Tampa got a rare double honor for one of India’s most celebrated philanthropists.Nita Ambani, founder and chairperson of Reliance Foundation, received the Humanitarian Award from the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) who have been representing Indian doctors in the United States since the early 1980s.
The ceremony took place at a Tampa, Florida ceremony and Mayor Jane Castor personally gave her the award.And the evening wasn't over. Mayor Castor also awarded Ambani the Key to the City of Tampa - a distinction that is an honor for people who are really big in the community. The city officials described it as a symbolic way to show the honorees that Tampa is open to those who have served others with distinction.
AAPI established five pillars of impact: healthcare, education, sport, culture and community building.
Ambani’s name appeared on all five, showing how many bases Reliance Foundation has built through hospitals, schools, sporting programs and grassroots programs. Ambani did not so much thank those in the background as those working behind the scenes. She was humble in accepting the honor and said that humanitarian work is not something that one person does on the fly.
Her remarks were about an unseen workforce: people who arrive before sunrise and stay long into darkness not because they logged hours but because their lives have changed. She framed the award as an award to the whole Reliance Foundation team rather than to her, and laid out the mission in three simple words “Care for people, care for India, care for the planet.”
She also made an effort to recognize the Indian-American community in general, and how it has maintained a culture of its own, and so has influenced American life. It’s not Ambani’s first major recognition of the year. In March, Odisha’s Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology University awarded her an honorary doctorate. The degree was awarded by Sri Lankan Nobel laureate Professor Mohan Munasinghe.
Tampa and the earlier doctorate together, however, represent a year of international recognition for Ambani’s philanthropy under her leadership. Reliance Foundation has become a cross-sector player, in addition to charity work and a range of programmes on medicine, schooling, athletics, cultural preservation and so on.
For AAPI, a foundation that is founded and includes Indian doctors, it is also a recognition of Ambani with its own mission, recognizing those who are people with a connection to Indian culture and an impact on the world.
The Tampa ceremony concludes a series of events combining civic tradition and international philanthropy and it is that recognition on that scale is not about one person, but rather networks of people, values and institutions.
