India Community Center  ICC 4th Annual Banquet in Milpitas, SF BAy area
Nearly $500,000 raised
 Milpitas, Calif.:  <>Milpitas, California: Announcing “A dream come True”, as a culmination of a long sought after community center catering to Indian-Americans in the SF Bay area, the India Community Center held a successful banquet fundraiser on Saturday, October 27th at the ICC Mallavalli auditorium. 

Setting the pace, and signaling a coming together of the Indian-American community, the keynote address for the evening was given by Mrs Jayashree Patil, one of the founding members of this vision.  Mrs Patil and her husband Mr Suhas Patil, a pioneer in the Silicon Valley were instrumental in setting into motion the concept of “our very own India Community Center” since 1990, when along with Mrs. Matra Majumdar and Raj Mashruwalla, Mrs. Poonam and Prabhu  Goel, Mrs Lata Patil, mr. Pradeep Joshi  and others, the Indo-American community Service Center (ICSC) was formed.  Later. as the community service center expanded to included services to the entire family, youth, kids and seniors, investors gravitated to acquire and merge the center, from which the India Community Center (ICC) was launched.

<>Laying out the scenario, Mrs. Jayashree Patil spoke eloquently and paid tribute to the initial donors and members who believed in the concept, including donors, volunteers and community members and The Indus Entrepreneurs group (TiE), which sub-leased its facility to ICSC and helped in raising funds etc. 

The event, which started with a silent auction along with the social networking sessi

Ms Talat HAsan with Patrons Prabhu Goel, Kumar Mallavalli and Karthik Patel

on, saw guest milling around the corridors of the new facility, which had an ‘open house” look to it.  With each of the classrooms decorated in thematic fashion, showcasing sponsors like Jet Airways (Travel) and ICC programs and services and also the ICC/Club one fitness center, drew interested onlookers, although in slightly cramped quarters. The 40,000 sq ft. building has nearly a third taken up a complete fitness center, with another major portion as the Mallavalli  auditorium, with a few meeting rooms as well . Upcoming is a highly touted Free Medical clinic for uninsured community members, irrespective of their status or national origin.

<>“We are thrilled that we exceeded our goal of about $400,000,”said ICC director of Marketing Tanuja Behel, while reporting that the announced two anonymous donations of $2 Million and $100,000 were not counted in the tally. ICC Board Chair Talat Hasan announced the anonymous donation stating that all funds raised up to end of the year will be matched by the donation. 

The silent auction and sales at the tables of donated items helped beef up the final tally, with spirited contests for items such as two Jet Airways business class tickets to India going for $12,000, valued at 8,000.  Ms Behel reports that a watercolor painting by Bandopadhyaya also drew a winning bid of $8,000 which came as a pleasant surprise.”  Some of ICC’s program offerings like Table Tennis packages, Bollywood dance and Banquet Hall rental also drew good bids.

<>Sabeer Bhatia, an underwriter of the ICC Banquet night and CEO of Arzoo.com spoke briefly and also shared his plan for establishing a Nanocity in the state of Haryana. Overall the faire was staid, with literally some jazz towards the end of the day as Master Sitarist Nishad Khan and his fusion band ‘Dharma’ performed, followed by DJ Ramzi spinning for those remaining at the party. Among the fare for the evening was a series of dances performed variously by senior citizens, several kids and one item in which several ICC Board members and staff made an appearance.

“We realized a dream come true so far and are facing a deficit of about  afew million said Chairperson of Board Ms Talat Hasan, adding, “We are a community that dreams big and the hard work is not over yet.”  She also spoke about the $16 million Ca State bond which has financed the ambitious community center, of which about $8.5 million have been raised and the Indian-American community was buoyed up by a challenge matching grant of $2 million by an anonymous donor, who has said that monies up to $2 million should be raised by Dec 31st of this year.

The Master of Ceremonies for the event was NBC 11 Sportscaster  Raj Mathai, who has been a staunch supporter of ICC for several years. Mathai summed up the situation of ICC saying, “ Four years ago, the ICC was a start-up; it was a great idea that needed funding and angel investors. Tonight, this is our IPO party,” which went down well with the many silicon Valley entreprueners present in the 550 strong audience.