India development and Relief fund (IDRF) invites you all to join 4th annual Holi celebration on Saturday, March 26th 2005 (Snow/Rain date: April 30th) at Milan Restaurant in Shrewsbury, MA. . “Holi - The festival of Colors” will be celebrated with traditional powder colors and “Holika Dahen” (Bon fire)”. The other attractions include, “Filmi Antakshari” and cultural programs. Contact IDRF Events coordinator Harish Rathi (idrf_holi@yahoo.com /Phone: 404-932-5172) if you are interested in participating in any of these programs or would like to help IDRF.

Like the earlier IDRF Holi celebrations, expect plenty of entertainment, colors, and people. Annual Holi celebrations in the past 4 years by IDRF succeeded in bringing festivity and color to the cold weather.  With over 600 people participating every year, IDRF could raise significant funds for a developmental project in India. The funds raised from last year’s Holi were sent to Ved Mandir, Jammu & Kashmir for the construction of Balika Niketan, which provides food, education & shelter to orphaned girls who lost their parents due to terrorism and other causes. IDRF Boston chapter has sent more than $50,000 for the girls orphanage construction project.  This year, all the proceedings will be donated to help the Tsunami victims.

With a long proven track record for helping India’s poor and suffering people during previous calamities like Latur earthquake, Kargil conflict, Orissa super-cyclone and Gujarat earthquake, IDRF has become the “Charity Of Choice” for the Indian-American community. IDRF’s donation receipts for tsunami relief and rehabilitation are expected to reach $1 million.  Institutional donors like Indian associations, temples and cultural groups are approaching IDRF to channel their collection of donations due to IDRF’s 17-year track record in working for the affected people in India. More details about IDRF’s Tsunami relief efforts can be found at tsunami.idrf.org. 

IDRF is the largest Indian non-profit charity organization in New England area and has a successful event handling experience. IDRF’s mission is clear:  to support volunteer-based, honest and highly experienced non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in India in serving their populations’ critical needs around education, healthcare, and welfare, without regard to religion, caste or creed. With it’s unique concept of zero overheads, all the donations are used to support the developmental/relief activity in India. To learn more about IDRF and its activities, please visit www.idrf.org or email idrfboston@yahoo.com

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