India Association of Virginia (www.IAVA.us) Volume 24, Issue 3 - Sep 2016

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT Dear Friends,

I am humbled by your response this year to IAVA programs and events. The IAVA journey this year has

been amazing! Our programs continue to make history and we are getting better each day! I invite you to

partner with us and enjoy an awesome ringside view at the various activities and events.

The credit for these awesome programs, goes to my 32+ member team. These committed and multi-talented

individuals have worked very hard and with a smile, to make this year so eventful and fun for our families.

However, none of this would be possible without the overwhelming support of hundreds of enthusiastic vol-

unteers from our community. Your support, commitment and partnership inspires me.

IAVA mother’s day picnic was the largest ever and attracted 650+ people. We were thrilled to have brought a day full of fun and food

to all the Mothers. Continuing the trend, our Camping team took up the challenge and made it the largest camping ever— with 475+

people in the campground. We brought a Hawaiian themed luau, kids movie night, magic show & awesome music and food to en-

hance your camping experience. It was a memorable and fun filled experience. No other camping event comes even close. If you

missed it, check out the pictures on Facebook and be ready to sign-up next year. Join me in congratulating both the Picnic and Camp-

ing teams for hosting two amazing events.

As I promised at the beginning of my term, we want to strengthen our community partnerships. Recently, we hosted a very successful

Kachori Booth at Taste of India event. Thank you CCI team for your partnership and providing us with this awesome opportunity!

Our community’s faith in the organization was very evident when we opened IAVA New Year Eve discounted tickets. 90% of those

tickets were sold in the first 3 hours. We will leave no stone unturned to make it THE BEST party in town. If you missed this oppor-

tunity to reserve your spot for the most happening New Year Party, we will reopen booking again in December. Watch out for the e-mail announcement and please sign-up for the waiting list @ www.iava.us/newyear.

70th Independence day celebration saw one of the BEST response from community (550+ people), community leaders and elected

officials. It was a proud moment to witness unity among diversity during state competition in cultural programs. In last I thank you all

for your confidence in my team and my leadership. With a promise to bring lot more in rest of the year !! JAI HIND!

Rakesh Bainsla — President IAVA

Glimpse of IAVA celebrating 70th Independence Day of India

IAVA Camping

One of the largest camping in history of IAVA with multiple new flavors added to the event. Few highlights of the event are: First time registrations were made online to avoid long queues. The event was sold in <2 hours online for about 115 families with 50+ families in waiting list. Visits made to multiple parks before finalizing on Westmoreland state park. 4+ week of planning with team of 10+ people. With Hawaiian theme with photo booth was in-troduced.

Magic show for kids along with movie night. Bollywood Zumba with non stop dance. With 477 people attending the event. it was Nothing but Fun for 2 nights and 3 days !!

Our Big - IAVA Family (A glimpse from Camping)

Great Time

For

Buyers/

Investors!

Why Wait

Call Me

Now!

IAVA 2016 Committee Members Goutam Gandhi and his wife Sonali Rathod are proud to be part of

Indian community in Richmond for past 18 years. Goutam Gan-

dhi currently serving as

Chairman of IAVA and rep-

resented as president for

IAVA in 2011, vice chair of

AASOCV. Goutam works

for BofA and received presi-

dential award from White

House for community ser-

vices in 2012. Recently Fort

Lee Military base recog-

nized Goutam with Asian Community Leader. Goutam's family

tree roots go back to Rajastan and he enjoys speaking Marwari

along with Marathi. Goutam likes to run, travel and watch movies.

Individual Donations (since last darpan) IAVA is so proud and thankful to all of you who have come for-

ward and donated for a good cause to bring community together

and support our events. A BIG thank you to below members: Dishant & Meeta Shah $1501 (May) Atulya & Sangeeta Tiwari $501 Surya & Alka Dhakar $155 (Apr) Surendra Ganeriwala $150 Bharat Shah $101 Lokesh & Shilpi Golia $101 Asheesh Tiwari $101 Pankaj & Mona Sharma $101 Raj & Sudha Dubey $101 Deepak Kumar $100 Sanjay & Manisha Gandhi $75 Ankur & Hetul Patel $54 Sashi & Heena Zota $50 Jyot & Vibha Singh $50 Abhishek & Syamlee Malhotra $50 Shravan Morishetty $50 Sanjay Thirunagari $25 Bipan & Kusum Jain $25 Nirjara & Lokesh Pillai $25 Syam Kumar $25 Syam Nimmagadda $25

Thanks to our Community

Partners

Mother’s Day Picnic Mother’s day picnic was a BIG HIT program

with 640+ people attending the event and participation from all community leaders and

members including Embassy of India, HCV, CCI, GRMM, GRBA, GRTA and other re-

gional organizations. We are so proud to be THE platform for a united representation of

India. Spring picnic and mother’s day event took weeks of planning 50+ volunteers, 16+

hours of cooking and tons of support from friends.

Other than awesome food (Panipuri, Bhelpuri, Pakode, Dahi Bade, Mango Lassi, hot stuff Parathas, Shaahi Paneer, Dal

Makhani, cotton candy, Snow Cones etc) and sports activities (Tug of War – Moms vs Kids, Bingo, Face Painting, Water

Balloons, Moms & Kids Fun races and Prizes). The highlight of this program was Mother's day

Special, where kids gave rose to their mothers and took special photo with her in "Mother's

day Photo Booth" Thanks for all the volunteers for their tireless efforts in mak-ing it such a remarkable and path breaking event.

More pictures from Independence Day Celebration

IAVA Value Added Services

Shadow a Doctor:

We are now providing shadowing a doctor op-

tions for our high school kids. Thanks to Dr.

Dishant Shah for leading this effort. IAVA Notary Services: Free Notary services are provided to IAVA

members. You can book an appointment @ nota-

ry@iava.us Volunteer Hours: Your school going kids can help team IAVA in

our programs and they will be rewarded volun-

teer hours for the duration. Email info@iava.us

for details. Local/Travel Assistance: Facing any local or travel issues and need assis-

tance with those issues? Team IAVA ready to

help IAVA members of such issues. Email in-

fo@iava.us Visiting Parents: Team IAVA provide help with limited dentistry

need for visiting parents of IAVA members.

Email info@iava.us for details.

The Editor, DARPAN, IAVA India Association of Virginia & VCU 11604 Cobblestone Landing Ct, Glen Allen, VA 23059

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Thanks to our Community Partners