The Boston Pledge (a prominent non-profit organizations focused on promoting entrepreneurship at the grassroots level) started his 10th anniversary with a fund raising event, which was an amalgamation of fun and charity. This was an afternoon brunch event hosted at Hilton (Woburn) on February 13, 2011.  Volunteers Apparao Kerri, Chitro Neogy, Lorie, Partha Ghosh, Rui Li, Ruma Neogy, Rex Dupont, Susri Anuradha and Shirish Nimgaonkar worked hard to put up a fabulous show.

The afternoon started with networking sessions followed by delectable food and drinks. Anu Chirapu, Vikram Chabra, Ravi, Upendra Mishra, Manju Sheth, Anil Saigal, Seema Arora, Raj Sishodia, Dhanashree Ramachandran, Sunanda Sahay and Don Perrot shred their philanthropic work. It was a great opportunity for the audience to learn about the different kind of social work going on around them.  After the speeches, the audience got engaged with their valentine’s by the vibrant live music presented by “Kashish Tunes”. Musicians Shirish Nimgaonkar, Sudha, Meena, Ishan and Sujit delighted the audience with their work. Aditi Taylor served as a delightful anchor.

This was followed a trendy fashion show organized by Piya Banerjee. Sridivya Srinivasan, Chitra Karki, Nidhi Bharadwaj, Seema Arora, Alex Takhtani, Chirantan Neogy and Rupayan Neogy served as models for the evening.

Two classical dancers Smt. Ranjani Saigal and Smt. Urmi Samadar presented classical dance in Bharatanatyam and Kathak style. Urmi a new comer to the Boston are dazzled the audience with her brilliant performance.

There was a raffle draw and a fun game where the couple’s were encouraged to give rose to their better half. While all these fun were going on in one hall, in an adjacent hall there was a Bone Marrow drive being conducted by National Marrow Donor Program. There was also a display of vibrant and colorful ethnic costumes and glittering Indian ornaments for sale, and silent auction of “Madhubani” painting (created by Sunanda Sahay). Some percentage of all the sale and auction was donated for the fundraiser. The groups of people in this event were from different professional sphere who are commonly joined by their passion for community work. Everybody contributed in their unique ways. With some of the prominent people from business, academia, non-profit and social circle, there was a great networking opportunity, lots of enjoyment along with the satisfaction of supporting a noble cause such as promoting entrepreneurship as a way to solve important problems at the grassroots level.

|