Our Bureau / New York
On April 11, RCHS members celebrated their official 501©(3) status on 3/26/21 and IRS made it applicable since Nov. 2019 and the club members cut a cake at Royale Restaurant in Holiday Inn Garden City, to celebrate their Charitable status where all donations received by RCHS for their charitable endeavorswould be Federal Tax Exempt. President Ms. Nilima Madan, Rotary District 7255 Governor Miss. Jacquelyn Yonick, Club Founder President and PDG Mr. Kamlesh Mehta along with many Past Presidents and club members were present. All congratulated RCHS members for their accomplishment in earning the Charitable IRS Tax Exempt Status!
On April 8, RCHS also held its Annual Undergarments Give Away Project, at the outdoor premises of Mid-Island Y JCC, in Plainview, Long Island, NY. President Ms. Nilima Madan and club members were joined by NYS Senator Kevin Thomas, the Superintendent of the Town of Oyster Bay, Mr. Joseph Saladino and Mr. Sohail Ranat who represented the NYS Senator, Miss Anna Kaplan. Others present for this charity giveaway event were the Rotary District 7255 Governor, Miss. Jacquelyn Yonick, RCHS Founder President and PDG, Mr. Kamlesh Mehta, Past President and AG, Mr. Quddus Mohammed, Past Presidents, Mr. Dave Vyas Sharma, Miss. Roopam Bhambri Maini, Dr. Urmilesh Arya, Service Project Director Jasbir Singh, Sergeant at Arms Rekha Gupta, VP Anu Gulati and Rizwan Qureshi with other Club Members. Club Secretary, Mr. Mizan Rahman welcomed everyone at the outset and invited Club President, Ms. Nilima Madan to address the occasion.
RCHS President Ms. Nilima Madan appreciated the presence of the officials who made time always to support RCHS events and their club’s community charity efforts. She thanked major donors, VP Rizwan Qureshi of HAB Bank, Dr. Raj Modi and Dr. Jay Sarkar who made the event possible besides others. She mentioned past giveaway projects to the needy in the community done by RCHS year after year and spoke about the continued effort for the current project by Chairs Ms. Anu Gulati and Dr Meera Rao.
Senator Thomas and Supervisor Saladino spoke commending the charitable activities this club was doing to help the needy adults and children in the communities in so many different ways. The President also invited PDG Kamlesh Mehta to say few words and he was proud of achievements through challenges during the pandemic and admired President Nilima Madan as one of the best RCHS Presidents whose efforts should make her a candidate for the prestigious Rotary Service Award as he spoke directly to the DG Ms. Jacquelyn Yonick, who in turn expressed how amazing the club was and applauded best effortsunder her leadership. President Ms. Nilima Madan especially thanked Rick Lewis, Chief Executive Officer of the Mid-Island Y JCC who made accommodation to provide space for the project during pandemic times.
President Ms. Nilima Madan also invited Project Chairs Ms. Anu Gulati and Dr. Meera Rao to talk about the 250 sets of men and women underwear, under shirts, sports bras and socks that were distributed that day. Representatives of recipient organizations who stepped up to the podium were St. Clair Samuel, Pastor of The United Methodist Church of Hempstead, NY, representative of Family & Children’s Assn Hempstead NY, Ms. Haseena MooppanBoard Chair, of Domestic Harmony Foundation and Dr. Swarna Shah, the Treasurer of South Asian Council of Social Services in Queens NY,and they all stressed the need for help with people who reach out to them for help with such donations from organizations like Rotary. A major recipient was also the Social Services of Nassau CountyNY who cater to many distressed families.
Citations from Senators Kevin Thomas, Anna Kaplan and Supervisor Joseph Saladino were given out to RCHS President Ms. Nilima Madan, Chairs Anu Gulati and Dr Meera Rao, Ted Rossi of the Rossi Foundation was recognized with them too and the citations were received on their behalf by DG Jaquelyn Yonick for the ‘Three Million Surgical and other Masks’ distributed by them in the Tristate area through Rotary International. Three Citations also went out to Dr. Dheeraj Kaul as a special Covid Hero recognition and received by his mother.
On April 17, Rotary Club of Hicksville South (RCHS) worked with Pastor St. Clair Samuelof the United Methodist Church in Hempstead NY and raised donation money as well as collected,many boxes and bags of lightly used and new clothes, hygiene items, food boxes and cans, shoes, kitchen and bedroom items for the victims of the recent La Soufrière volcano eruptions at St. Vincent, in the Caribbean Islands.
