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    The Indian Eye
             NORTH AMERICAN Newsline                                                   AUGUST 21, 2026                                      21

            personnel directly into the community   supervising all 40 volunteers. Among   Ravinder Kodela, President of   personnel, volunteers, community lead-
            allows people not only to obtain accu-  the young volunteers recognized for   NYTTA, attended along with Hari   ers, and guests throughout the event.
            rate information but, more important-  their dedicated service were Bhairavi   Charan  Bobbili  and  other NYTTA
            ly, to receive practical assistance with   Khanna, Gia Anand, Alissa Sondhi,   members. Kalpita Pandya Pareek   Appreciation
            their individual consular needs.  Angelina Uppal, and Jaskaran Singh.  represented the Brahmin commu-     The American Punjabi Society,
                Prem Bhandari, President of       Bhairavi Khanna showed particu-  nity/Brahmin Society. Other com-  together with supporting organiza-
            RANA and Chairman of Jaipur Foot   lar compassion toward senior citizens   munity leaders attending included   tions RANA, BRUHUD New York
            USA, said that when the Consulate   with  mobility  difficulties.  When  she   Dr. Krishna Kumar, Govind Munjal,   Seniors, and Jaipur Foot USA, ex-
            and community organizations work   saw seniors using walkers who could   Satnam Singh Parhar, Nilima Madan,   pressed sincere appreciation to Am-
            together in a genuine spirit of service,   not comfortably stand in line or wait   Indu Gajwani, Shyam Gajwani, Bee-  bassador Binaya Srikanta Pradhan
            the community is the ultimate benefi-  at the Help Desk, she went directly   na Kothari, Jasbir Jai Singh, Pradeep   and the entire CGI team; participating
            ciary. He noted that the tremendous   to them, listened to their needs, and   Tandon, Kalpita Pandya Parikh, and   VFS personnel; participating religious
            response demonstrated the impor-  helped bring the necessary assistance   Harish Thakkar, among others.  and community  organizations; APS
            tance of bringing consular services,   to them. Among the youngest volun-                             leadership, Women’s Council, Youth
            assistance, and accurate guidance di-  teers were Pearl Sikka and her friend   APS leadership and hospitality  Wing and Advisory Board; the two
            rectly to the people.             Bela, who helped welcome attendees    APS leadership participating in   Notaries Public; community leaders;
                Ajay Patel, President of BRUHUD   and enter registration information.  the initiative included Harry S. Bolla,   and especially the 40 young volunteers.
            New York Seniors, supported the                                     Patron; Gary S. Sikka, Global Presi-  Above all, the organizers and sup-
            initiative and its objective of mak-    Notary, religious and       dent & CEO; Mohinder S. Taneja, Se-  porting organizations thanked the 542
            ing consular services and assistance   community participation      nior Vice President; VPS Sikka, Gen-  community members who attended.
            more accessible to the community.     Two Notaries Public — Eric Ku-  eral Secretary; and Vice Presidents   The  extraordinary  response  —  with
                                              mar, a member of the APS Advisory   Paul S. Bindra, Ajay Vir Sondhi, Ravin-  people lining up an hour before the
              Forty young APS volunteers      Board, and Jessica Kalra, a member   derpal S. Narang, and Jaspal S. Arora.  scheduled opening, attendees travel-
                    lead by example           of the APS Women’s Council — were     Navneet S. Sondhi, APS Wom-   ing from several states, and CGI and
                One of the most inspiring aspects   available to assist community members.  en’s Council Chair, and her team   VFS personnel continuing to provide
            of the camp was the participation of   The camp attracted participation   played an active role throughout the   services until approximately 4:00 PM
            40 APS youth volunteers between the   from numerous religious, cultural, re-  program, while Janessa Sondhi coor-  —  reaffirmed  the  need  for  commu-
            ages of 12 and 17. The young volun-  gional, and community organizations.   dinated the youth volunteers.  nity-based consular outreach and the
            teers welcomed attendees, assisted   Among those participating or repre-  Pradeep Tandon, APS Director   value of collaboration among CGI,
            with registration, entered information   sented were Maninder Singh Sethi,   of Media & Public Relations, played   APS, RANA, BRUHUD New York
            into  spreadsheets,  directed people   Chairman of the Glen Cove Gurd-  an active role before and during the   Seniors, Jaipur Foot USA, VFS, and
            to the appropriate service areas and   wara; Harpreet Singh Vohra, Vice   camp, including responding to numer-  the broader community.
            Help Desk, maintained an orderly   President of the Hicksville Gurdwara;   ous telephone inquiries from commu-  Most  importantly,  the  success
            flow,  and  provided  individual  assis-  Govind Bhatija of AsaMai Temple;   nity  members seeking information   of the camp demonstrated the value
            tance wherever needed.            and representatives and leaders asso-  about the program and the consular   of bringing actual consular services
                Janessa Sondhi, Director of   ciated with Gujarati Samaj, the Hindu   services available at the camp.  directly to the community, enabling
            Youth Development for APS, took   Center, NYTTA, TLCA, and other        Breakfast and Pearl were provided   people to receive assistance with their
            the leading role in coordinating and   community organizations.     by Pearl for attendees, CGI and VFS   individual cases.

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