Summer is off to a sizzling start! NetIP Chicago ended spring with a sold-out, one of its kind Community Service and Professional Development Event, Akshaya Trust Honoring Narayanan Krishnan, CNN 2010 Top Ten Hero. We collected donations for the Chicago Food Depository through our Friday night food drive, volunteered at two community centers, Lakeview & Indo-American Center and were inspired at our formal luncheon by Mr Krishnan’s humble words around his foundation, Akshaya Trust, and his vision for the future. Check out pictures from the event on our NetIP Chicago Facebook Fan page!

In May, we brought back a social mixer upon your request, “Have you met my friend?” where new friendships were formed and professional connections made over ice breakers, drinks and appetizers at Grami. We had a spirited discussion at our 2nd Political Coffee Chat at Uncommon Ground around the death of Osama bin Laden and the role of Pakistani cooperation, current republican candidates for 2012, new CEO of Chicago Public Schools and new superintendent of Police, the end of Mayor Daley's reign, Paul Ryan's budget proposal, and many others. Great opinions were shared and everyone walked away learning a bit more about the topics.

June started our first professional networking happy hour at Timothy O’Tooles and we thank everyone for coming out and joining us! As part of our Cancer is Colorblind campaign benefiting Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, NetIP Chicago hosted its first ever Chicago City Challenge. This city-wide adventure had over 60 participants completing picture, video and physical challenges. Our teams enjoyed a wonderful Saturday in the city while competing for prizes including flying lessons over Chicago. This kicks off a great summer of events for the CiC Campaign, next up the Race Against Cancer 5K Run/Walk on August 6th at Soldier Field. To learn more about our campaign visit www.canceriscolorblind.org or email cicinfo@netipchicago.org.

Think we’ve been busy? Well, NetIP Chicago is just getting warmed up. On July 7th, we hosted a Professional Development Speaker Series event on how to market yourself with guest speaker, Dan Conrad from the Dale Carnegie Institute. If you’re looking to beef up your culinary skills, join us for a cooking demonstration/food tasting at our upcoming Cultural event “Spice up Your Culinary Skills.” Bring a beverage of your choice while you learn how to make a few contemporary Indian finger foods as well as taste them! NetIP Chicago is also supporting Anookul & Teamwork Productions in bringing to Chicago, Eye on India. For more information, go to www.eyeonindia.com. And last but not least, don’t forget that our Cancer is Colorblind 2nd Annual Race Against Cancer 5K Run/Walk at Soldier Field as well as our annual summer Boat Party coming up in August!

As always, our success is directly dependent on your involvement, small and large. To support our summer events, we are looking to expand our board and committees. If you cannot join the board, we are also looking for volunteers to help us support individual events. Join NetIP Chicago and be part of an amazing team that is making an direct impact on Chicago and the South Asian community. Please contact me directly at kesha.parikh@netipchicago.org if you are interested in joining us.

Regards,
Kesha Parikh
NetIP Chicago, President