Lokvani is delighted to present the first set of community heroes to be honored at the Lokvani community and youth night to be held on Dec 16 at Ambrosia Banquet Hall in Foxborough, MA. Anish Khanzode, Carolyn Passey, Nalini Goyal and Geeta Kannan are being recognized for their tireless support of community work. We humbly salute their work. In addition to honoring the heroes, the evening features great entertainment, a lovely feast and DJ dancing.Buy your tickets for the heroes night. Come celebrate the holidays with us!

Learn more about our heroes.

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When you think of Anish Khanzode, you think of a calm, collected, thoughtful, gentle and affable individual. For past ten years, Anish has been very closely associated with two educational and cultural organizations of the Boston area – LearnQuest Academy of Music and Hindi Manch. He serves in the boards of both the organizations. He chairs Hindi Manch's musical event SaReGaMaPa and directed the play 'Ye Jo Hai Zindagi'. A behind the scene selfless contributor, Anish is an asset to our community. Due to his competence, expertise and unique leadership qualities he has become an important pillar which forms the backbone of both these organizations. He is a can-do, go-to solutions person who is always willing to grapple with and solve a problem that comes his way. In addition to volunteering his time for LearnQuest and Hindi Manch, he has also helped several other organizations and individuals in organizing cultural events. Anish is a software engineer who lives in Winchester, MA with his wife Dipali and daughter Isha.

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In 1991, when the India Society of Worcester (ISW) acquired land to build its own India center, Carolyn and Nalini were one of the leading proponents to establish the ISW Language & Cultural School in 1992. Starting with a modest enrollment of 2, the school flourishes today with an enrollment of over 140 students and a curriculum that offers 5 different languages:  Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu and Marathi. They organized special programs about Indian languages, history, geography, and different religions practiced in the Indian sub-continent.  Both ensured a curriculum that celebrated Indian as well as local holidays to demonstrate respect for cultural differences.  They incorporated into the school program, activities to benefit local charities; for example collections were held for food, books and gifts to be donated to food pantries and needy families identified by the ISW’s Crisis Committee. 

Carolyn also contributes to the ISW by helping organize programs.  She established IYG at ISW. This Indian Youth Group for the teenage kids perform cultural & community events. Her volunteer spirit however is not limited to the ISW.  Over the years, she routinely volunteered at the Holden Library and worked as Co-Director of the Wachusett Food Pantry.  She also organized a Back-to-School program for the Food Pantry children.  This effort involved soliciting sponsors, collecting donations from them and distributing to the needy students. She has also helped local public school systems in the Worcester area teach their students about India and Indian Culture.

Nalini cares deeply about individuals whose lives have been adversely affected by Domestic Violence. Initially she worked with Late Dr. Sarla Patel on the ISW crisis committee, doing what she could to help in small ways such as serving as a translator in District Court.  Her work with agencies began in earnest with her involvement with that Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence.  For nearly 8 years she served on their steering committee for their annual gala and at the height of it Co-chaired the committee.  She then moved onto actively working as an advocate for another 8 years till 2014 with The Domestic Violence Services network.  Her work as an Advocate motivated her and a group of friends in Sudbury to raise money to help survivors of Domestic Violence mired in family and divorce court, not content with the limitations she Co-Founded Gifts Of Hope Unlimited Inc. in August 2016, which is now an independent 501c3.  The organization now works to support survivors re-establish their lives as they transition from shelters to their homes, by providing them financial and tactical support, working in tandem with The Department of Health and DV service provider agencies. Her goal is to empower and support as many individuals as possible as they strive to live their lives free of abuse.      

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Geeta Kannan is a founding member of Indian Americans of Lexington, a group that organizes and promotes cultural events for Lexington. Geeta works in a family-owned computer business in town.  She is the treasurer of the non-profit organization - Udavum Karangal of USA. Geeta previously served on the Cary Memorial Library Building Campaign and helped to develop the Cary Memorial Library Indian American Endowment Fund. Geeta currently volunteers at Lahey Hospital and in the Waltham Public Schools in their Reading Partners Program and used to volunteer at the Minuteman Senior Services.