Public Employee Press

Benefits vital to scholarship family

EKTA KADAKIA, the daughter of Local 375 member Gunjesh Kadakia, deeply appreciates being part of a union family. She made that clear in the moving essay on what the union has meant to her family that helped her win one of the 10 $2,000-a-year family scholarships awarded each year by DC 37's parent union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Now in her first year in a pre-med program at New York University, Ekta is tackling a heavy 18-credit workload.

"She's always been a very good student," said her dad. "I don't have to worry about her."

Gunjesh Kadakia, a Cost Analyst at the city Housing Authority, may not have to worry about her schoolwork, but as Ekta grew up she had to worry about her family. When she was a small child, a horrible traffic accident left her mother Metta with a broken back, arm, and leg and nervous system damage. After seven years of physical therapy she was much better but still unable to work, while the medical bills piled up. "My father was the only one in our family who worked. He had to take 36-hour shifts just so our family could survive," Ekta wrote.

Once her father got a city job and became a union member, "the worry was lifted, not only off his shoulders, but mine and my mother's as well," she wrote. "AFSCME has been a savior to our family."

These days Ekta's main concerns are her upcoming mid-term exams, plans for an internship and maybe a class trip to Europe. During the summer she volunteered at a clinic in a Michigan hospital where her aunt works. "I'm interested in cancer research," said Ekta. Just as the union helped her and her family, she plans to use her skills as a doctor to help others.

Deadline for 2012: Applications from graduating high school seniors for the 2012 scholarships must be postmarked by Dec. 31, 2011. You can get an application and instructions from the AFSCME Web site, www.afscme.org or by calling 202-429- 5066.

—Alfredo Alvarado