Thursday, October 27

Film Festival & Panel Discussion
10 a.m. To 5 p.m. at the Grand Arena Theatre downtown Columbus.

ASHA RAY OF HOPE PARTNERS WITH COSMO http://www.communityshares.net/

Community Shares of Mid Ohio (COSMO) is a coalition of locally-based, non-profit organizations collaboratively participating in workplace giving campaigns. If you work at any of these places, you have an opportunity to give to ASHA through payroll deductions.

COTA Central Ohio Transit Authority; City of Columbus Combined Charitable Campaign; City of Dublin; Columbus Metropolitan Libraries; Columbus Public Schools Columbus State Community College; Combined Federal Campaign of North Central Ohio ; Franklin County Combined Charitable Campaign; Heart of Ohio Combined Federal Campaign (CFC); Hilliard Schools; Miami Valley Combined Federal Campaign (Dayton area); The Ohio State University Community Charitable Drive ; South Western City Schools; State of Ohio Combined Charitable Campaign (CCC); 3 Rivers Combined Federal Campaign ; Upper Arlington Schools; WCBE 90.5; Westerville Schools; OTA Central Ohio Transit Authority; City of Columbus Combined Charitable Campaign; City of Dublin; Columbus Metropolitan Libraries; Columbus Public Schools Columbus State Community College; Combined Federal Campaign of North Central Ohio ; Franklin County Combined Charitable Campaign; Heart of Ohio Combined Federal Campaign (CFC); Hilliard Schools; Miami Valley Combined Federal Campaign (Dayton area); The Ohio State University Community Charitable Drive ; South Western City Schools; State of Ohio Combined Charitable Campaign (CCC); 3 Rivers Combined Federal Campaign ; Upper Arlington Schools; WCBE 90.5; Westerville Schools; AT&T (online and as CS USA); CNA Insurance (online and as CS USA); MEDCO Health Solutions; US Filter and Wells Fargo Financial Services.

MEET OUR NEW BOARD MEMBERS

Hollie Hinton
Hollie Hinton was the Director of Governor Ted Strickland's Office for Women's Initiatives and Outreach, which promotes public policy that advances the status of women and girls in the areas of economic development, health, education and personal safety.
 
Hollie cares deeply about issues that impact women and the unique challenges they encounter.
 
Under her leadership, Ohio hosted Momentum 2010: Ohio Women's Summit on International Women's Day on March 8th 2010 in Columbus. It was a great success. She was also instrumental in the creation of the Ohio Council on Women and Girls, that was formulated under the guidance of the White House Council on Women and Girls. She is a steward for women's issues and works closely with the community to create, manage and promote programs that aim at improving women's lives.
 
Ms. Hinton holds a bachelor's degree in Anthropology and a graduate certificate in Women's Studies from the University of Cincinnati.
 
Prabha Narayan
Prabha Narayan is the Finance Manager at IBM. She is a seasoned finance professional with extensive experience in partnering with business leaders and driving financial results. She has over 14 years of experience in a broad variety of industries, including Software, Retail Banking and Energy.
 
Prabha has a Masters in Business Administration from State University of New York, Buffalo and a Bachelors of Engineering from Anna University, Chennai, India.
 
Maliha Raazi
Maliha has been living in a suburb of Columbus for the past 11 years and has been actively involved with Asha Ray of Hope since 2007. She is a passionate advocate for women's rights and believes strongly in the empowerment of women to determine their own choices and shape their own future. Prior to joining Asha, she helped several women in dealing with and ending abusive marital relationships. She is honored to serve on the board of Asha Ray Of Hope.
 
Maliha earned her Bachelor's degree in interior Design from Lahore, Pakistan. Creating beautiful settings and environments for events such as weddings has been a life-long interest and hobby of hers. After helping many relatives and friends with their weddings and private parties etc., she turned her hobby into an occupation in 2008 and launched an event planning company called Dahlia Occasions. She is also the co-founder of Allscribe Inc., a Medical Transcription and IT Company based in Westerville, Ohio.

Asha-Ray of Hope celebrated Seven years of Community Service in Central Ohio

Asha-Ray of Hope was celebrating the anniversary of its seventh year of community service with a magnificent dance and musical extravaganza “Kalanjali” (a cultural showcase of dance and music) on Saturday, April 24, 2010 at the Jeanne. B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts in New Albany. The evening was highlighting Indian dance with over 600 people in attendance, raising funds for the cause that Asha supports. Indeed, our target for the audience and funds was more than achieved.

The program highlighted the unity in the South Asian community. It was attended by several dignitaries including Renata Ramsini, Director, Governor’s office for Women’s Initiatives and Outreach with Anna Heintzelman., Mayor Ferguson, Village of New Albany and many more. Senator Sherrod Brown and Rep Tiberi sent letters of congratulations. Debarati Bardhan, President of Asha-Ray of Hope shared Asha’s activities and accomplishments over the last year with the audience. The program was emceed by Bhagwan Satiani and Sahar Zaheer.

The program of Indian dance and music was performed by different Indian dance and music schools and organizations: Nalanda School of Dance, Arya International, Ratanpur tarana, Silambam, Amrapali, Natya School of Dance, Swaranjali and Jhankar.

Swaranjali, Amrapali, Silambam brought the traditional Indian treasures by performing classical and contemporary dance styles, while young dancers from The Nalanda School of Dance, Ratanpur Tarana, Arya International, Natya School of Dance had the audience tapping their feet to today’s newest Bollywood hits. Jhankar took the audience back to the Golden days of Indian Cinema by their renditions of popular Qawalis.

In the words of a guest: “It was a wonderful event, well organized, well-planned for reaching ASHA's goals.” Asha would like to congratulate all board members, sponsors, donors, members, staff and volunteers for this successful event.

Please click here to enjoy the pictures of this spectacular event!