From India to Santa Ana With Love, and a Message

Sunny Aghi, who came to Southern California from India in 1980, slowly climbed his way up the economic ladder, graduating from college while working nights as a security guard and then inching his way to an MBA over nine long years.

Now a successful businessman along with many others of Indian descent in the Los Angeles Basin, Aghi has set out on another quest--to bring Indian Americans into mainstream society.

He takes a key step in that crusade with a food and blanket giveaway for the homeless in Santa Ana at noon today.

The “Thank You America Campaign” culminates a six-month effort by Aghi, who was struck by his compatriots’ isolation from mainstream politics and social causes despite their material comfort here.

“We’re going to show mainstream America that, yes, we are the highest per-capita income group [in the country], yes, we do drive Mercedeses,” said Aghi, 38, a family man who owns an insurance business. “But we also care about the homeless and the needy who are part of mainstream America.”

Aghi, a founding member and acting president of the Indo-American Business Assn., which draws members from Los Angeles and Orange counties, raised more than $7,000 for the giveaway.

It will take place behind the Santa Ana Central Library at Ross Street and Civic Center Drive, where he and fellow Indian American volunteers will hand out 250 blankets, donated T-shirts, jackets and a meal of tandoori chicken, vegetables and soda.

But beyond helping the homeless, Aghi encourages Indian Americans to get active in many facets of American life.

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Aghi, who lives and works in Anaheim Hills, became involved with the Democratic Party several years ago and has urged fellow Indian Americans to join him. He helped raise money for Democratic congressional candidate Loretta Sanchez, who defeated Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) in the 46th Congressional District election Nov. 5.

But all the while, Aghi said, he felt that Indian Americans needed to do more to thank the country that allowed them to succeed.

He pressed his fellow Indian American Democratic activists into action, soliciting donations from them and other Indian-owned businesses for the blanket and food giveaway. Most of his fund-raising came in the past six weeks, he said, when he made a frenzied push for donations and came up with more than $7,000, including a blank check from at least one businessman.

“I consider all human beings equal no matter what color,” said Naresh Kamboj, 52, a civil engineer from the San Fernando Valley who purchased the 250 blankets for Aghi’s campaign and also rallied around Sanchez. “If I feel they’re hungry or they lack something, it hurts me. We are part of this country. If my brothers and sisters are somehow left behind, naturally it is the duty of every person to help.”

According to the 1990 U.S. Census, there are 15,200 Asian Indians in Orange County, about 0.6% of the total population.

But Chopin Chopra, a vice chairman of the Indo-American Political Assn.--an advocacy group for immigrants and their descendants from all areas of India--estimated that there are 40,000 Indian Americans in the county and the population is growing. He said many are professionals, about 1,000 of them physicians.

“Most people think us to be the grocery store clerk or cab driver and that’s not really the case--that’s not reality,” said Sanjeet Singh, 32, an auditor for a major oil company who also lives in Anaheim Hills.

“We are a successful community. But we have achieved the success purely through our own endeavors. What we want to do is thank America for the opportunity that we have been given.”

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The “Thank You America Campaign” may raise the profile of the community, Singh said, something that does not come naturally to many Indian Americans.

“Showmanship is not in Indian culture,” said Singh. “You do things silently behind the scenes. But the way reality is, we have to break away from that mold, do something that will showcase ourselves and also help.”

Added Chopra, 56, who runs a high-tech business in Anaheim Hills: “People are very active and they want to participate. Our names may be different but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t loyal to America.”

Aghi, whose wife gave birth to a girl Monday, said the “Thank You America Campaign” marked his first effort to organize a benefit and consequently will be modest. The original goal to distribute 1,000 blankets in Santa Ana and Los Angeles was scaled back to 250 in Santa Ana alone.

But Aghi said he hopes the giveaway will continue as an annual tradition.

“Eventually we hope to give out scholarships to people who can’t afford to go to college,” said Aghi, who spent Wednesday distributing fliers about the giveaway at homeless shelters, picking up blankets and donated shirts and jackets from the San Fernando Valley and getting the food and banners organized.

“We want you to see we have good hearts. We are not just here to make money and stay in our homes,” he said.