INDO-US In The News

By AAKASH M. PATEL

The long-anticipated wait for the Diwali Nights fundraiser is nearing an end. The event, which kicks off the Kamla Project, is set for the evening of Oct. 27. The Kamla Project is a collaboration initiated between Voices for Children, and Rahul Mehra, a board-certified child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist who has been practicing in Tampa for the last 15 years. Voices for Children is a local organization that appoints a community volunteer to become the “voice” for a child in foster care. The Kamla Project is named in honor and remembrance of Mehra’s late mother, Kamla Kapur Mehra. “Her dedication, passion and love for children has been a lifelong inspiration for me,” said Mehra.The mission of the project is threefold. First, provide free one-time psychiatric evaluation services to foster children and foster parents. The specific goal of such evaluations is to significantly shorten the time for finalization of adoptions for the children. Second, the Kamla Project will provide training and resource to the Guardian ad Litem Program in Hillsborough County. Lastly, it looks to promote public awareness in partnership with Voices for Children for the special needs of children in foster care. The Diwali Nights fundraiser is set at 7 p.m. and is open to anyone. The honorary chairman is Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. For information, visit http://www.kamlaproject.orgAakash M. Patel is secretary of the Indo-US Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee and has been a Khaas Baat contributor since 2005. He can be reached at Aakash.M.Patel@gmail.com

By AAKASH M. PATEL

	NorthStar’s Personal Banker Vinita Mehra poses with Directors Paresh Patel, left, and Dr. Kiran C. Patel at the bank’s grand opening recently. Photo by Aakash Patel

Exactly one year after filing with the Florida Office of Financial Regulation to become an official bank, NorthStar Bank opened its doors to the Tampa Bay community. More than 400 people attended the grand opening celebration held recently at the company’s first office and headquarters inside the cylindrical Rivergate Tower in downtown. While NorthStar is among a dozen startup banks to open in the area since 2005, it is unique because of its ties to the Indian community. Philanthropist Dr. Kiran Patel is the company’s largest individual shareholder and Paresh Patel (no relation) is one of the main organizers of NorthStar. Both are among the 10 founding Board of Directors.”We wanted a community bank owned by local investors for Tampa Bay businesses,” said Paresh Patel in an interview with Khaas Baat. “Marty Traber (also a Board member) and I first discussed the idea in 2004 at an Indo-US Chamber of Commerce meeting (www.indo-us.org) Tampa Bay has a vibrant business community especially amongst Indians, yet we are just a number to the big banks. Why not instead bank somewhere where you are valued as a customer? After much discussion with other community leaders, we felt that time for our opening was now.”In keeping with the community owned spirit the bank has over 100 individual shareholders from in an around Tampa Bay with over 25 percent being Indians. Investors in the bank include a variety of professions such as pharmacists, engineers, doctors and businessmen. According to Patel, NorthStar’s goal is to provide financial services for small to mid-sized businesses and their owners, executives and employees, as well as consumers in general. Aakash M. Patel is secretary of the Indo-US Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee and has been a Khaas Baat contributor since 2005. He can be reached at Aakash.M.Patel@gmail.com