Report - First fundraising event for ethno-specific aged care facility

First fundraising event for ethno-specific aged care facility
- HDS Hirasave, Melbourne
e-mail:mosarto@yahoo.com

October 14, 2012

On 6th October, FIAV and AICCT (Australia India Community Charitable Trust) jointly hosted the first fundraising event for an ethno-specific aged care facility for people of Indian origin in Victoria. Dr. Vasundhara Doraswamy inaugurated the first fundraising event.

The program commenced with a prayer to Lord Ganesha by Aneka Srinivasan and the tradition of lighting the lamp was done by 10 distinguished ladies. A message from Dr. Raman Marar, past President of FIAV, who is currently in a nursing home, was read by Tara Rajkumar. Deputy Speaker of the Victorian Government, Christine Fyfe represented Premier Ted Baileu and Minister for Multicultural affairs Nick Kotsiras. In her speech, she said FIAV is doing great work in bringing the community together and that the Victorian Government appreciates the work FIAV is doing. She also shared her experiences with the audience as a migrant to Australia. The Indian Consul General, Dr. SK Behera, appreciated the effort FIAV has put in for the aged care project to go forward. He also appreciated FIAV in establishing AICCT.

The curtain raiser event was a Bharatanatyam performance by Dr. Vasundhara Doraswamy, who captured the hearts of the connoisseurs present for 3 hours from the minute she stepped onto the stage, with her crisp movements coupled with intense involvement and a delicate balance of nritha and abhinaya. Her ability in bringing out the emotional depths of the characters hit a note with the rasikas of Melbourne, especially her finale that was Yashoda’s lullaby to Lord Krishna. This was beautifully complemented by the supporting artistes Ahilan Sivanandan (vocal), Murali Kumar (violin), Balasri Rasiah (mridangam) and Sandesh Bhargav (nattuvangam).

On 7th October, FIAV& AICCT (Australian Indian Community Charitable Trust) organised a Unity in Diversity lunch for the Indian seniors from 6 major Associations. Preston Town Hall was packed with more than 300 guests who attended the event which turned out be a great success.

In his speech, Vasan Srinivasan, the president of FIAV, highlighted in detail the steps taken so far to get the project up and running. He also shared about his personal experiences with various Seniors Association Presidents in Melbourne over the last 25 years. He appreciated the support of the Australian Unity retirement living who are going to be in partnership for the project. He also thanked Australian Unity for sponsoring the lunch. Vasundhara Doraswamy, who was invited as a guest of honour, was thanked on behalf of the committee for having helped them kick start the project through her performance the previous evening. Mr. Rakesh Kawra, the Vice Consul of India in Melbourne, echoed the same and congratulated the FIAV and the AICCT and wished them all success.