Our Bureau New York
The Associations of Indians In America (AIA) NY, the oldest and largest association of Asian Indians in America unanimously elected its new president Harish Thakkar and the new board for the year 2021-2022.
President ElectHarish Thakkar will spearhead the team for the year 2021-2022 with the help of Executive Vice Presidents Dr. Satish Anand, Dr. Bal Gilja, Dr. Jagdish Gupta, Usha Kapoor, Secretary Beena Kothari and Treasurer Dr. Pushpa Shah – Members at Large Dipika Modi, Divya Shah, Gitanjali Anand, Nishant Garg, Beenu Sabharwal, Rene Mehra, Joyti Gupta, Vimal Goyal, Govind Bhatija, Swati Vaishnav and Sunny Thakkar. Advisor -Dr. Shahi Shah, Asmita Bhatia, Rohit Vyas and Sushma Kotahwala
Last year 2020, under the leadership of AIA – NY President, Harish Thakkar, AIA did many events for the community.
The AIA NY Chapter 2020 projects were: in February, AIA NY Chapter family Bowling event, COVID help community projects; in June, AIA NY Chapter distributed groceries to needy families; in July, AIA NY young chapter Desi Next distributed Face Masks to Jamaica hospital, AIA NY Chapter distributed meals to Westchester Hospitals & White Plains Hospital; in October, AIA NY chapter celebrated 33rd Diwali on the Cruise in NYC on East Hudson river.
The organization did a number of events in November: AIA NY Chapter, Diwali celebrations Zoom event. special guest on zoom event Congresswomen Grace Meng & Deputy Consul General of India, Shatrughan Sinha; AIA NY Chapter did Diya lighting at Times Square in NYC with limited 25 people. Chief guest of Diya lighting, Consul General of India, Randhir Jaiswal, NY state Senator, John Liu, deputy consul General Satrugun Sinha & Manhattan Borough President Gail Brewer. This event was covered by all Indian media outlets.
Harish Thakkar plans to take the organization to new heights with events planned for Celebrating India’s Cultural events like Holi and Diwali. This year AIA NY will also host Community help events whenever needed, Youth Basketball Camp, Hindi Summer Camp, Food Drive and Toys of Kids during the holiday season. With the help of the Executive team and Advisory Board Members, AIA NY plans to take on projects like Job Fair, Entrepreneurship camps and Youth Leadership Development Skill Camps.
