With Grants Night, IACF Hands Out $285K This Year
IACF Board with the 2018 grant recipients at the award distribution held on Thursday, August 23. Photos: Roy Photography
By Jawahar Malhotra
HOUSTON: This Grants Night, when funds were being distributed to local charitable causes, was true to its calling: it was short on fluff, went straight to the point of handing out award envelopes and mercifully short on acceptance speeches, save for two recipients who got carried away. On top of that, the food – appetizers and buffet dinner – was good and, the piece de resistance for an event held on a Thursday night, it ended on time, perhaps even ahead of schedule!
IACF Directors with a replica of the $50,000 donated at Grants Night
That wasn’t the only impressive part of the Indo American Charity Foundation’s Grants Night held last Thursday, August 23 at Bombay Brasserie in the Galleria area. The most important element was, of course, the handing out of checks totaling $50,000 to 18 different organizations, but in a time when many such events linger on longer than expected, this IACF event made its point about efficiency. This was on top of the $35,000 the IACF handed out in scholarships in May, making the organizations total contributions this year at $285,000 (including the sizeable donation to the Mayor’s fund, see below).
Board Director Rathna Kumar emceed the Grants Night event at the Bombay Brasserie on Thursday, August 23.
About 60 people attended the event, held in the restaurant’s private dining room, including representatives of the 18 charities, about as many IACF Board members both former and present, a few donors and other invited guests. After a short social time to mingle over appetizers, emcee Rathna Kumar (the celebrated dancer and choreographer) started the program with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi that aptly described the spirit of giving: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
IACF President Mahesh Wadhwa
IACF President Mahesh Wadhwa gave a synopsis of the organization’s history since its inception in 1988, culminating with the $200,000 check it handed out earlier this year in February to Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner towards the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund, the largest such donation in IACF’s history. Later after the grants ceremony, Wadhwa gave details of IACF’s upcoming gala on Saturday, October 6 at the Stafford Centre which will showcase the group’s donations and fruits at fundraising over this past year. For details visit http://iacfhouston.com/
This year’s grants recipients were a mix of mostly groups, which have traditionally being supported by IACF as well as a few new ones, and the grants were of varying amounts, though the envelopes, as Kumar pointed out, “did not contain checks, which will be mailed out”, but were the award citation itself.
IACF Directors and supporters at the reception desk.
The 18 charities which were honored this year and their receiving representatives were Asians Against Domestic Abuse received by Maryam Eldin; AVANCE-Houston by Kristen Dohle; Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Houston by Mark Martin and Suzy Smith; Child Advocates by Suzanne McAndrew; Child Advocates of Fort Bend by Jessica Jubin; Daya by Rachna Khare; iEducate by Arun Gir; Indian Doctor’s Charity Clinic by KC Mehta; Indian Senior Citizens Association by Ramesh Modi; Literacy Advance of Houston by Melanie Fisk; Mahatma Gandhi Library by Atul Kothari and Manish Wani; Parent Engagement for Active Child Enrichment (PEACE) by Padmaja Sarathy; Parks Youth Ranch by Angela Parker; SEARCH Homeless Services by Sondee Hatcher; St. Mary of the Purification Catholic School by Fr. Justin Arokiasamy; Turning Point Center by Isha Salas-Desselle; YLDP by Minal; and YMCA by Nanci Rutledge.