COMMUNITY
Bal Gopal Foundation hosts Shaam-e-Mehfil
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From LtoR - Mitesh Shah; Alpesh Patel; Nilesh Kerai; Paresh Bhudia; Bharat Janani; Ajay Patel; Ravi Bhanderi; Bhavesh Patel; Vishnu Patel, Dhiren Savani; Nimesh Savani; Afzal Parkar; On the Floor: Bhairavi Patel; Alpi Amin
Bal Gopal Foundation is a zero percent admin charity organisation, for educating under privileged children in third world counties. They had arranged a Shaam-E- Mehfil Night on Saturday 15th March 2014 at the Sattavis Patidar Centre in Wembley, where around
of the schools and children that BGF are active in supporting, along with photos of previous events and sponsors for the mehfil night and previous events. The hosts for the evening were Mr Afzal Parkar & Mr Nilesh Kerai. Who both wel-
Mr Ajay Patel (Chairman); keith Vaz MP; Mr Dhiren Savani (Treasurer)
350 guests of all ages attended. The evening started with a meeting and greeting of guests, with committee members giving detailed information about the charity. This event was predominantly, to raise awareness of the organisation and how effective a zero admin charity gives 100% in monetary terms, 100% commitment and most of all, the actions of all those in our organisation through the heart. Slide shows were on display throughout the evening depicting photos
comed the guest’s and went on to say how Bal Gopal Foundation, in such a short space of time they have managed to help support over 500 children, currently in several regions in India. The result of which, are the broadest of smiles and tears of joy – this being the measure of their true success. Their aim is to one day build and run a school under the Bal Gopal Foundation banner. Prior the main event, a delicious buffet dinner was served by Club 2000. Thereafter all the guests were ready and geared up
to melodious music provided by Narayan and Krishna of Shiv Pri Arts. Before the music, they were graced by the presence of the Right Honourable MP for Leicester East & Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Keith Vaz - who congratulated Bal Gopal Foundation on their hard work and level of commitment, in addition kindly donated a prize for the raffle, to the free raffle draw. The first 90 minutes of the mehfil went by quickly and guests were enjoying song after song, singing along to some old classics. During the short interval, the raffle took place, also during which time a traditional desert was served. The second half of the mehfil was even more electrifying with songs from past and present as requested by the guests. The last half an hour consisted of various qawalis and to end the night, a holi number was sung which got the crowd dancing on their feet. The event, helped raise over £5,000.00, through donations and sponsorship. Their next event which is the Annual Golf Tournament, in May, followed by the Annual Cricket Tournament and Funday, in August.
Indian journalist come activist bags prestigious Digital Activism Award Shubhranshu Choudhary, an Indian Journalist come activist, has been honoured with the prestigious Digital Activism Award at this year’s edition of Freedom of Expression Awards in Barbican Centre in London. Mr. Choudhary is the founder of a hyper local mobile news platform in Chattisgarh state. The prestigious award which is organised by London-based international organisation Index on Censorship, recognises
the bravest journalists, artists and activists from all across the globe in four different categories. Choudhary emerged as a clear winner in a public vote surpassing heavyweights like US whistleblower Edward Snowden and China’s Free Weibo. A Knight International Journalism fellow, Choudhary, pictured, is the brain behind CGNet Swara(Voice of Chhattisgarh) which is a voice-based portal freely accessible via mobile
Shubhranshu Choudhary
phone. It allows anyone to report and listen to stories of local interest in the local dialect, which is Ghondi in this case.
www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 29th March 2014
Giving back to the community is our moral duty
Rupanjana Dutta, Associate Editor
The Bhagvad Gita says that one should give as much as possible money to some good cause. And when the cause is closer to our hearts, perhaps it deserves more than just money. Many Asians from our community depend heavily on hospices when it comes to the elderly family members. Many have benefitted from such care services. And St Luke's as a hospice has undoubtedly helped many to give their family the best treatment in their final years. It has provided and continues to provide free end of life care to people whose illnesses are no longer curable. The Hospice gives their patients the best possible quality of life during the final stages of their illness and relies on the support of the community to raise £3 million each year in order to do this. To raise money for the St Luke's Hospice, Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar Publisher/ Editor Mr CB Patel and Chief of Operations Mr L George will be locked up on Friday 4 April in the Pinner Police Station. The detainees won’t be let out until they raise their minimum £1000 ‘bail fee’. They will be locked up with Dorab Mistry OBE; The London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow, Navin Shah AM;
Harrow Central Mosque’s Mohammed Trustees, Abdul Rahman; Cllr Ajay Maru who is also the owner of Salon Sleek; The Chair of Harrow Sikh Association, Gopal Bhachu and St Luke’s Trustee, Ramesh Bhanderi. For this noble cause Graham Buckland has raised £1645, Mohammed Rahman has raised £1518, Ramesh Bhandari has collected £1124.75, Nigel Orton has raised £795 and Cllr N Shah has raised £928 so far. Newsweeklies Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar and the St Luke's hospice urges the readers of the newspapers, the believers of social services and hospice cares, philanthropists and the well wishers of the detainees, to come forward and give generously to this Hospice. Asian Business Publications Limited has always done its bit for the community. It makes sure that a generous amount is raised for worthwhile causes every year. ABPL has recently
donated £4000 to Shishukunj, £1000 to Dr Kiran Bedi's Vision Foundation. In the last 5 years not only we have given over £20,000 every year to different causes, in the last one decade we have raised a huge sum of money, for various charities, at our prestigious Asian Achievers Awards. This also includes over £50,000 for St Luke's Hospice, a few years back. As a way of ethical and moral duty, we have also made sure to let go of upto £45,000 per annum, through adverts on faith and magic healers. We as a newspaper ensure to give back generously to our community, and we hope we will aspire our people to come forward and give generously to social causes and charities they believe in.
Eric George Cecil Rawson was a St Luke’s patient and received end of life care in the comfort of his home. It was at the discretion of his solicitor and acting executor, Mr Bharat Pindoria of Pindoria Solicitors in Stanmore, that a generous cheque for £250,000 was presented to the Hospice from Mr Rawson’s will. Other charities who supported the elderly in Harrow also received a donation. This legacy is the largest ever received by St Lukes Hospice. St Luke’s Director of Fundraising, Pam Russell said, “St Luke’s Hospice is tremendously grateful to Mr Rawson and Pindoria Solicitors for this generous legacy. Every legacy, large or small is gratefully received and will make a valuable contribution to our patient care, but a legacy of this size will make a tremendous difference to the Hospice. It could, for example, fund 40% of the costs of our Home Care teams, enabling patients to access high quality hospice care in the familiar surroundings of their own homes with the support of home visits from our doc-
tors, nurses and social workers.” Mr Pindoria, on behalf of the estate of Eric Rawson, said, “I am very glad and proud that St Luke’s have received a generous donation under Mr Rawson’s will. This donation will continue the excellent work St Luke’s does in the community. I’d like to emphasise that it is important that people make a Will using professional solicitors who are experts in will writing. Pindoria Solicitors has become the first solicitors firm in Harrow to be accredited by the Law Society with the Wills and Inheritance Quality Scheme. Interestingly, by making a substantial donation to charities, Mr Eric Rawson’s estate saved nearly £200,000 in
Inheritance Tax as all bequests to charities are exempt from the tax. I would prefer that St Luke’s and others charities received this money, rather than HMRC and the government.” Pindoria Solicitors are long standing supporters of St Luke’s. They have taken part in the Hospice’s October ‘Make a Will month’ which involves solicitors preparing a will free of charge in exchange for a donation to St Luke’s, or they donate a percentage of their fee to the Hospice. Mr Bharat Pindoria will also be taking part in St Luke’s skydive event on 26 April. He will be joining 15 people from the new Swaminarayan Temple Kingsbury to raise sponsorship for St Luke’s.
Sponsor CB Patel at www.justgiving.com/CBPatel and George at www.justgiving.com/L George or make your donations over the phone by contacting Aneka on 020 8382 8063.
Harrow resident leaves £250,000 to St Luke’s Hospice in his Will