Event, which will raise funds for children of Indian migrant workers, to also honor top global leaders.
AB Wire
The Atlanta chapter of the American India Foundation (AIF) will hold its second annual fundraising gala on April 2.
More than 200 people, including some of the region’s most influential philanthropists and entrepreneurs, business executives, luminaries, and community leaders, will attend the event, which will be held at the Atlanta Athletic Club, according to a press release from the organization.
The gala will honor three top global business leaders: David Abney, who is the CEO of UPS; Patrick Decker, CEO of Xylem; and N.K. Chaudhary, founder of Jaipur Rugs.
“A really diverse group of people and corporations have come forward to support our cause in financial and other ways,” said Amitabh Sharma, the Chair of AIF’s Atlanta Leadership Council. “We have already been able to take the event to a whole new level in the second year of our presence here. I see a high level of engagement in Atlanta for AIF going forward.”
Apart from the honorees, the main speakers of the evening will be Dennis Lockhart, President/CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and Victor Menezes, retired Senior Vice Chairman of Citigroup & Chair Emeritus of AIF.
Where | Atlanta Athletic Club, 1930 Bobby Jones Drive Johns Creek, Georgia 30097 |
When | April 2, 2016, at 6:30 pm |
Website | https://donate.aif.org/atlantagala2016 |
All of the proceeds from the evening’s pledge drive will go toward supporting AIF’s Learning and Migration Program (LAMP), the release said. “Across India, approximately 72 million people migrate from their villages in remote rural areas every year in search of labor, uprooting entire families for up to eight months at a time in hazardous work sites,” it said. “These children are forced to migrate with their parents, leaving behind their schools, friends, and communities. LAMP has provided these children with resources to attend local schools, stable home and educational environments, as well as safe and structured care in seasonal residential hostels during migration season. To date, over 350,000 children have been educated over 9 states in India. It only takes $50 to educate one child per year.”
AIF’s inaugural gala in Atlanta had brought together more than 200 guests and raised more than $100,000. The funds from that event’s pledge drive went towards supporting AIF’s programs that focus on skilling both disadvantaged youth, especially those struggling with disabilities. Since 2001, AIF has impacted the lives of 2.5 million of India’s poor and aims to reach 5 million by 2018-2019, according to the organization.