The U.S. branch of The Akshaya Patra Foundation hosted a ‘Summer Formal Diwali Benefit Dinner’ on 5^th October at Los Angeles, California. The event featured guests of honour Gururaj Deshpande (Chairman of Akshaya Patra, U.S.), Emily Rosenbaum (CEO of Akshaya Patra U.S.), and actor Manish Dayal (from the highly acclaimed film, ‘The Hundred Foot Journey’), while movie director Shekhar Kapur made a surprise appearance.

The evening was commenced with opening remarks by Vandana Tilak, Chair for the Foundation’s Los Angeles chapter, followed by an introduction of Gururaj Deshpande by Mallika Chopra, daughter of Indian-American entrepreneur Deepak Chopra.

The event centered around creating awareness and raising funds for the cause of providing food for education to underprivileged children in India, the core goal of The Akshaya Patra Foundation. Deepak Chopra made a presentation highlighting the good work successfully accomplished under the programme, and focusing on key concepts of ‘excellence, efficiency and shared prosperity.’

The 200 hundred guests who attended the event were entertained by dance performances by the Nrityodaya Kathak Academy and by Vinaini Jayasinghe from the Savitri Arts Academy.

The event raised over $500,000 for The Akshaya Patra Foundation that evening.

Source: https://www.indiawest.com/news/global_indian/akshaya-patra-los-angeles-diwali-benefit-raises-k/article_cf0c7d6a-558d-11e4-b687-aff06d332a1d.html