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NORTH AMERICAN Newsline MAY 02, 2025 | The Indian Eye 17

GIFT OF LIFE USA HOSTS ITS 10TH GALA 2025

ers, and beneficiaries and see for turning the venue into a party place!
themselves the beautiful talents these Chairman Paresh Parekh and family
individuals bring to the world. as well as several volunteers like Shee-
John Baumann - Living with Par- tal Pathak were instrumental in deco-
kinson’s for 17 years, a high-powered rating the venue.
corporate attorney, author of his pub- Directors Kalpana Patel, Kam-
lished book “Decide Success” and lesh & Mrudula Parekh, Shashi Malik,
motivational success speaker, John Dr. Bhavani Srinivasan, Sheetal and
Baumann’s life changed forever, and Jasmin Pathak, Dr. Harshil Parekh,
he took us on a journey through his Akash Patel, Bee Sharma, Freya Savla
life and Parkinson’s disease. as well as Founders Paresh and Flora
Nick Padlo - Living with substance Parekh Welcomed and Thanked Sev-
Disorder, Nick is an army veteran liv- eral organizational Presidents, Com-
ing with substance disorder. He is the munity Leaders, Sponsors, Support-
CEO of Sophros Recovery, focused ers well-wishers for their continued
on helping individuals recover from support year over year. Akshat Kaul
substance use disorders (SUD) and of Kaul Photography captured mag-
co-occurring mental health issues. He nificent event memories.
inspired the audience with his expe-
rience dealing with major depressive The event was graced by sever-
disorders, generalized anxiety dis-
orders and tied his experiences with al community leaders and orga-
OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) nizations – Haridas Kotahwala,
and how these conditions are connect-
ed and frequently co-occur. Harish Parikh, Vinod Shah, Asha
Their differently abled abilities Shah, Dr. Harshad Bhatt, Rajesh
have not stopped them from achiev-
ing the impossible. The event started Patel, Dr. Mahendra and Chha-
with an in-depth overview of the orga- ya (Friends of ARCH), Sunil Hali,
nization’s introduction and program
details by Dr. Harshil Parekh and a Indu Jaiswal, Jyoti Gupta, Dr. Jag
rocking special needs band perfor- Kalra, Anju Sharma, Lions club
mance by Down syndrome and au-
tistic players, followed by recognizing of Lake Grove, Bhadresh Acha-
the youth leadership for their dedicat- rya, Eric Kumar, Devang Patel,
ed and continued vision and mission
to serve the community and humanity. Kaushik Shah, Jagdish Mehta,
Rocking entertainment included Harish Thakkar and many more.
a mesmerizing performance by Do-
minican Republic authentic dance The organization functions with
performance ion colorful costumes generous donations from the
By Dominican Dance Group. The
highlight of the event was live Dance community and is operated by
workshop of several dance forms led volunteers.
by Masal Bhangra with all party favors

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