The Bowery Hotel played host to the Shanti Bhavan Gala this past Thursday, with The Daily Show’s Hasan Minhaj as the master of ceremonies and several celebrities including Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi in attendance. The gala benefits the help in building the second Shanti Bhavan school in India. Overall, the event was able to raised a ton of money through some incredible auction items while bringing awareness to this incredible cause.
The gala commemorated the 20th anniversary of The Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project, which is a residential education program built to uplift children from India’s lowest socioeconomic class. It also celebrated the summer release of Daughters of Destiny, an original Netflix docuseries chronicling the work Shanti Bhavan.
The evening raised over $1.35 million through auction items such as VIP tickets to Jimmy Fallon and a 5 night stay in Goa, raffle tickets for swag bags, donations and ticket sales. Following speeches from the guests of honor, two-time Tony winner Michael Cerveris and Shanti Bhavan graduate Preetha performed a beautiful rendition of “California Dreamin” by the Mamas and the Papas moving many to tears.
Others in attendance were former U.S. Ambassador to India and Vice Chair of The Asia Group Richard Verma; Academy Award-winning Filmmaker and Director of Daughters of Destiny Vanessa Roth, Exxon Mobil Corporation’s President of Global Services Linda DuCharme, EY Americas Vice-Chair, Tax Services Kate Barton; Special Guests: Actress Reshma Shetty, Jewelry Designer Amrita Singh; and from Shanti Bhavan & Daughters of Destiny: Founder Dr. Abraham George, Director of Operations Ajit George, and graduates of the school Shilpa, and Manjula.
For more information the Shanti Bhavan Children’s project, click here.