WALTHAM, MA—Indian Circle for Caring USA Inc., which provides caring support and helping hands to members of the Indian-American community, will receive New England Choice Award for Best Non-Profit Organization on Friday at Westin Hotel in Waltham, MA.
Indian Circle for Caring, known as ICC), provides urgent or emergency guidance and support for Indian-American community members and their families as they may encounter unplanned and unexpected events such as serious illness, hospitalization, accidents, family crisis, and death / bereavement of a loved one.
In addition to its main focus of helping individuals and families through volunteering efforts, ICC has undertaken additional community education and other initiatives, such as:
- Health Care Proxy and Living Will: ICC informs, educates and empowers community about the need for preparing this important legal, often neglected, document. ICC conducted presentations and seminars in fourteen (14) states at over 70 venues within the United States and distributed over 15,000 Five Wishes documents to prepare Health Care Proxy and Living Will.
- Planning and preparing for Special Needs – child or adult in the family: ICC has started a process of understanding the community’s needs and have conducted various program to support / guide the families.
Replicating ICC model of services in USA
Working with Sewa International, an affiliate organization, ICC provides services similar to Indian Circle for Caring USA Inc., in other parts of the United States. To date ICC is building capacity to serve in eight (8) states in twelve cities beyond our services in New England states to serve the community.
Started in August 2007, ICC has achieved the following milestones:
– ICC and its volunteers have served over 690 families.
– ICC has over 7,000 members and has received support of over seventy (70) organizations.
– ICC has built a bank of over 250 volunteers.
ICC and its leaders have been recognized for its services and they have received awards at various venues:
– ICC was invited at a celebration of “Social Innovation” event at the White House hosted by the First Lady Mrs. Obama in May 2010.
– ICC received an award from Medical Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Tuberculosis (MACET) for its contribution on “World No TB day” in March 2014.
– Awards and recognition from Indian Association of Greater Boston (IAGB), Gurjar, as well as by Massachusetts State – House and Senate.
– ICC Core Team members are recipients of New England Choice Award (NECA) 2017; community Heroes -2017 and 2018 awards and an award for community services from a global high tech corporation for serving community.
ICC Team: Amit Akkad, Raman Gandhi, Krishna Kalghatgi, Chetan Mepani, Yogesh Parikh, Jayanti Patel, Sangeeta Saxena, Manoj Turkhia, Bindu Vyas, Samita Apte (Prog. Coordinator), Girish A. Mehta, Founder and Exec. Director.