In wake of the recent disasters in South Asia, we at AID Boston along with NetSAP - Network of South Asian Professionals - decided to organize a fund-raising event on January 16, 2005, to help mobilize efforts towards the relief and rehabilitation efforts in India. The entire event was planned and held within 2 weeks through diligent efforts by the volunteers.
Poonam Ahluwalia and Shubhro Sen, the owners of the restaurant had helped us host a reception for the Amjad Ali Khan Concert banquet in September. So when we approached them again to help us raise funds for relief & rehabilitation for victims of the disasters, they immediately offered to host the event. Credit must go to their entire staff that did a fabulous job in catering to huge number of invitees which attended the event. And also to Shubhro Sen who played the role of Master of Ceremonies to the hilt and hosted the art auction.
For details about the restaurant please visit the website: http://www.tantricgrill.com/
A word about the artists.
5 artists donated a total of 10 pieces of art which helped us raise more than 6 & half thousand dollars. The artists were from varied backgrounds, Goerge Oommen from Kerala, to the Mehras - Vivek & Sonika, originally from Delhi, Rob Gonsalves a native New Englander to Vassia Alaykova who hails from Bulgaria.
All information about the artists is at:
http://www.aidboston.org/survivors/program.asp
(click on the artist names for bios and links to their websites)
These artists have collaborated earlier with another organization called the American India Foundation. Through another AID volunteer - Mora Oommen, when contacted they immediately agreed to donate their art works for and all funds raised were donated to AID. Most of them were also present at the event, this allowed prospective buyers to intimately interact with the art and artist.
We were able to raise in excess of $16,000 pending final accounts. Out which more than $6500 was through the auction of art donated by the artists.
This event has definitely enhanced AID’s profile in the local community. The very fact that we were able to communicate the earnest efforts by AID in India about the relief and rehabilitation efforts was a big factor. Volunteers were on hand yesterday to provide examples, photos, numbers about the relief efforts. All through the evening, volunteers from AID Boston answered various queries, and conveyed the AID philosophy of helping relief by empowering the community.
The photos from the event can be found at:
http://www.aidboston.org/survivors/photos/
Summary of AID efforts in India:
The main features about this effort have been the direct grass-roots involvement of AID with various affected communities. With help from affiliated organizations such as TNSF & PSF, AID has also interacted with local governmental authorities to ensure co-ordinated and effective relief measure hence earning the trust of the local communities. Within hours of the tragedy, donations started pouring in via the specially set up website :
http://www.aidindia.org/CMS/index.php
Thus far more then 2 million dollars have already been pledged online through AID’s website along with sulekha.com. A sum of $160,000 has been disbursed for immediate relief. With the 3-tiered strategy for relief and rehabilitation, AID has now moved onto the second phase which involves construction of shelters while continue to monitor the health needs of the victims. The third phase will involve the long-term livelihood regeneration of the affected people.
The structured management of relief efforts has been the biggest challenges and AID has responded by ensuring that all volunteer resources are effectively employed.
For further updates on AID’s efforts please visit the following website
http://www.aidprojects.org/trac/issue1/1/
for strategy: click on the Relief & Rehabilitation Strategy tab
and for the summary: Summary of R&R efforts
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