Charisma lends its charm to Harvest

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This article was published 23/01/2017 (3408 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What do authentic Indian food and karaoke have in common? You can find both at Charisma of India’s upcoming fundraiser for Winnipeg Harvest on Sat., Jan. 28.

The India Association of Manitoba in partnership with the West Broadway restaurant is hosting the “house party” style event which features singing, dancing and plenty of butter chicken.

The association’s director Anupam Sharma said it all began when he overheard Charisma owner Mitesh Trivedi take the stage with mic in hand.

“He prefaced himself by saying he was a bathroom singer, and we said there should be a platform for bathroom singers,” Sharma said. “So we thought, let’s all of us get together two or three times a year like a house party without having to cook… and while we’re at it, having fun, why don’t we identify a cause for the day, raise money for them?”

This will be Charisma’s seventh event, and they have donated money to a variety of local causes such as cancer research and women’s shelters. This time, they’ve chosen Winnipeg Harvest as their beneficiary.

“I’ve given a couple of hours to Harvest and that more or less strengthened my belief in the organization,” association president Prashant Tipnis said. “They’re definitely worthy of any help that the community can give.”

The series of fundraisers at Charisma have raised a total of $30,000 for the community. They hope the upcoming event will raise $2,500 for Harvest. Tickets are $25 and cover the cost of dinner, and guest donations go directly to the charity.

Harvest’s executive director David Northcott said that the event is about more than cash donations — it also represents what kind of relationship Winnipeg Harvest has had with the association and the Indo-Canadian community as a whole.

“We’ve been working with a number of people from the India Association for years,” Northcott said. “They have been great teachers for us… we’ve had great advice and support from that community.”

He said small-scale fundraisers such as this one make up as much as a third of Harvest’s charitable income. Northcott added that fundraisers that are hosted by cultural groups and associations also serve to inspire Winnipeg’s newcomers and refugees.

“It lets people know that other people have done this and there is hope and that’s what we like,” Northcott said. “Here is a group of Canadians who now have wonderful roots and still respect their culture and are also putting it back into the community.

“We’ve had a number of Syrian families come to us… That’s brand-new culture, language, money, all the things you have to learn and you’re able to say you can trust people here.”
 Trivedi said owning a restaurant gives him the responsibility to use it to give back whenever he can.
“I’m blessed,” he said. “There’s two sides of the coin. Power and responsibility. If you have power, utilize it. It’s nothing special. I have it, so I do it.”

He said he’ll be hitting the stage on Jan. 28 with his favourite hit, Mere Sapno Ki Rani. The event begins at 6 p.m. with dinner at 7:30. Food is included and a cash bar is available, as well. For tickets and more information, call Charisma at 204-222-7878.