Our Bureau
Edison, NJ
South Asian Community Outreach (SACO) invited a diverse group of individuals from all faiths, races, religions, or political affiliations to celebrate our values of unity and brotherhood at their 10th Annual Holiday Gala on Wednesday, December 15, 2021. It was attended by several top elected officials and local dignitaries and community leaders.
South Asian Community Outreach was founded in 2012 and has grown into a formidable organization lead by Nilesh Dasondi, Dr Nimisha Shukla, Seema Jagtiani among others with their inaugural event as the Independence Day Fireworks in Edison. Since then, it has celebrated various festivals bringing all communities together. Their participation in Memorial Day parade was applauded by everyone.
For last 10 years, SACO is uniting various communities with well-planned events aimed at understanding the cultures to bring them together for building a harmonious society.
“The aim of SACO since it was founded in 2012 is to celebrate the ‘Unity in Diversity’ by collaborating with various organizations of South Asian origin and showcase our heritage giving opportunity to everyone to understand us” said Sam Khan, founder of SACO. “During the pandemic while the world seems to be divided, our goal is to bring everyone together and break bread with each other.”
This year’s Interfaith SACO Celebrated 10th annual dinner on hosted on Wednesday, December 15th at the Royal Albert Palace in Edison, NJ. The festivities program started at 6:30 PM. Besides prayers from various religions, individuals with a great contribution for the community were recognized. The award recipients of this year are Hon. Zahid N Quraishi, first Muslin Federal District Judge, Kevin P McCabe, Chairman of the Middlesex County Democratic Committee, Dr. H. R. Shah. Chairman and CEO of TV Asia, and Sunil Hali, South Asian media pioneer for more than two decades in broadcasting and newspapers business.
Many dignitaries attended the mega event which included, LeRoy Jones (NJDSC State Democratic Chairman), Craig J. Coughlin, (Speaker of NJ General Assembly), Pat Diegnan (State Senator, LD-18), Sam Thompson, (State Senator, LD-22), Robert Karabinchak (Assemblyman LD-18), Sadaf Jaffer (Assemblywoman-elect LD-16), Sterley Stainley (Assemblyman LD-18), Raj Mukherji (Assemblyman LD-33), Claribel Cortes (Middlesex County Surrogate), Mildred Scott (Middlesex County Sheriff), Nancy Pinkin (Middlesex County Clerk), Brad Cohen (Mayor, East Brunswick), and Thomas Lankey (Mayor, Edison), Charlie Carley (Mayor, South Brunswick) Jonathan Busch (Mayor, Metuchen) John McCormac (Mayor, Woodbridge), Sam Joshi (Mayor-elect, Edison), Wayne Richardson (Essex County Commissioner) and , Shanti Narra, Charles Tomaro. Many community & civic organizations joined the celebrations.
