On May 26th NetSAP DC, the American Jewish Committee’s Access DC, JAM (Jews and Muslims), and the Thursday Network (the DC chapter of the Greater Washington Urban League) hosted a Young Professionals’ reception and fundraiser for Haiti. Held at the Haitian Embassy, the reception’s purpose was to bring attention and funds to the City of Petit Goâve, located 64km south of the capital Port-au-Prince. Petit Goâve was severely damaged by the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti. A multitude of houses and buildings were destroyed and thousands of people were killed.

Reception attendees were asked to donate $20 each, and 100% of all donations went directly to the City of Petit Goâve. The four host organizations sponsored the event where there was lots of delicious food, wine, and beer. The Ambassador and his wife were kind enough to speak at the reception and express their thanks, and also mingled with attendees. In total the event had 90 attendees and raised $2,500 for relief efforts.

Funds raised from the event will used for the following:

-Food and Water
-Shelter (canvas, tents, beds)
-Medicines & Medical Supplies
-Handicap Equipments (for more than 500 handicapped)
- Portable Restrooms
-Dump Trucks, Waste Trucks, Backhoes, Wheel Loaders, Pickup Trucks

We thank all of our members who attended and helped raise the much needed funds and attention for Haiti.

8:15 am on Saturday morning, I clutched my coffee cup and jumped into my car. 20 minutes later a group of energetic and enthusiastic NetSAP DC members got ready for a day of service at Hands on DC’s Work-a-Thon, on Saturday, May 15. Hands on DC is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization that organizes projects to improve the physical condition of Washington, D.C. public schools. Their largest event is the annual spring Work-a-thon in which they mobilize more than 2,000 volunteers to work on projects at more than 30 D.C. public schools.

NetSAP DC was assigned to Langdon Elementary school in NE Washington, DC .We were split into two groups: one was in charge of painting the boys and girls bathroom, while the other was lead to landscaping efforts on the school grounds.

With a goal of raising $1K and recruiting 25 volunteers, our Community Service Pillar chairs raised a total of $1051 and recruited 31 NetSAP DC volunteers! NetSAP DC beat over 130 other volunteer teams to come in third place for raising the most funds for Hands on DC. Funds were raised by individual volunteers, and $10 from every new NetSAP DC  membership fee was also donated.

After a hard morning of work, the volunteers were treated to a pizza lunch from Papa Johns. A happy hour for volunteers was also organized by Hands on DC later that evening near Capital Hill.

Back by popular demand, NetSAP DC held its first Rotating Dinner Circle for South Asian Professionals at the Melting Pot in DC on April 21. Cheese, bread, wine, chocolate- who can say no?

Co-sponsored with DC’s Pros in the City, the event began with a little mingling at the bar. All registrants were asked to complete a brief survey outlining the industry they currently work in and if they would be interested in meeting others in the same industry or of different backgrounds. The registrants were then split into three tables based on their responses. I indicated in my survey that I am a government contractor for Health and Human Services, and I would like to meet other contractors or those who work in International Development.

Each table had oozing pots of cheese- three different types at each- with various crudités, pieces of fresh bread, and tortilla chips. Armed with our skewers, we eagerly dipped in. After the salad course, half the guests at each table were asked to move to another table. Our tables were refreshed with three different types of chocolate, marshmallows, pound cake, and fruit to nosh on. It was fun to meet people with similar interests (cheese and chocolate!) at a setting different from our Third Thursday happy hours.

A few days before his speech at Georgetown, I was honored to be invited to the Indian Embassy along with our Political Pillar Chair Tejas Kadia, for a private reception in honor of Dr. Kalam. The reception was hosted by the current Indian Ambassador to the US, Meera Shankar, at the Indian Embassy on Connecticut Ave. The reception began with light hors d’oeuvre and networking with the invited guests. Tejas and I met a few of the Embassy’s staff members, local media, and leading South Asians in the industries of aeronautics, genetics, and bio-technology.  We were the youngest attendees and we took full advantage of informing the guests of NetSAP DC’s mission and events.

Once Dr. Kalam arrived, he gave a speech to the attendees on his vision for India and the world by 2020. He speech was sprinkled with witty jokes and you often found the audience chuckling along, but overall he had lofty and inspiring goals for the world.

Our first event was held this spring with a Cherry Blossom Lantern walk hosted by a National Park Service Ranger. The evening guided tour was to encompass a less than 2 mile walk of the perimeter of the Tidal Basin. A group of us showed up on time (yes we were on time despite IST), but to our dismay, our friend Mr. Park Ranger had no microphone or megaphone to guide us on our Cherry Blossom adventure. Being the South Asian leaders we are, we decided to break away from the group and have our own NetSAP walk. Although the event did not go as planned we still had a great time.  I got to meet some new members and walk around the FDR Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and WWII at night (which is my personal favorite time to view the monuments).

If you would be interested in organizing a small cultural event for NetSAP, I would love to hear from you! We hope that our members take advantage of the great cultural sites we have in DC.

“Yes, I know our Holi event is at the end of March, and yes, I know Holi was in the end of February”, was my frequent response to member emails and messages on Facebook. Everyone in DC knows about the number of snow storms we endured this winter, so we decided to wait until sun came back out to play to host NetSAP DC’s 6th Annual Holi Hungama.

Co-hosted by former NetSAP DC President Poonum Agarwal and Mona Tandon, NetSAP DC hosted the 6th Annual Holi Hungama at Quincy Park in Arlington on March 28. This was my first Holi celebration and I was armed and ready with my bag of pink holi powder. We had a great turnout of about 40 people who were brave enough to endure the color war. NetSAP had a table of free holi color for our members to play with, and a potluck lunch was also organized. We hope everyone who came had fun, and please send us suggestions for next year!

That night we also held “ENGAGE IN CHANGE WITH INDICORPS AND NETSAP DC” an event organized by Indicorps. The purpose of the event was to discuss leadership and community involvement locally and abroad. Indicorps is a great organization whose main purpose is to provide volunteer opportunities in India to Indians around the world. Indicorps approached NetSAP DC earlier this year asking for assistance in marketing their purpose and their recruitment process. Our Director of Communications and Professional Development Pillar Chair attended the event on NetSAP DC’s behalf. They felt it was a positive discussion and NetSAP DC had the opportunity to introduce our organization to a new group of people.

The next week was followed by our very successful monthly book club. February’s book was “The Marriage Bureau for Rich People” by Farahad Zama. Our bookclub has a dedicated following and is one of NetSAP DC’s oldest components. It is led by our Bookclub Chair, Joydip Kundu, who has been actively involved with the bookclub and is a former chair of SALTAF, The South Asian Literary Art Festival that is co-sponsored by NetSAP DC and the Smithsonian Institution. What many members may not know is that the list of guests and speakers that come to our annual SALTAF event, are derived from NetSAP DC’s bookclub selections.

It was the third thursday of February, and that meant it was time for NetSAP DC’s monthly networking event.  February’s Third Thursday was held at Public Bar, a venue that was established last summer and became popular with the South Asian crowd after last year’s Third Thursday on the Public rooftop. This month’s professional element was a business card exchange. Members were asked to bring a stack of business cards to exchange and by the end of the evening, the NetSAP DC member that had collected the most business cards was awarded a Starbucks gift package. We also welcomed 17 new members to NetSAP DC!

In February we held our first Chai Chat for the year which focused on Education Policy and the Future of America. We discussed how compared to other countries, even third world nations, the United States ranks very low on education rankings. Part of the debate included discussion on what defines a good and balanced education, the difference between public and private education systems, and even nationalizing education. I think the Chai Chat was educational for some, as many of our members have been educated in India or abroad and were not familiar with the US education system. We had a 10 attendees and hope to continue these discussions quarterly.

We closed out the month with one of our most popular and gratifying events, the Second Saturday of Service. We celebrated the one year anniversary of our community service event by volunteering at the Capitol Area Food Bank. Due to NetSAP DC’s volunteer efforts we sorted and packaged 13,000 pounds of food in a matter of a few hours. The event was fun and I got to meet a lot of new members. It felt good to be focused on one laborious task for a few hours and forget about your stresses or worries because you knew your hard work was going to help a family eat a meal together.

March has many exciting events to come. We will be celebrating our first Holi event outdoors in Arlington and I look forward to playing Holi with you all later this month! Don’t forget our flagship events such as the bookclub and Third Thursday. This month we will be celebrating March Madness at the Third Thursday, so make sure to wear your favorite NCAA jerseys at the Madhatter.

We held our first Third Thursday of the year at Hudson in Dupont Circle and had a great turnout. By my humble estimate, I think we had about 50 attendees (its hard to gauge as people come in and out of the happy hour). We had free appetizers and great bar specials. To add a professional element to the Third Thursday, we asked all attendees to wear name tags and attach star or smiley face stickers to indicate their professional industry (for example, my purple star meant that I’m a consultant). Most people were good sports and we got a lot of compliments for the simple and effective idea.

Hudson did get crowded as do most of our Third Thursday locations and this only reinforced the fact that Third Thursdays are our most popular event. Our Special Event Director is working hard to secure larger and new venues for this monthly event. We also took cash donations at the door to fundraise for Haiti relief efforts. The cash donations along with 50% of the door cover charge will be donated to NetIP’s National Charity Partner, the Grameen Foundation. In total, NetSAP DC donated $222.00 to the Grameen Foundation! Thank you for your donations! If you didn’t get a chance to attend this month’s Third Thursday, don’t worry there are 9 more to go this year!

Monday evening I had the opportunity to meet members of the American Jewish Committee’s Access DC program. The American Jewish Committee (AJC), was established in 1906 by a small group of American Jews deeply concerned about pogroms aimed at Russian Jews, determined that the best way to protect Jewish populations in danger would be to work towards a world in which all peoples were accorded respect and dignity.

AJC promotes pluralistic and democratic societies where all minorities are protected and are an international think tank and advocacy organization that attempts to identify trends and problems early – and take action. Their key areas of focus are:

• Combating anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry;
• Promoting pluralism and shared democratic values;
• Supporting Israel’s quest for peace and security;
• Advocating for energy independence;
• Strengthening Jewish life.

Access is AJC’s new generation program, which inspires and empowers young professionals to engage today’s critical domestic and international issues.  Working at the nexus between the Jewish community and the world, they reach out to diplomats, policy makers and young leaders of diverse religious and ethnic communities and strive to re-envision the role of young Jewish leaders in global affairs.

I met with representatives from the DC chapter of Access and what I found most interesting was that they are looking for community partners in DC relating to the South Asian culture! Access members feel that the Jewish and South Asian cultures share many similarities and they are looking for ways to learn more about our culture. We had a great brainstorming session of events we could co-host, some of them being an upcoming Third Thursday or Second Saturday of Service. AJC also has great connections with the Indian Ambassador and we are working to organize a screening at the embassy to show Fareed Zakira’s documentary “Terror in Mumbai” that debuted in late 2009.

At this stage I’m working with the NetSAP board to get some events organized, particularly the screening at the Indian Embassy. Look out for upcoming events by visiting our website www.netsap.org or joining our listserv.

2009 was exciting in that NetSAP DC was able to donate $20,000 to five non-profit organizations including: Touch India, Homespun (a Smithsonian project), AID India, Upakar, and Vibha. Annually we organize our Charity Gala, but in 2009 we felt that with the economy, the event might not be as successful and it would be hard to sell tickets. The board decided to use the funds we had budgeted for the gala and donate them directly to the organizations we had decided to partner with.

My main focus over the past few weeks is simple housekeeping items like cleaning up www.netsap.org and updating it with the most current information. I also manage the rest of the board to make sure we are following through on our commitments and logistics are being finalized for all events and marketing is being done. Our Director of Communications, Eshita, and our Director of Technology, Ajay P have also been working on moving our newsletter to a new platform and making it cleaner and visually appealing with photos.  Let us know what you think.

The Executive Board and Pillar Chairs held a 2010 planning meeting back in December to discuss our goals as officers and as an organization. We meet quarterly to finalize logistics for the next quarter’s events, discuss any large scale events like the Charity Gala and SALTAF, and take some time to catch up with each other. We will be meeting at the end of this month to discuss Q2 and the Charity Gala. I will be sharing some ideas for Charity Gala themes here for your feedback.

Next, I will be off to LA for the NetIP Officers’ Leadership Conference in February. You can learn more about it here: http://www.memberconnections.com/olc/pub/LVNI/cpages/chapters/officeleadershipconf.jsp but basically its a meeting with all of the chapter officers and we brainstorm new ideas and discuss best practices so other chapters can implement them. This will be my third OLC and I find that each OLC is unique and I come back with some great ideas for DC. It’s also great to catch up with friends I have made around the country.