Preparing for “A Night In Bollywood”

In anticipation for United Way’s Fifth Annual Oscar® Night America on Sun, Feb. 27 at the Murat Shrine, event committee member Rupal Thanawala stopped by RJE business interiors and helped committee chair Shelly Langona decide on an outfit. This Bollywood-inspired event allows guests to enjoy food, fun, and entertainment while watching the 83rd Academy Awards. As United Way’s largest fundraiser of the year, Oscar Night: A Night in Bollywood proceeds benefit the Ready to Learn, Read to Earn priority to help children succeed in school and beyond. With the big day only a month away, tickets are going fast. For the past two years, this event has sold out, so purchase your tickets today. You don’t want to miss this spectacular event!

Oscar Night official advisor Rupal Thanawala places a bindi on event chair Shelly Langona. Originating in India from Hindu traditions, the bindi is placed between the eyebrows at the third eye, or sixth chakra, of a person, which is believed to be the seat of concealed wisdom.

Wearing traditional saris, Rupal and Shelly are ready for Oscar Night festivities, including live dance performances, raffles, games, a silent auction and the viewing of the 83rd Academy Awards. All guests are welcome to wear Bollywood-inspired attire similar to the saris pictured.

Rupal uses Henna to decorate Shelly’s hand. Henna painting uses a dye made from the Henna plant to create intricate designs and beautiful patterns on the skin that fade naturally over one to three weeks. At Oscar Night, Henna artists will be available supplying tattoos for interested guests.

Dressed in a sari, Shelly shows off her henna tattoo. In between participating in the event’s entertainment activities, Indian-inspired family style hors d’oeuvres and desserts, as well as complimentary alcohol, will be served.

Rupal’s husband, Amit Thanawala, helps the ladies select jewelry to accent their saris. At the end of this year’s Oscar Night, all guests will receive a gift bag and an official Academy Awards program to accent and commemorate the evening’s fun.

Congratulations, Mike Winterhalder!

We’re thrilled to announce that Mike Winterhalder, who works at Sallie Mae, is the winner of our grand prize trip to Super Bowl XLV, courtesy of the Indianapolis Colts. Mike stopped by Friday morning to officially claim his prize, and he was good enough to stick around for a few minutes so we could snap a few photos. Mike won’t receive his actual game tickets until Super Bowl Sunday – and we couldn’t let him leave empty-handed – so we whipped together a gift basket of LIVE UNITED t-shirts (of course!) for Mike, his wife and two children, as well as some Colts memorabilia and snacks.

Mike Winterhalder shows off his new LIVE UNITED gear

When I thanked Mike for coming all the way down to 3901 N. Meridian from his Fishers office, he noted that it was a “small price to pay for a trip to the Super Bowl!” From the moment we first contacted Mike, he’s been about has gracious and appreciative a winner as you could possibly hope for. We’re glad to count Mike and Sallie Mae among our supporters.

So from all of us at United Way, once again, congratulations to Mike – thank you for being such a good sport (no pun intended). Thank you to the Colts, not only for making this trip possible, but for all that you do for United Way and our community. And thank you everyone who has contributed to this year’s annual campaign. Don’t forget, we’re still going to draw five winners who will get to meet #18 himself, Peyton Manning. Donate by January 31st to be eligible. You can find all the details at uwci.org/give.

(Mike has promised to tell us all about his trip when he returns. We’ll see if we can get him to send us a few pictures, too!)

--Sam Perry, Director, Marketing and Communications, United Way

And the winner is…

On Friday, January 14, more than 7,500 slips of paper were placed into a large raffle drum at United Way headquarters. Each slip of paper represented one donor who was eligible to win one of United Way's campaign grand prizes - a trip to the 2011 Super Bowl, courtesy of the Indianapolis Colts.

The tickets are ready

Jeff Fusile, Managing Partner, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, LLP, and Ellen K. Annala, President and CEO, United Way of Central Indiana, did the honors by drawing one - just one - paper from the drum.

Jeff Fusile and Ellen Annala selecting the lucky ticket

So who is the lucky recipient of this amazing prize? Stay tuned...

GO COLTS!!

We believe in BLUE!