South Asian Network celebrates 22nd anniversary

ARTESIA, CA: The South Asian Network (SAN) celebrated on November 4 at the beautiful Los Angeles River Center and Gardens, 22 years of working towards healthy and violence-free South Asian American community in Southern California.
Sonal Shah, a premed major in college who graduated to become Dr. Sunny Dey on the television show, “Scrubs” emceed the evening, which included a gourmet Indian buffet and dancing to Bollywood hits and remixes of Bollywood classics as well as hip-hop provided by Dhamaka DJ. The USC Trojan Bhangra Team performed for an audience of 300 guests.
“We were blessed with another gorgeous evening at the LA River Center,” said Chair of the SAN Board of Directors Sanjay Chhugani. “Sonal Shah and the USC Bhangra Team provided fantastic entertainment for our guests. And what made the evening really meaningful was learning about SAN’s work and how their dedicated staff served hundreds of members of our community every year.”
Sponsors of the gala included Kaiser Permanente, Caldwell, the law firms of Leslie & Proctor, Alston + Bird, and Cabada and Hameed as well as Maazda Travel and SABA Public Interest Foundation. There were an additional forty community sponsors of the event, which include The Tri-Valley Medical Association, Tarsadia Foundation and Yahoo!
The event raised more than $50,000 for the organization. Proceeds from the fundraiser supported SAN’s core programs: Voices Against Violence, which empowers survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse, Community Health Action Initiative, which promotes healthy living from newborns to grandmothers and the Civil Rights Unit that organizes the community to reduce hate crimes, discrimination and racial profiling.
Manjusha Kulkarni, SAN’s Executive Director, noted, “The staff and I could not do this important work without the support of our Board of Directors, our Council of Advisors, numerous volunteers and our very generous corporate and community sponsors. And, we are especially grateful for all of our individual donors. Several individuals have told me that this year was financially difficult for them, but they still made significant contributions to SAN because our services are so vital to the community.”
The gala honored Puneet V. Kakkar, Esq. of Caldwell Leslie & Proctor, PC and Special Service Groups, Older Adults Programs for their significant contributions to the South Asian American community. As President of the SABA Public Interest Foundation, Mr. Kakkar helped to establish a citizenship clinic program, which utilized the skills of South Asian attorneys. As a private attorney, Mr. Kakkar provide legal assistance to SAN clients.
The SSG Older Adults Program paved the way for SAN to provide extensive mental health therapy as well as case management for SAN clients. Guidance from SSG enabled SAN staff to create an older adults program within the organization that offers hundreds of hours of free services to South Asian clients.
Established in 1990, SAN is the only nonprofit in Southern California advancing the health, safety and solidarity of the diverse South Asian American community, including person of Bangladeshi, Indian, Nepali, Pakistan and Sri Lankan origin.

India Post News Service