A letter from Sunil Arora:
My father, Vallabh Arora, came to New York City from India in 1968 to pursue his graduate education. He had no family or friends here but worked hard to build a life with his beloved wife, touching so many people along the way. He battled living with kidney failure for almost 20 years while working full time, and helped to raise and educate three very fortunate children before passing away in 2001 at the age of 55. As a father of two young boys now, I am in even deeper awe of the strength and perseverance my dad embodied for so long.
My father was homesick when he first came to this country and decided to build a community to help with that. He chose an amazing way to do so – by starting a weekly radio show where he would curate popular Indian music and Urdu verses to share with the world. Thanks to the large and loving community he built, I was very fortunate to be surrounded by a lot of support when I lost my dad at a young age. Not all kids have that. Experience Camps gives children the opportunity to form lifelong communities and connections to help them navigate through their grief and build resilience.
I joined Experience Camps five years ago as a volunteer and board member and have proudly helped the organization grow to a point where it will host over 2,000 campers at our 12 locations across the country next year. All of my contributions to the organization, as well as everything I have done as a family member, friend, and professional in my life, are a credit to my strong and resilient mother, Deepika, and my father who built a life from nothing in this country over 50 years ago.
As the 20th anniversary of my father’s passing approaches early next year, I want to honor him by creating a fund that will celebrate his legacy – a legacy that is still felt by so many people today – while helping sustain Experience Camps for years to come.
Our family is anchoring the fund with a significant commitment, with a goal of raising $100,000 by the end of 2020. I hope you will consider making a donation to support this amazing cause, in honor of my remarkable father.
With deep love and gratitude,
Sunil Arora