Hindu Society of North Carolina

Author(s): Hindu Society of North Carolina
Publisher: Hindu Society of North Carolina

Page 27

25 Page
language spoken by the TOA members is Oryia, one of the official languages of India. The TOA consists of not only Oryia-speaking families but also many of their friends who speak the language other than Oryia.
Triangle Area Telugu Association (TATA) is a Raleigh, N.C. -based non-profit organization, which promotes Telugu language, culture, art, literature and music in the Triangle area.' Telugu' is a South Indian language spoken predominantly in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Members of TATA include several doctors, scientists, professors, IT engineers, musicians, business individuals and students who hail primarily from Andhra Pradesh, but settled in Triangle area, contributing to communal harmony. TATA adopted Evans Road in Cary, NC as part of the 'Adopt A Highway" program keeping the state of NC clean. Our aim is to encourage Telugu language, propagate fraternity, and uphold cultural concordanc e.
Greater Carolina Kerala Association The GCKA is a non-profit association with the purpose of promoting and facilitating the cultural, educational, social and economic welfare of the Greater Carolina Keralite community, both among Keralites and the surrounding community at large. Our main goals are:
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Maintain our cultural heritage Enrich the contemporary society by contributing our cultural heritage Educate the future generations about our cultural heritage
The history of GCKA goes back to early-seventies. It all started when about nine Keralite families settled in the Triangle area occasionally got together in their homes to celebrate social occasions. These families also participated in various Indian functions representing Kerala in the local area. Th en, in 1987, formally a Kerala Association was formed. Subsequently, the association started organizing annual events, such as Onam, Christmas, Picnic, etc. During this period the membership grew significantly and in May 2001, the current Greater Carolina Kerala Association was registered as a non-profit corporation with the North Carolina Secretary of State. As of today, we have about 130 families as active paid members and some functions attract as many as 450 attendees. For more information about GCKA a nd its activities, please visit WWW.GCKA.COM.
India Development and Relief Fund IDRF's mission is to support volunteer-based, honest and highly experienced non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in India in serving their populations' critical needs around education, healthcare, and welfare, without regard to religion, caste or creed. IDRF focuses on enabling the poor to overcome their deficiencies and empower them with necessary tools such as education to make them prosper as citizens of India. To ensure its philosophical roots, IDRF works with NGOs who share the same vision and prioritizes its distribution to the development projects. The NGOs supported by IDRF are committed to provide the tribal and urban poor with high quality education, healthcare, and vocational training. Providing relief and rehabilitation for victims of natural disasters such as cyclones, floods and earthquakes is also an important component of IDRF's mission. For more information, please visit www.idrf.org (IDRF, www.idrf.org) is a voluntary, non-profit developmental organization with projects spread all over India. In over a decade, IDRF has raised over 16 million dollars in the US. Our projects are in the fields of education, healthcare, tribal welfare, women empowerment among other key aspects of development. Let me illustrate with one example. IDRF is very active in providing relief and rehabilitation to those that lost families, homes and livelihood during last year's Tsunami disaster. Within two days of the disaster, IDRF handed out $ 20,000 worth relief material working with about 1000 volunteers of Sewa Bharati. By January, We collected over $ 1 million dollars towards Tsunami relief and reha bilitation. To cite another example, IDRF's Martyrs National Integration Fund helps the families of those that are hurt or killed in terrorist attacks in India. We are looking to expand IDRF in the Triangle area and are seeking active volunteers to join o ur team. We plan to organize fun events directed at the Indian community as fund -raisers. If you are interested, we would love to hear from you. Please drop us an email at idrf_rtp@yahoogroups.com.
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HINDU SOCIETY OF NORTH CAROLINA CELEBERATION AND APARICIATION (1975-2006)