On Saturday July 31st,  Carolyn Passey, co-founder of the India Society of Worcester Hindi school was honored at Fenway Park for her exemplary service to the community.  She along with her grandchildren were taken to the field and honored in the presence of the thousands of Red Sox fans.

The Network of South Asian Professionals Boston and the India Society of Worcester arranged for a block seating at the baseball game at Fenway Park to watch the Boston Red Sox take on the Detroit Tigers and see Carolyn Passey being honored. The weather was beautiful and the game ended in dramatic fashion with the Red Sox coming back to win the game in the last inning. 

For  ISW it was special to see one of their leading members honored.
This was the first time NetSAP Boston had a group event at Fenway Park and The Red Sox gave a welcome message to the group on the large scoreboard in center field.   The Red Sox were losing for most of the game which kept the crowd quiet, but fortunately they were able to win the despite losing by 2 runs heading into their last chance for batting.   After they won the game, they crowd cheered and left the park happy after an exciting finish.

For many ISW and NETSAP this was the first ever game they attended.
Watching it with their friends made this a very special event.
Lokvani congratulates Carolyn Passey on gaining the honor.


Letter of recommendation from ISW that won Carolyn Passey the honor

It’s no wonder that our American-born and American-raised honoree embraced Indian culture after marrying a physician from India in 1975.  But to be the inspiration behind a prospering cultural school for children of Indian heritage is all the more noteworthy.  As a newlywed, our honoree wanted to learn as much as possible about the culture and language of India, but soon realized there were no local resources available, even in the local Indian community.  Over the years she acquired most of her cultural knowledge from reading books and with the advent of the internet, from surfing the web. 

But in 1991, when the India Society of Worcester (ISW) acquired land to build its own India center, our honoree recognized an opportunity to realize her dream of local cultural resources for those interested in learning about the ways of life in India. Our honoree was the first to propose that the Center for the ISW house a Cultural School offering resources, to children born here in the United States, for learning about the culture, languages and religions of India.  From a humble beginning in 1992 and modest enrollment of 24, our honoree devoted endless hours guiding the development of the school to where it flourishes today with an enrollment of over 140 students and a curriculum that offers 5 different languages:  Hindi, Gujrati, Tamil, Bengali and Marathi. Remarkably, as the Cultural School program established itself, our honoree helped local public school systems teach their students about India and Indian Culture.
 
As Founding Director of the School, our honoree organized special programs during the school year to teach children about Indian history, geography, languages and different religions practiced in the Indian sub-continent.  She ensured a curriculum that celebrated Indian as well as local holidays to demonstrate tolerance of and respect for cultural differences.  In this way, she hoped the children would learn to respect differences among their peers.  She organized school trips to varied places of interest for the children.  As a way to cultivate concern for others, she incorporated into the school program, activities to benefit local charities; for example collections were held for food and gifts to be donated to Toys-for-Tots, the Share Care organization, local churches and food pantries.

On the practical side of running such an educational program, our honoree not only ensured that all children in the school had the necessary supplies, e.g., books, note pads, and pencils, she made sure that children were safe and cared for while at school.  She came to the ISW Center the night before school, to make sure all classrooms were clean and set-up for the classes in morning.  She returned to school at least an hour before the start of the day – especially during the winter months - to make sure the sidewalks were shoveled and classrooms were warm.  She stayed at school until the last student was picked up from the ISW Center.

In addition to her role as Cultural School Director, our honoree also contributed to the ISW by helping organize different cultural and religious programs.  Her volunteer spirit however was 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.  At the latter, she was responsible for collecting food from bakeries, and eggs and fresh vegetables from local farms to later distribute to the needy in the Wachusett region.  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 also made sure that all the recipients of the Food pantry received special gifts during the Holiday Season.

While volunteering for these many social causes, our honoree was raising three children, caring for elderly parents, helping nieces and nephews with babysitting, and providing transportation to athletic events and dance classes.  Our honoree, Carolyn, is the embodiment of selfless giving to community, family and friends.  We at the India Society of Worcester are ever grateful that she gifted her talents to us, our children and the community at large.

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