Browsing: Giving Back Foundation

Hats may have disappeared from the fashion lexicon in modern times but on this one glorious day they make a triumphant return, like a descent of a fleet of multicolored exotic birds. Welcome to the ‘Hat Luncheon’ of the Central Park Conservancy!

eera Gandhi likes to do good – and always manages to have fun doing it.  Whether it’s a CD, a documentary or a coffee table book, she creates it and all funds go to the non-profit Giving Back Foundation which she founded in 2010 to help women and children.

“It’s the Oscar party for giving back,” said Meera Gandhi, founder of the Giving Back Foundation at its inaugural gala at the Pierre in New York, and indeed it was a fun-raising and fund-raising event which brought together an eclectic crowd from the worlds of arts, design and business together in a warm, intimate evening.

People certainly gave in different ways that night – from Phylicia Rashad giving generously of her time, noted artists and jewelers and designers donating their work for silent auction, and performers sharing their dance and music.

This Dusshera the Goddess Durga herself descended to earth in a powerful tableaux at the Children’s Hope India Gala – Viva Calcutta on October 13, 2013. Over 430 guests who came to this fundraiser for children’s health and education at Pier Sixty in Chelsea Piers, New York, saw this breath-taking 200 1b idol seated in a pandal of radiant hues of red, gold and orange.

A day of celebration indeed as it was not only Dusshera and the last day of the Bengali Puja holidays but also an evening to enjoy the seductive charms of the city of Calcutta, now known as Kolkata. The festive evening, which had a keynote address by Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, raised $450,000 for CHI projects.

The beautiful Museum of Arts and Design in Manhattan was the venue for the launch of Meera Gandhi’s coffee table book ‘Giving Back’ hosted by Barbara Tober, Chairman Emerita of the museum, and Chris Meigher, publisher of Quest Magazine.

Recently Meera Gandhi launched her book, Giving Back at the Leela Palace Hotel in New Delhi. As Fareed Zakaria writes, “The act of giving is twice blessed, touching the recipient but also the donor. We are at the beginning of a great revolution of giving. Meera Gandhi describes and celebrates it in this beautiful, heartwarming book.”

‘Giving Back’ is Meera Gandhi’s cinematic tribute to all her friends in high places and the good that they do for others through organizations for women and children, addressing everything from human rights to micro-credit. In the film she interviews Cherie Blair, Kerry Kennedy, U2’s singer Bono, Peter Raj Singh, interior designer Clodagh, Steven Rockefeller and others.
Watch the video.

New Yorker Meera Gandhi was appointed a centennial councilor for RNID which will be completing a hundred years in 2011. She is one of six centennial councilors who will serve for a year and highlight the mission of RNID in the US, India and China.