IACRF Seniors Celebrate India Independence Day with Mayor Kate Gallego
India Independent Day Celebration:
The IACRF Hall wasbeautifully decorated. Indian and American flags were mounted on the stage. We had special visitors joining us for the special day celebration that included, guests of honor: City of Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallegoand her policy adviser Laura French, Congressman Greg Stanton’s representative Eric Chalmers, Arizona State Legislator Amish Shahand IACRF President Sudhir Kalra.
Members had a parade within the hall area, holding the tricolor flags of India reciting slogans ‘Bharatmataki jai’, ‘Vande Matram’, ‘ Shahido Amar Raho’. Six members sung patriotic songs. They were ShrikantVaidya, Meena Bhavsar, Arun Asarawala, Ramesh Joshi, Usha Gautam and Deepa Bagai. At 11.30 am, Shrikant Vaidya initiated the Salutation with the slogans of “Jai Hind” & “Bharatmataki Jai”. National Anthems of India and America were sung.
Bhagubhai Patel welcomed all our guests of honor and briefed them about IACRF Seniors activities expressing a vision of having "Indo-American Senior Citizen Center" in city of Phoenix.
Dr Prakash Kotecha then introduced the charismatic Mayor Kate Gallego who happens to be the youngest Mayor among the mayors of the major cities of USA and the only woman mayor. Mayor Gallego congratulated all the seniors on the Independence Day of India. She mentioned that she is working to grow the city’s economy, create jobs and stand up for the city’s core values.
Mayor Gallego then shared the Proclamation of India Independence Day Celebrationby the city of Phoenix as per the law and invited all the city, state and federal representative members to join. Eric Chambers, Amish Shah, Bhagubhai Patel, Lalitbhai Patel and Prakash Kotecha joined her in the process. Lalitbhai Patel introduced legislator Amish Shah. Legislator Amish Shah describing his association with India showed his passion of helping Indian community in various ways. Eric Chalmers the congressman’s Senior district advisor read a letter of greetings from Congressman Greg Stanton. For Arizona Greg’s efforts have led to vital water conservation and effective reforms to make our government more efficient.
Mr. Sudhir Kalra, a young and energetic President of IACRF, also expressed his desire to work tirelessly for the development of our community and also looked forward to the cooperation of all.
A Quiz Trivia was conducted by Madhu Joshi in an interesting way, followed by a Skit ‘Back in Time around 1947’ written by Suresha Shah. Usha Gautam, Umesh Parikh, Meena Bhavsar, Kusum Savala and Mahendra Shah participated in it.
Marriage Anniversary of Ramaben & Sumanbhai Patel
Our previous senior members Ramaben and Sumanbhai visited us on 1stAugust from Florida and shared their 65thMarriage Anniversary with the members. Ramaben pointed out that they had celebrated 50thmarriage anniversary with IAF senior friends and it was pleasure to celebrate 15 years later again. She also shared jokes, her favorite activity that most members look forward to when she is around.
Tribute to Meenaxi Patel
Meenaxi Patel, wife of Dr. Kanubhai Patel, is a poet who published the book titled “Amdavad thi Arizona” in Gujarati last year on July 20, 2018 in presence of Kajal Ojha Vaidya. She worked as teacher in NJ and won the first prize in Hudson country and second prize in the state of NJ as the best teacher. She passed away last year due to cancer. Her poems in Gujarati were read out by Prakash Kotecha in her memories and members appreciated her poems and the book a lot. Dr. Kanubhai Patel and the family sang a Bhajan that she liked, in her memory.
Presentation by the Guests:
Dr. Sat Parashar explained the activities performed by SEWA International group. Other members from SEWA included Jyotsna Bitra, Prasad Koranne and Renu Parashar.
Lunch sponsor for the month included
Deviben & Babubhai Gohel, Srikant Vaidya, Ramaben & Sumanbhai Patel, Jayesh & Kamini Shah, Kokilaben & Shantubhai Amin and Dr. Kanubhai Patel
By Dr Prakash Kotecha & Sr. Bhagubhai Patel