Betalish Gam picnic sees a large turnout

Betalish Gam KPS Chicago Executive Committee members, friends, sponsors and participants in Betalish Gam Picnic
Betalish Gam KPS Chicago Executive Committee members, friends, sponsors and participants in Betalish Gam Picnic

CHICAGO: Betalish Gam KPS Chicago celebrated its 4th Picnic on Sunday, July 24 at Forest Preserve Grove with more than 2000 members, friends, and well-wishers participating in this near day-long event.

The picnic was a tremendous success as the organizers of the picnic had many ideas to keep the group busy and entertained.

The hot summer sun did not dampen the spirits. All the activities and food were sponsored by members of the organization, allowing the picnic to be very nominal charged from attendees.

Besides a full scale social interaction and games, the highlight of the picnic was enchanting and mouthwatering food. Appetizers and snacks items were excellent. Participants enjoyed Hot Gota, Chatni, Khichu.

Children of all ages had plenty to do. For the youngest, there were inflatable slides rented locally. Volleyball, the Indian game of Kho Kho, water balloon toss, lemon race, musical chairs, cricket matches and Garba were arranged for some of the adults.

Indian food was served to all members included khichadi, Chhas, Thepla, Saak, Ladoo etc. The management served 10,000 cold water bottles on that very hot day.

This year a Jyoti Ruth of Shree Umiya Mataji was brought in for few hours for darshan. Shree Umiya Mataji is a Kuldevi of all Kadva Patidars. It was a heart touching religious moment with Aarti and Bhajans.

A raffle was organized to put a competitive edge to the day giving away laptops, tablets and Flat TVs.
Hand-truck load of watermelon, corn and pizza were served to over 750 youngsters. These were donated by well-wishers of the organization.

The next Betalish Samaj of Chicago event will be its annual Garba. This event was a huge success last year with over 3000 people attending. A live band will be present to give the audience the best experience of this favorite Gujarati event.

Executive Committee: Lalbhai Patel (President), JP Patel (Chairman), AP Patel (Secretary); Rasik Patel (Treasurer), Dipal Patel (Vice President); Dashrathbhai Patel (Vice Chairman); Jitubhai Patel (Joint Secretary); Rasmika Patel (Joint Secretary) and Hasmukh Patel (Joint Treasurer)

42 Gam Kadva Patida Samaj was established in 2012 with the efforts of some community leaders to preserve, protect and personify eastern values, to make our children participate in celebrating our festivals, and to provide platform to all 42 Gam Patidars to come together to meet, greet, entertain and celebrate our heritage.

Suresh Bodiwala