Greetings community members!
Minnesota Malayalee Association thanks each and every one of you for attending our Christmas event on December 8th, 2018. You made it a grand success.
With nearly 550 attendees, this was one of the most attended Christmas events ever in the history of MMA. 24 programs, 266 total number of participants, 11 competition cakes – clear evidence of a total commitment from our community members. Our success completely, 100% depended on that commitment from you.
We would be amiss if we did not mention the effort put in by the volunteers who helped decorate the stage, man the front desk, serve food, set up, and clean up. And let’s not forget the opening program. It’s not easy to conceptualize, plan and execute such an amazing opening program. Last, and most importantly, to the parents who took their kids to countless practices for their programs – a BIG thank you!
We would like to thank our sponsor - Heartfulness. Your support is highly appreciated!
Volunteers and board members who helped turn this event into a grand success were:
Overall coordination: Seena George
Program coordination: Peter Joy
Planning: Manju Nayar, Seena George, Peter Joy, Brijoy Janardhanan, Leena Phillip, Binoy Bahuleyan
Finance: Lal Rajan Pillai
Food: Rajesh Nair, Leena Phillip
Light and Sound: Suresh Pillai, Birjoy Janardhanan
Stage coordination: Seena George, Binoy Bahuleyan
Competitions: Peter Joy
Scheduling: Binoy Bahuleyan
Sponsorship: Suresh Pillai
Membership and Front desk: Jilby Subash, Suresh Pillai, Brijoy Janardhanan, Liji George, Binu George, Lekshmy Nair, Suja Nair, Girish Nair, Subash Thomas
Opening Program: Concept: Cyril Mukalel, Coordinators: Seena George, Sunitha Pillai
Master of Ceremonies: Rashmy Nair
Stage Decoration: Gladwin Francis, Manoj Nambiath, Guhan Vaidyanathan, Lal Rajan Pillai, Vijai Menon, Cyril Mukalel, Kavitha Mathews, Joy Moolan, Simmy Joy, Sreeraj Balakrishnan, Brijoy Janardhanan
Food Serving: Rajesh Nair, Mathew Jose, Ashok Menon, Harish Panakkal, Sanil Joseph, Ashish, Narayan, Suresh Nair, Sujith Kurup, Renju Mathews, Sameer, Adeep, Prem, Sanal Parameswaran
Photos: Sunny Augustine, Jose Mathew
Videos: Vivekanand Kandagatla (contact@snapsforever.com)
Special Note:
We want to take this opportunity to address the several instances where program attendees fell sick following the event. Many community members, mostly children, showed symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea 12 – 48 hours after the day of the event. We immediately got in touch with the food vendor, school authorities, and healthcare professionals to alert them to this fact and find out what happened. Here’s what we found.
The food vendor served the same food as part of their lunch buffet the same day to over 170 people without any complaints. Also, some people at the event who did not eat any food got sick. After consulting with physicians and other healthcare professionals, we have since come to understand that this is consistent with symptoms for norovirus. It is common during this time of the year and spreads mainly through contact. It is very common in school settings and Minnesota Department of Health has been sending out notices to schools regarding this. It is highly contagious and even wiping down contact areas with bleach might not be effective. We suspect that the close proximity setting of the event at the school could have contributed towards its spread, mainly among kids, with some parents getting it from their kids later.
If you have any further concerns about this, we would suggest reaching out to your primary health care physician. Even though it was disheartening to see this unfold after all the hard work put in by everyone, we want to assure everyone that we will continue with our commitment to making MMA live up to the expectations of the community of which we serve.
Thank you again for all your support. We wish you all a wonderful holiday season.
Best,
MMA Board
