Enjoy Glimpses of Our Annual Gala 2024
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Press Release – Gift of Life USA Gala 2024
Supporting Differently-Abled Individuals – “Living with Schizophrenia and BiPolar”
Supporting Differently-Abled Individuals – “Living with Schizophrenia and BiPolar”
Gift of Life USA, is a 501 (C) (3) non-profit organization, founded by Paresh, Flora and Dr. Harshil Parekh, with the aim to help the specially-abled and nurture acceptance and empathy, bridging the gap across the various communities that form our society. The organization celebrated its ninth Annual Gala advocating Schizophrenia and BiPolar this past weekend at an evening filled with inspiring speakers, entertainment and opportunities to make a difference in our community. The event was gracefully emceed by Dr. Harshil Parekh and Akash Patel and had a full house with representation from several organizations and community leaders.
Gala event, orchestrated by the organization, was a proof of innovative spirit and dedication to making a meaningful difference and was evident of compassion, empathy and tireless dedication to the cause.
Every year we witness the inspiring journey of several disorders – advocate and raise awareness of various inspiring individuals and have visualized the incredible talent of the visually impaired, autistic speakers and models, down syndrome entrepreneurs, Asperger’s – epilepsy disorders, cerebral palsy role models, our special amputees, dyspraxia, dementia and this year we advocated Schizophrenia and Bipolar. The Gala serves as a unique platform where sponsors, donors and supporters get the opportunity to meet inspiring Differently-abled Speakers, Entrepreneurs, employers, performers and beneficiaries they will be supporting and see for themselves the beautiful talents these individuals bring to the world.
Michelle Hammer – Living with Schizophrenia & Entrepreneur of mental health-focused clothing brand Schizophrenic.nyc, inspired the audience with her story of being diagnosed with schizophrenia at 22 after a misdiagnosis of bipolar at age 18. She is a Schizophrenia Activist and spends her time passionately fighting stigma with the mission of reducing stigma by starting conversations about mental health.
John & Barbara McNamara CFO and Director of SMILE, Support My Independent Life, support about 200 individuals with developmental disabilities and their families to live self-directed lives.
Their differently-abled abilities have not stopped them achieving the impossible. Event started with an in-depth overview of the organization’s introduction and program details by Dr. Bhavani Srinivasan followed by rocking band performance by Down syndrome and autistic FREE Drum players, followed by recognizing the youth leadership of Dr. Harshil Parekh for his dedicated and continued vision and mission to serve the community and humanity.
Poetess Tejal A. Desai enchanted the audience by her beautiful poem recital dedicated to her mom and was recognized as a Youth role model and her upcoming prelaunch of book of poems.
Rocking entertainment included a mesmerizing performance by Dominican Republic authentic dance performance ion colorful costumes By Dominican Dance Group. The highlight of the event was live Dance workshop of several dance forms led by Shilpa Jhurani of RS International NYC.
Directors Kalpana Patel, Kamlesh & Mrudula Parekh, Shashi Malik, Mrs. Purnima & Tejal Desai, Dr. Bhavani Srinivasan, Sheetal and Jasmin Pathak, Dr. Harshil Parekh, Akash Patel, Hema Virani as well as Founders Paresh and Flora Parekh Welcomed and Thanked Several organizational Presidents, Community Leaders, Sponsors, Supporters well-wishers for their continued support year over year. Directors Mayur Dalal, Neveen Naveen C Shah, Kanak Golia, Sunil Jain, Sponsors and Amarish Kachhy shared their remote wishes and blessings. Kaul Photography covered great event memories.
In a landscape often marked by monotonous programs, the ability of Gift of Life USA to infuse creativity and uniqueness into the Gala was duly noticed and complimented by community leaders.
Apart from combating social stigma by raising awareness about different disorders, the true strength of Gift of Life USA lies in the funding and support it gives to individuals with these various physical and mental disorders. The event was graced by several community leaders and organizations – Dr. Bhupi Patel, Nagendra Gupta, Mukund Mehta, Vimal Goyal, Sunil Hali, Jasbir Jay Singh, Indu Jaiswal, Jyoti Gupta, Arnie and Rose Quaranta, John and Barbara Mcnamara, Michelle Hammer, Ralph Taylor, Matias Ferreira, Vinod Shah, Chandrakant and Renuka Shah, Sujata Seth, Shilpa Jhurani, Mayur Shah, Bhadresh Acharya, Eric Kumar and many many more. The organization functions with generous donations from the community and is operated by volunteers. Our heartfelt Thank you to all our Committee Members, Performers, Donors, Supporters, Volunteers and well-wishers for their continued support over years. The team’s vision and efforts were a remarkable step forward towards changing lives and making our world a better place.
Our heartfelt Thank you to all for being part of our incredible journey, supporting our various programs and activities, not limited to, “Save a Child” Support, “We are Special” Talent & Skill Recognition, “Health & Education,” “Awareness”, “College Scholarships for Differently-Abled” and “Service Dog Support Program”. The organization awards Scholarships to Autistic College going students, promote and showcase talent of the differently abled, help special needs community with health and education needs and much more.
Gift of Life USA appeals donors to come, see, believe and support these true abilities and beyond share the organization’s vision of acceptance and compassion of the differently abled. Please visit our website at www.giftoflifeus.org for additional information and ways to support.
