Geetha Patel
NEW ENGLAND: The Federation of Indian Associations (FIA) and Indo-American Community from New England celebrated Diwali, the festival of lights on Wednesday, 03 November 2021 with a large food donation event in Providence, RI.
The grand State House building was lit with beautiful color lights and will be there for everyone to enjoy for the rest of the week. Hundreds of audiences attended the joyful event of the year.
In the late afternoon, food donation events were held at Crossroads and Rhode Island Community Food Bank. FIA’s Vice President, Sanjay Gokhale, welcomed and thanked all the guests namely Mayor Elorza, former RI State Representative Bob Lancia, Director of Community Outreach Richard Wild, and President Karen Santilli for their full of zip participation. In addition, theprivilege given to the Indian Community for taking part in the community services and sharing the joy of Diwali celebrations with the local American community at large.
Mayor Jorge Elorza cut the ribbon of a truck full food donation of non-perishable food items. He also read a Citation issued to Aadi G. Dixit, a high school student volunteer who had helped during this and several other community events with great dedication and responsibility. FIA and Indian American Teams with President Abhishek Singh shared fifty large Pizza with the Soup Kitchen at Crossroads for their residents’ Pizza Party in the evening.
Deep Prajwalan/Diwali lighting of a lamp event was held at the Governor’s Reception Hall of the State House building. Governor Daniel McKee, Mayor Jorge Elorza, India’s Consul General in New York Randhir Jaiswal, Deputy Consul General Dr. Varun Jeph, former RI State Representative Bob Lancia, Shri. Swami Yogatmanand, President and Minister of Vedanta Society of Providence, and many Indian American community leaders from the New England region attended this event.
Consul General Randhir Jaiswal thanked Governor McKee for hosting Diwali celebration at the State House and for taking active part and providing support to the Indian American community. He talked about the growing importance of India’s relationship with Rhode Island and invited Governor McKee to visit India’s consulate in New York City soon.
Subsequently, Governor McKee said that we are interested in building stronger partnership with Indian American community, thanked CG Jaiswal for his invitation, and extended his reciprocal invite to CGI Jaiswal, New York. Mayor Jorge Elorza also addressed the audiences and shared his notable experiences from his visit to India and working with the Indian American community in Rhode Island. He thanked FIA and Indian American Community from New England for their generous food donation to Crossroads and Rhode Island Community Food Bank. Former RI State Representative Bob Lancia also spoke on the occasion.
Governor McKee handed over the Citations by reading to Kaushik Patel, Brij Garg and FIA – New England for their community services and volunteer works. He also read a Citation and gave it to Professor Ram Gupta, Founder of Hari Vidya Mandir School and Trustee of Rhode Island Hindu Temple for more than 25 years of service in the field of education. Consul General Randhir Jaiswal announced to gift sets of 50 books on India, Indian culture, Indian history, and Indian philosophy to each of Rhode Island State House Library, Providence Mayor’s office and Hari Vidya Mandir School.
Abhishek Singh, President of FIA thanked his team members and other FIA executives for their services in food distribution, lighting the lamp, and the entire State House Building. Then, everyone greeted each other by saying ‘Happy Diwali and May light always guide your way all year long.’ The program was concluded by serving packed vegetarian dinners with special sweets to all attendees.
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