This Newsletter is dedicated to the memory of our much-loved colleague Miller Wright (1954-2013), who worked so tirelessly for the Foundation’s mission. Miller is deeply missed.
Welcome to the Summer/Fall 2013 Giving Back Foundation Newsletter.
We have been privileged to support some extraordinary humanitarian efforts in the past few months.
Here are just a few of them:
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT LEADERSHIP CENTER GIVING BACK AWARDS, JULY, 2013
The second annual Meera Gandhi Giving Back Award trophies and honorariums were given out at two graduation ceremonies in July at the Eleanor Roosevelt Leadership Center’s 2013 Girls’ Leadership Worldwide program in Hyde Park, New York. This year, 73 young leaders from across the U.S. and 13 international countries participated. The four young ladies who received the Giving Back awards were: Ariaki Dandawate of Basking Ridge, New Jersey; Samiha Gopal of Chennai, India; Lexington Kennard of Ankeny Iowa, and Arielle King of Albany, New York. They were selected based on the following project criteria: community/civic engagement; communications; education, and human rights/social justice.
Meera Gandhi said, “The young girls’ leadership program at the Eleanor Roosevelt Leadership Center is often a turning point in the lives of many young women. It is a joy for me that the program has expanded to so many international countries: Canada, France, Greece, India, Ireland, Jordan, Luxembourg, Pakistan, South Africa and Turkey. I am thrilled for the four deserving young ladies who will benefit from the 5-year Giving Back Foundation Award program that we have established.”
“THE MAGIC OF INDIA AT ASCOT,” THE GIVING BACK FOUNDATION AND THE DAVID SHEPHERD WILDLIFE FOUNDATION
On Friday, July 5th, 2013, The Giving Back Foundation partnered with the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation in a magical taste of India at Ascot, for an Indian Summer fundraising event at the Coworth Park. Over 200 guests, including Meera Gandhi, CEO and founder of the Giving Back Foundation; British fashion designer Elizabeth Emanuel; ex-England cricketer David Gower OBE, and artist and wildlife conservationist David Shepherd CBE. arrived to a champagne reception on the terrace of the Polo Marquee. The Giving Back Foundation is grateful to Suhel Seth, who bid so generously that evening. “It was a delight to see so many distinguished guests enjoying the evening and giving so generously to support endangered wildlife,” said the host for the evening, CEO of the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, Sally Case. “Meera Gandhi’s donation of hundreds of beautiful silk scarves lent a luxurious and magical element to the evening and was a wonderful contribution to the evening’s fundraising total,” she said. The Indian theme included music and dance with a charity auction raising critical funds to support wildlife projects in Asia and Africa to protect some of the world’s most vulnerable animals, including the rhino, elephant and tiger.
Meera Gandhi said, “I began my journey with the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation in May, 2012, when I hosted an event with my dear friend, artist and fashion designer Emre Erturk, whose one-off handbag design helped raise £30,000 for the Foundation’s TigerTime campaign to save the last 3,200 tigers in the wild. Education is dear to my heart and I look forward to continuing this important journey with the Foundation and TigerTime. It is my belief that all of us should, if we are able, give something back.”
GIVE TO COLOMBIA, July 2013
On July 26, 2013, at the New World Center in Miami Beach, Florida, The Giving Back Foundation participated in an extraordinary concert by the Filarmónica Joven de Colombia: 105 young musicians showed where the future of classical music lies. Encouraged by Maestro Alejandro Posada on the podium to lead their hearts as they played, the youth orchestra performed with exciting clarity and explosive virtuosity. The talented teenagers were able to play a demanding program of colorful orchestral showpieces due to training at a year-round academy in Colombia, whose mission is to train exceptionally gifted, underprivileged, young artists and prepare them to become exceptional musicians. It contributes to their aspirations of pursuing a career in classical music and empowers them to lead independent lives. This is one of the many projects that Give To Colombia supports.
Give to Colombia, an affiliated partner that the Giving Back Foundation helps to support, is a true inspiration to the Giving Back Foundation. Give to Colombia is a US-based non-profit that creates, promotes and facilitates alliances between international donors and Colombian grassroots organizations through philanthropic organizations.
THE GIVING BACK FOUNDATION WISHES TO THANK ALL OF ITS AFFILIATES AND ITS INSPIRATIONS.
The Giving Back Foundation, which was presented with the Global Corporate Award recently in New York for its global humanitarian efforts, would like to thank our many partners and affiliates. We are inspired by those of you with whom we strive together to “give back” to global concerns around the world. We are immensely grateful to you all.
INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY