The sub-committee of the Auckland Indian Association Inc., Mahila Samaj hosted a fundraising dinner last week to help support Starship Foundation of New Zealand.
Mahila Samaj invited the community members to be a part of a noble cause and also plan and discuss how the committee can come up with new initiatives to serve the community.
The Executive Committee through its word of mouth, referrals, contacts and social media promotions were able to get 300 people to the Mahatma Gandhi Centre for the charity worthy event.
Mahila Samaj, over the last 12 months has held many events such as Mother’s Day High Tea, cooking demonstrations, talks on health topics, annual rangoli competitions etc.
Mahila Samaj in the next three years will celebrate its Golden Jubilee, since its inception in 1971, August 1- at the Gandhi Hall on Victoria Street, Auckland.
“The primary objective behind Mahila Samaj was to form a Women's Group for the Indian Women in New Zealand,” the Chairperson of AIA Mahila Samaj, Vanita B Patel told The Indian Weekender.
“I am proud to say Mahila Samaj has grown through the decades.
“The necessity to address issues and topics relevant to women has proven to be beneficial,” she added.
The Charity Dinner held on Sunday, November 18 was attended by Aisha Daji Punga, CEO of Starship Foundation, as the guest speaker to the event.
The 22 members of the Mahila Samaj spread themselves across different tables at the event speaking to the attendees at each table discussing ideas and initiatives for the betterment of the community.
“The committee was broken down into small groups according to their field of expertise to undertake that particular activity for dinner. The discussions were monitored at different intervals to make sure that every group was on target and were meeting the requirements that were needed for dinner,” Ms Patel added.
The food at the dinner was prepared by the in-house kitchen of Auckland Indian Association and entertainment provided by a dance group called Desi Beat, led by well-known Kiwi-Indian artist Danisha Lal. Comedian Tarun Mohanbhai and 19-year-old talented Opera singer Sid Chand also performed at the event.
“With so many donations of food, raffle prizes, monetary donations it became an amazing evening with everyone enjoying their time with family and friends to make the evening a great success and surely it was,” President of AIA, Narendra Bhana said.