Asha 25th anniversary celebration !!!
November 12, 2016
An Evening Celebrating Hope
On Saturday November 12th, the St Louis chapter of Asha for Education had a dinner to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the organization. Asha is a 501 c3 non-profit, volunteer run organization that funds projects that provide education for underprivileged children in India. The dinner raised $17,000 for the organization and the money will be used to fund a variety of activities such as providing cots for children with mental disabilities in Chennai and a new building for children of migrant construction workers in Pune.
The dinner was an elaborate event that aimed to bring members of the community together to shed light on Asha and it’s progress and goals. Festivities began at 6:00 in the evening, with “people streaming in ready to party” as mentioned by one of the attendees, Radhakrishnan Gopalan. After taking portrait pictures, people began to network and find their seats. The dinner was attended by 160 guests and as organizer Charu Katyal said, “honestly when we started, I was sure it would be very difficult to get even 100 people” and that the final turnout of 160 was “beyond my wildest imagination”.
The main program began at 7:00 where the volunteers introduced themselves, explained the purpose of Asha, and highlighted the projects for which they were raising funds. Despite an initial video hiccup, participants received the event very well. The volunteers’ speeches were very “inspiring” and showed their “dedication and commitment” observed Rina Patney, a guest at the event.
After the formal program came a lavish three course Indian dinner that started with a variety of vegetarian appetizers and ended with an array of desserts including a “very nice cake” in the Asha themed colors of orange and green that was designed by Charu Katyal. Despite the large turnout and the buffet styled dinner, things went very smoothly as the other organizer, Padmaja Suresh, directed the guests towards the buffet. After dinner, volunteer and Team Asha runner Laxmichand Fatnani urged the guests to follow him through a quick and energetic Bollywood dance sequence. The dance floor was then opened and guests were seen dancing until late in the night with the knowledge and afterglow of having contributed towards the worthy cause of universal quality education for children in India.
(This piece was authored by youth volunteers: Ananya Radhakrishnan and Megha Sanjay. To volunteer for Asha for Education, email: [email protected] or visit: www.ashanet.org/stlouis )