Clerk Dorothy Brown Celebrates Asian American Heritage Month with Awards Ceremony

Chicago IL: Chicago celebrated its 14th Annual Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month (AAHM) on Tuesday, May 28, 2013 with an awards ceremony and token cultural program at noon at Richard J. Daley Center downtown. The reception was hosted jointly by Dorothy Brown, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County (CCCC), and the 14-year old Asian American Employees Social Club (AAESC).

After Beena Patel, Asian Committee Chair and Associate Clerk of First Municipal Bureau, had welcomed the guests, Portia Young sang the national anthem. MC Susanna Song from CBS-2 Chicago introduced the Circuit Court led by Brown. The latter individually thanked all the AAESC members and event sponsors, especially awards sponsor Naren Patel and his sons Neil and Raj Patel. She recognized by name foreign diplomatic personnel, media representatives, community leaders present, and her own support staff. She recounted how AAHM was instituted on Oct. 23, 1992 to celebrate contributions of Asian-Pacific communities. Her office participates in Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese programs, and the Indian and Pakistani Independence Day ceremonies.

MC Song introduced each of the eight awardees: Muhammad Aslam, Suresh Bodiwala, Lynne Kawamoto, Santosh Kumar, Jin Lee, Hetal Patel, Estefan G. Roy, and Rishikant Singh.

The owner of Serena Restaurant on Devon Avenue, Muhammad Aslam has worked as a chef for notable restaurants in Pakistan for 20 years, He now gives back to his community by feeding those who are less fortunate and by donating food to nonprofit organizations

Suresh Bodiwala, who had worked as an Aerospace R&D engineer for 36 years, is the CEO and Founder of Asian Media USA (AMU), one of the top growing community news agencies in the U.S. Repeating that “This award is not for me but for my selfless, hard working team, they burned lots of midnight oil to serve mankind and uplift society,” Suresh Bodiwala stressed that “Asian Media USA is not-for-profit mission is to serve society and invited anyone to join its team of volunteers and acquire new skills, such as creative writing and photography and Viedography. He dedicated the award to entire Asian Media USA team, his beloved mother and Child hood sweetheart now his wife.

“Thanks to Clark Dorothy Brown, Mr. Naren Patel (CEO of Medstar Lab), Beena Patel (Chair person of Asian America Social Club), Entire team of Asian America Social Club, Audiences, well-wishers and supporters” said by Bodiwala

Associate Judge of the CCCC Probate Division Honorable Lynne Kawamoto was the first Asian Pacific American to sit in 1991 as a state court judge in the entire state of Illinois. Judge Kawamoto was the first female trial attorney selected to the prestigious Gang Crimes Unit of the State’s Attorney Office. She is the founding member of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago Area and co-author of the Judicial Bench Book on Juvenile Law.

Santosh Kumar is attorney, counselor, professor, community leader, businesswoman, and Founder and Executive Director of Metropolitan Asian Family Services (MAFS), a non-profit agency. Her biography is published in Strathmore’s Who’s Who as a lifetime featured member. In 2012, Kumar was honored as Professional of the Year by America’s Registry of Outstanding Professionals. “I am nothing unless you (the community) support us,” declared Kumar.

Jin Lee is Director of Business Planning & Development and Government Relations at Albany Park Community Center. He is first minority and Korean-American elected to Maine Township District 207 School Board. Jin serves as Vice Chair on the Board of Trustees at Northeastern Illinois University. He is counselor for Asian-American Small Business Administration’s Development Center and received the President’s “Life-Time” Call to Service Award.

Hetal Patel is the first female and youngest President of Federation of Indian Associations (FIA) in Chicago. She volunteers at BAPS Temple, serves as youth coordinator for Gujarat Cultural Association, and is trustee for many organizations. Hetal currently holds the position of Chief Deputy Clerk of the District 3 – Rolling Meadows for the Office of the Clerk of CCCC.

Dr. Estefan G. Roy MD is an Internal Medicine board-certified physician who practices at Our Lady of the Resurrection Medical Center at Saint Joseph Hospital in Chicago. His clinical interests include geriatric patients, hypertension, coronary artery disease and diabetes. Active in the Filipino community, Roy sits on several boards and volunteers his time to those less fortunate.

Air India Regional Manager Rishikant Singh oversees Marketing, Sales, Operations, and Administration for US Midwest. Under his leadership, Air India earned a record increase of 25% in tourism and grossed more than $75 million in revenue in 2012. Singh is a very active community organizer and is involved in humanitarian aid by helping individuals travel to India. He urged a mutually beneficial marriage between the economic prosperity of the technologically advanced US and the ancient socio-cultural wealth and diversity of India.

Sponsor Naren Patel of Medstar Laboratory congratulated all the awardees, recognized the engagement of Dorothy Brown over the last 14 years with the Asian communities, and praised AAESC Chair Beena Patel for her initiative.

Meghana Walia of Payalia Dance Studio performed a contemporary dance (Ishq Shava) before the awards ceremony and a Bollywood dance Radha Radha from movie “Student of the Year.”

In her closing remarks, Brown thanked everyone who had contributed to the success of the event. Several Chicago-based diplomatic personnel present were specially acknowledged: Chaow Weiping (China), N. G. Gangte (Acting Consul General of India), Andriana Supandy (Indonesia), Masaharu Yoshida (Japan), Chul Huh (Korea), Zaheer Pervaiz Khan and Songphol Sukchan (Consul Generals of Pakistan and Thailand respectively). CBS-2 Chicago, Vandana Jhingan of TV Asia USA, Suresh Bodiwala of Asian Media USA, and Lily Kim of Ascene Chicago, were also acknowledged for event coverage and publicity.