The American India Foundation held its Annual Spring Awards Gala in New York, May 2, drawing approximately 600 guests to Pier 60, Chelsea Piers, attracting an audience comprised of the area’s prominent leaders in business, politics, philanthropy, media and the arts. This year, AIF felicitated Dan Hesse, chief executive officer of Sprint and T. K. Kurien, chief executive officer of Wipro Limited, showcasing their personal and corporate leadership and philanthropy, as well as investment in India.
The evening raised over $1.5 million to support AIF’s mission, and highlighted AIF’s Market Aligned Skills Training (MAST) program for persons with disability, AIF said in a press release. MAST provides underprivileged and differently-abled youth with skills training and access to formal employment opportunities, allowing them to become empowered citizens and lead fulfilled lives.
The evening kicked off with a social cocktail reception where guests enjoyed the view of the sunset over the Piers, as well as a silent auction with offers ranging from tickets for sports fans of all kinds, to photography, to events like a NASCAR VIP experience, the press release said. Dinesh Paliwal, chairman, president & CEO of Harman International, and his wife Ila, chaired the Gala. Comedian Anish Shah Emceed the evening and South Asian a capella group Penn Masala provided catchy Bollywood and pop songs to open and close the evening.
Honorees received their awards onstage, and spoke about their passion for progress in India, the responsibility of companies to give back to their communities, and the importance of inclusivity in development. Wanda Grover, National Field Service Officer with the Blinded Veterans Association, took the audience through a ‘Moment in Darkness’, and experiential exercise where guests could empathize with the visually disabled by looking through a ‘vision card’ and briefly experiencing the world around them through a lens with a visual impairment.
Guests also saw a short video from AIF’s Campaign VEER, a two month television and digital initiative that – in partnership with Coca Cola and Network 18 – raised awareness of the challenges faced by persons with disabilities, with particular focus on advocacy for their employment. Bollywood actor Salman Khan, also known for his support of social causes through his NGO, Being Human, was Campaign VEER’s brand ambassador.
A special highlight to the evening was a brief presentation by Honorary Secretary of the National Association for the Blind (an AIF partner in Delhi) Shalini Khanna, and Market Aligned Skills Training graduate Renuka Bhagat. Khanna explained her motivation to work with India’s visually impaired and advocate for their employment, while Bhagat shared her personal experience of losing her vision – but not her courage.
Inspired by the two women, the audience pledged generously to support AIF’s MAST program for persons with disability, and bid on unique items such as stunning Bvlgari earrings and a lunch with retired Yankees star pitcher Mariano Rivera in a pledge drive and live auction expertly run by Sandhya Jain-Patel, head of Sale, Indian and Southeast Asian Art, Christie’s.
The American India Foundation is committed to catalyzing social and economic change in India and building a lasting bridge between the United States and India through high-impact interventions in education, livelihoods, public health, and leadership development, with a particular emphasis on empowering girls and women to achieve gender equity. Working closely with local communities, AIF partners with NGOs to develop and test innovative solutions and with governments to create and scale sustainable impact. Founded in 2001 at the initiative of President Bill Clinton, AIF has impacted the lives of more than 1.9 million of India’s poor and aims to reach 5 million by 2018.
