AZ India

F E E L A T H O M E www.azindiatimes.com PAGE - 16 Jan 2019 1-844-AZINDIA IACRF SENIORS CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS AND JOIN FACEBOOK By Dr. Prakash V Kotecha and Bhagubhai Patel pvkotecha@gmail.com ; bdjbtempe@gmail.com Month of December continued festive celebrations of thanksgiving further with winter birds return- ing from North to comfortable environment of Ari- zona. So, we have over 100 members attending each Thursday with a thumping 180 on 20th December for Christmas celebrations that was full of fun, food and joy. Earlier, Suresha Shah , who loves poetry and has been enthusiastic, read a skit, highlighting the sen- iors’ company and their contributions in making life livelier and more enjoyable together. Suresha and Sevantibhai Shah’s son Rajesh and daughter-in-law Mary Rose Shah donated $300 to the center as their token of appreciation. Christmas Celebration: Having enjoyed Diwali and Thanksgiving recently, it is time to celebrate Christmas now! After a month of preparation and practice for Christmas celebra- tion, it was time to enjoy. Meenaben Bhavsar looked after the preparation for Christmas and her enthusiasm and planning made the program a mem- orable one. We celebrated Christmas on Thursday, December 20. Members arrived with their guest and colorful out- fits for Christmas early morning. They were pleased to see the hall decorated beautifully with tables laid with decorations and colorful table cloths. Time now to enjoy the delicious breakfast while viewing wonderful greetings and Christmas songs on large TV that generally shows daily program routine with wonderful quotes. Musical background for Christ- mas made the environment livelier. Everyone was wishing ‘Merry Christmas’ to each other while enjoy- ing the food and fun. Meenaben wished everyone happy Christmas and requested everyone to take their seats. She then re- quested Bhagubhai Patel to welcome the mem- bers. Bhagubhai wished everyone a merry Christmas and acknowledged services of all the members for excellent preparation for the program. Meenaben then introduced Priyal Gandhi Parikh who has been in US for last two years and has been blessed with a beautiful daughter. She is profession- ally an IT person with keen interest in music and has been favorite of her Gurus Jigar and Sonali Joshi. She has performed various program of Bollywood songs, Garba, Dance and Bhangda songs. Lalitbhai offered vote of thanks. Lalitbhai wished merry Christmas to everyone and encouraged mem- bers to become life members of Indo American Foun- dation and join in the benefits of being a member of foundation. He welcomed everyone and wished a happy New Year to everyone. Musical Program From 10-30 AM onward, we had wonderful musical program offered by Priyal Gandhi Parikh, a talented professional singer who offered Bollywood musi- cal songs from early 50s to the latest one. The mu- sic brought seniors to their feet and the enthusiasm took over to floor dance that lasted for full two hours and members enjoyed every song to its fullest. Priyal complied with the request of audience and offered punjabi folk song bhangda, Gujarati garba songs and many others as requested by our members. With the limitation of time, the program had to end at 12-30 so that members can proceed for the lunch. Christmas Lunch Feast Today’s lunch was reserved four months in advance by Jayatibhai &Madhuben Patel and Kanubhai & Raginiben Gandhi and we had large number of guests joining from the two families. They included Dr. Radha Gandhi, Rishi and his friend Dr. Shabri Bhatt Seetharam. Dr. Pravinbhai and Mita Patel who would be soon moving to Phoenix and Devendra and Anjana Majmudar. IACRF Seniors Facebook Page: A Facebook group has been created by our members and every- one who are members and are interested in IACRF Seniors activities are encouraged to join this Face- book group to be in touch with the news and activi- ties. Members are encouraged to share the news and pictures and their positive remarks. Criticism and sarcastic remarks are strongly discouraged on public forum. Obituary Mrs. Saroj Madhok , our active member and Mr. Kanubhai Shah our very senior past member passed away and we offered our prayers for the de- parted souls to rest in eternal peace and for family members to bear their loss. Lunch sponsored for the month Members who sponsored lunch for the other days include Suresha & Sevantibhai Shah and Kusum & Jayantibhai Savla while some of the occasion it was on the house. IACRF Seniors meet every Thursday at 9-30 AM at IACRF Hall, 2809 W Maryland Ave, Phoenix. For more details email to pvkotecha@gmail.com Photographs by Jon Banks and Pradyumna Kshatriya