New England Marathi Mandal (NEMM), 41 years old local Indian organization having 300+ families in the New England area as a members. We are proud to inherit and preserve Maharashtrian culture through various activities throughout the year. Over the years, we have provided many splendid programs and entertained good size crowds during Marathi festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali, Padwa and Sankrant.
Due to current CDC guidelines and direction of our Governor, we can’t really help community directly through volunteering. So, our current NEMM committee decided to do “Covid-19†fundraising within our community and help hospitals and pantries in New England area and well-known non-profit organization from Maharashtra, India.
With the support from our community, we collected $10,250 in two weeks. We are amazed to see support from the community and willingness to help in this critical situation.
It was difficult to select hospitals in New England area as well as reputable non-profit organization in India. As our NEMM members, Dr. Smita Chaudhary works in Lowell General and Dr. Raju Parulkar works in UMass Memorial; we decided to go with the Lowell General and UMass Memorial – Marlborough hospitals. They really helped navigate us to the right persons in those hospitals. With the assistance of Mr. Milind Kanitkar/Mrs. Anita Ghatnekar, we learned more about Seva Sahayog Foundation’s work in Maharashtra and decided to select that organization. Mr. Atul Nagras who was residing in Boston for quite long time is engaged with “Seva Sahayog Foundation, got the good feedback about him through our NEMM members.
We have donated funds to various organizations as below
* Lowell General – Donated $3000 for PPE and Meals
* UMass Memorial – Donated $300 for PPE
* Seva Sahayog Foundation – Donated $3000 for distributing food to poor
* Nashua Soup Kitchen - $500
* Winchester Hospital - $500
* Dharma Center of America - $250
NEMM sincerely appreciates generous support given by our community in this difficult time and proud to be a part of giving community.
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