Just. So. Happy.
The late Mari Sekharan (right) volunteering during the Bix 7 Road Race.
“I’m just so happy to be involved with this—to be able to do this,” Dr. Raj Sekharen said from his home in the Quad Cities, where he has been quarantining during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I don’t get out very much these days, you know.”
Even so, the legacy that he—and his late wife Mari—established in 2014 with the Sekharan Family Fund at the Quad Cities Community Foundation is part of a movement of generosity that is spreading across the Quad Cities region.
Through the fund, the Sekharan family is part of a community of donors who, through giving to areas of interest and enlisting the Community Foundation’s help, just granted nearly half-million dollars to 27 nonprofits in the Quad Cities. A $700 grant made possible by the Sekharan Family Fund supported Family Resources.
“My wife and I wanted to help people in our community who need the help. There is great need for hospice care, and for homeless individuals here,” he said. “There is great need all over the country, but we knew we could help local efforts.”
The grant to Family Resources, awarded through the Community Foundation’s Coordinated Field of Interest Grant Program, addresses the homelessness focus of the Sekharan Family Fund, in particular individuals and families who find themselves homeless due to the impact of domestic violence or other violent crimes. The organization adapted quickly this year to provide shelter in hotels instead of their congregate shelter to allow for safe social distancing.
“I’m just so happy the fund is supporting good things,” Dr. Sekharan he said again.
The fund is not the only thing Dr. Sekharan has done to support “good things.” When his wife Mari passed away, he also established the Mari Sekharan Memorial Scholarship, a recurring $5,000 scholarship for students participating in track at St. Ambrose University in Davenport. The scholarship is awarded to two students—one male and one female—fulfilling his wife’s desire for equitable educational opportunities.
Mari Sekharan was a long-time volunteer of the Quad-City Times Bix 7 road race, an event that brings the community together—and meant so much to his wife. “This scholarship keeps her memory alive. I’m so grateful to have had so much positive feedback from people about this scholarship—I’m so just really pleased with it, and with the help the Community Foundation has given me.”
“And, we are really grateful to know Dr. Sekharan, and to be part of the legacy his family is giving to support the Quad Cities region,” added Anne Calder, vice president of development. “Dr. Sekharan is such a joy to partner with because he has a heart of true generosity. He and Mari have forever given a gift to this community—touching the lives of the young, and the old.”
To explore how you can make an impact on your community and the causes that are close to your heart, contact Calder at (563) 326-2840 or AnneCalder@QCCommunityFoundation.org.