manager, representing Literacy Advance, spoke about the adult literacy programs as well as the family literacy nights.