IACF Scholarship Awards and City of Houston Scholarship Awards.
The Indo American Charity Foundation of Houston continued its tradition of sponsoring scholarships for worthy students at two events in Houston. In May, IACF sponsored the first and second place awards for the essay contest held by the City of Houston during Public Service Recognition Week. The contest was open to all Houston area high school students who were invited to write an essay on the various public service occupations. Five winners were awarded scholarship prize money. The first prize of two thousand dollars and the second prize of one thousand dollars were funded by IACF. The ceremony was held at City Hall, on May 4th and the presentations were made by Council member Toni Lawrence. The First Place ($2,000) winner was Hannah Lou, from Taylor High School in the Katy Independent School District and her essay was “If I Were a Librarian, What a Difference I Would Make.” The Second Prize of $1,000 was won by Frank Liu from St. John’s High School, whose essay was: “If I Were Director of Planning & Development, What a Difference I Would Make.”
Also in May, the IACF Scholarship Committee determined the 2006 IACF scholarship winners from Houston area high school seniors. These annual awards of two thousand dollars each are awarded to six college bound students of South Asian descent currently attending high schools in the greater Houston area. The eligibility was based on financial need, academic excellence, leadership potential and record of community service and recommendations from teachers and counselors. The six recipients of the 2006 IACF scholarships are Rakhi Wadera, Anika Jasmin Huq, Darshit Modi, Aman Barkat Ali, Kishwar Kabiruddin, and Aisha Adil. The 2006 judges were Robert Jensen, Tamara Nicholl and Sheetal Nasta. The IACF directors who chaired the scholarship committee were Sushma Bhan and Sudha Mani. The awards were presented at the IACF Kickoff Party on June 2, 2006 at the Oakland Farm and Ranch. The winners and their families were treated to a wonderful dinner and each gave a touching thank you in accepting their award.
In presenting the scholarship awards at the Kickoff Party, IACF gave meaning to its theme this year - “CREATING A BRIDGE TO THE FUTURE.” The Kickoff party is the starting point for IACF’s annual fund drive and will culminate at our upcoming gala, called “Chandni Raat” on Saturday, September 9, 2006 at the Hilton – Americas in Houston. We look forward to your ongoing support, generous spirit and participation. Together we will create a bridge to the future for the younger generations in the Houston community. To donate, volunteer or for more information about IACF please call 713-777-1322 or log on to our web site www.iacfhouston.org
IACF SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS NIGHT
The Indo-American Charity Foundation (IACF) is a non-profit, non-political and non-religious organization that continues to make a very positive contribution to the needy in Houston. IACF has been fortunate to receive the strong support of the community leaders.
Since its inception in 1988, IACF has contributed more than $2.5 million to more than 80 local non-profit organizations supporting education, social services and various worthy causes within the Houston and Greater Houston area.
Key areas of focus are:
- Education - through scholarships, essay and scholastic competitions, and supporting organizations like Teach for America, City of Houston Scholarships and IACF Scholarships
- Women – providing access to emergency shelter, support, & legal help to victims of domestic abuse by funding organizations like Daya, HAWC, FBCWC and MCWC
- Poor/homeless/underprivileged – health care support, food & shelter through established Houston area non-profit organizations like Richmond State School, Search and Houston Food Bank.
Education is key for success in the competitive economy. IACF continues to offer scholarships to college bound students based on academics and need basis. This year we have recognized that a concerted effort has to be made to encourage high school students to undertake creative writing in addition to the emphasis in science and math.
On May 13th, IACF Board held its annual Scholarship awards ceremony at Dr. Ravi and Sudha Mani’s home in West U. Honorable Consul General Mr. Shashi Gavai handed over the certificates to students and IACF president Mani Subramaniam handed them a check of $2000 each to be used towards their college expenses. Mr. Gavai commended IACF for the remarkable, charitable endeavors through the years and spoke words of encouragement to the students who won the award.
The following high school students earned the award:
Arundhati Desai - Lamar high school, commendable GPA. Going to UH for pharmacy
Shivani Ghai: Graduated from Lee high School, part of education in India, going to Texas A & M for Aerospace Engineering
Harin Desai- from Lamar high school, going to UH pharmacy
Purvesh Shah, Hastings high school, came from India in 2005, going to HCC major pharmacy
Steven Maheshwari, from Bellaire high, excellent GPA, many awards and distinctions, going to Harvard, major in economics
President of IACF Mr. Mani Subramaniam proposed a vote of thanks to the Scholarship committee Rupa Iyer and Sudha Mani and congratulated the recipients of the award.
The evening ended pleasantly after the Board enjoyed dinner and conversations with the award-winners and their families.
IACF supports essay writing contest sponsored by Houston City
The Indo American Charity Foundation of Houston continued its tradition of sponsoring scholarships for worthy students at two events in Houston. Earlier this month, IACF sponsored the first and second place awards for the essay contest held by the City of Houston during the Public Service Recognition Week. The contest was open to all Houston area high school students who were invited to write an essay on various public service occupations. Two hundred and sixty five students had submitted their essays. The selection committee consisting of Houston City employees narrowed down that group to 25 prior to selecting the final five award winners, who received the award money and a certificate of recognition. The first prize of two thousand dollars was given to Patty Soong graduating from Mirabeau B. Lamar High School. Her essay was titled “If I were a Bicycle-Pedestrian Coordinator, What a difference I would make?”. The second prize of one thousand dollars was awarded to Nashid Shinthia graduating from Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professionals and her essay was titled “If I were a Librarian V, Coordinator of Youth Services, What a difference I would make?”. The other three awards of $600, $400 and $300 were sponsored by Fiesta Supermarkets. The ceremony was held at the City Hall Visitor Center, on May 9th and the presentations were made by Council member James Rodriguez. Patty is planning to pursue a career in Chemical Engineering at the Texas A&M University and Nashid is planning to advance her interest in health professional field at the University of Houston. We wish all the award winners success in their life pursuits.
IACF is a 501 c-3 non-profit charitable organization devoted to supporting fledgling and established charities in Greater Houston community. Since inception in 1988, IACF has supported over 80 charitable entities helping many needy citizens of our community and have given out about $2M in grants and scholarships. Please support the annual fund raiser gala planned for Saturday, September 13th at the J. W. Marriott Hotel in the galleria area. Please visit our website www.iacfhouston.org or contact any Director of the Board for additional details.
In the photograph are the four award winners, Councilman James Rodriguez, IACF President Mani Subramanian, Treasurer Nat Murthy, Board member Sudha Mani, and Leela Murthy, ex-President of IACF. Also seen in the photo is Margo Hicks, teacher from Michael E. DeBakey School who had the most entries in the final round of judging.
Creative writing and art competition for Harris County Schools
A ceremony was held on Thursday February 7th at the Harris County Department of Education Offices on Irvington Blvd in Houston. Indo American Charity Foundation was a major sponsor for a second year at this very important event, which each year recognizes and presents awards to celebrate outstanding work and commitment of young artists and writers from Harris County Schools. This reception was in honor of approximately one hundred of these students and their teachers from over 2000 entries from Harris County Schools .
This year, the Indo American Charity Foundation (IACF) donated $2,500 to this program. This amount was used to provide $500 top prize for the essay contest which was won by Jenny Fan of Bellaire. A number of high school students that won Gold and Silver keys were presented monetary awards of $100 and $50 gift cards from Barnes and Nobles with a certificate from IACF recognizing their achievement. A separate ceremony was held on February 5th to honor the winners of the art contest which was also partly sponsored by IACF.
The Scholastic Art & Writing Program, established in 1923 is the longest running and largest competition of its kind in the country. The gold and silver key winners from these events are nominated for the national contest and their nominations have already been sent to the national contest. Approximately 25,000 art and writing entries arrive in New York City to compete every year from students in grades 7 to 12 in schools across the country. Only 1100 young writers and artists will receive the National Gold and Silver keys. A reception will be held in June to honor the winners from our greater Houston community.
IACF was well recognized by the Awards Committee with an introduction and at the time of presentation of gifts. The Foundation hopes to continue to support programs that create an environment for development of talent among the youth.
IACF is a non-religious, non-political non-profit organization that promotes education, helps the needy and the underprivileged through established local charities in the Greater Houston area. IACF is in its 20th year of operation and derives its funds from two annual events, a walkathon and the gala. The walkathon this year is to be held at the Lost Creek Park in Sugar Land on April 13th (changed date) at 9.00 a.m. This year’s walkathon will feature a food drive for the Houston Food Bank to bring back the original intent and the vision of the founders of IACF who wanted to help to alleviate the hunger and suffering in our community. Please participate in this wonderful community event and bring non-perishable items for the Houston Food Bank.
IACF has also launched its annual scholarship contest. Scholarships of $2,000 each will be given to high school graduates planning further studies. Please go to our web site www.iacfhouston.org for eligibility and to download the application with other details.
Shown in the picture with the officials of the Harris County Education Department are IACF President Mani Subramanian, President Elect Rachel Varghese, Secretary Sangeeta Pasrija and Board Members Mohan Rao and Pradeep Gokhale.
Download 2008 Scholarship Application: Submission Date extend upto April-25th.
2007 SCHOLARSHIPS Winners
2006 SCHOLARSHIPS Winners
