The National Indo-American for Senior Citizens (NIAASC) held its 34th annual conference in the town of Tavares, Florida on Saturday, November 18th, 2023. This event which was attended by over 100 participants was held in collaboration with Shantiniketan-3, Tavares, Florida. Being that it was the signature annual event of NIAASC, a plethora of renowned professionals were in attendance and talked on various topics. The theme of the conference was: “Empowering Aging”.
Topics are appended below:
1 Protecting Seniors Citizens (Safeguarding against Scams) by Alicia Ramirez (AARP)
2 Aging — A Curse or Boon by Baldev Seekri
3 Debunking Anti-Aging Myths by Srinivasa Rao
The above-named speakers are nationally known professionals and have been endeared by the community-at-large. Alicia Ramirez is a retired professional from AARP and in her speech cautioned that AI technology is being used to scam the seniors and advised that seniors need to be cognizant on the aforementioned. Baldev Seekri is the author of ‘Meaningful Aging’ and one of the highlighting topics was how the mind-set can make meaningful aging happen. Srinivasa Rao, a bio-medical scientist who has authored a slew of articles on food and nutrition and in his presentation shed light on reverse aging via nutrition.
The conference started with lighting of the lamp and invocation by Acharya Praygraj, followed by the opening
remarks provided by Yogesh Naik from Shantiniketan-3 (Advisory Committee) and Chandrakant Shah (NIAASC Conference Coordinator) who welcomed all the participants and the guests. This was followed by the lecture topics as per above. All the above-named speakers are subject matter experts, and the delivery of the topics were succinct and material content was one that allayed a lot of apprehension/misgivings that the attendees had relating to Aging and its effects.
In her welcome speech, Gunjan Rastogi, NIAASC president greeted all participants and talked about the detailed program and in her concluding remarks assured the members of her unwavering commitment to the organization and further reiterated that the vision will continue to fortify the organization’s mission to be a force multiplier for helping the Seniors. Gunjan’s speech was followed by Rajeshwar Prasad who is the Founder and Chairman of NIAASC. He spoke at length the need to foster partnerships and collaboration which in an effort to seek synergy so as to pave the way for organizing an array of nation-wide workshops for Seniors.
The conference was financially supported by various sponsors and donations ranged from $51.00 to $10,000.00. The major sponsor being Santosh Kumar from Chicago she is also known as “Mother Teresa of Chicago”. India Home (NY) was another notable sponsor and supported the event by sponsoring the food. The cultural program was emceed by Tara Ashok and thoroughly regaled the audience with great fanfare.
At the end of every conference, it is the practice of getting evaluations done by the members in attendance with the sole purpose of getting better the next time. Deep dive into what works and what does not work are carefully examined so that areas and opportunities for improvement are taken into
cognizance at the subsequent events.
NIAASC has been in operation since its inception of Spring of 1999 with the stated objectives “To provide help to seniors through information, referral and advocacy services.”.
For more information about NIAASC, please visit www.NIAASC.org or email at [email protected].
