Sumit Gupta is CEO of SAGA Construction, Inc., and as such, Sumit has been an integral part in participating in community assistance with other members of the SAGA firm for the last two years before forming SCF.

Local community need has grown over these past few years, through the economic downturn and several natural disasters, and has impacted the lives of those around us. Even through these challenges, Sumit’s stewardship of the SCF philanthropic initiatives has been able to generate a positive impact in the community.  By donating his time and money to organizations such as Ruthie’s Kitchen, Food for Thought and “Meals on Wheels”, he has had a ‘hands on’ approach in the community. As such, he has learned that continued involvement should be both sincere and come with a long-term outlook.

These initiatives have been demonstrated by the various types of activities that combine donations, sponsorships and partnerships directed at ultimately securing funds for the not-for-profit organizations in need of sustained funding. Sumit strongly believes that he belongs to this community and is a philanthropist at heart. In addition to donating money to local charities such as the Community Free Dental Clinic, the March of Dimes and the Outer Banks Relief Foundation, he donates his time and his business expertise to help them become more efficient and more sustainable in the long term.

Sumit donates his time to many local organizations. He supports the Outer Banks Sporting Events, where all proceeds go to the Outer Banks Relief Foundation and the Dare County Education Foundation. He always provides them innovative ideas to make the events more fun, attract more attendees and help raise more funds.  He attends monthly meetings and helps plan the annual event for AAPI (Association of American Physicians of Indian Origins), which assists medical and dental students and students of human sciences, physicians and dentists to obtain scientific training in the United States. He has created a partnership with the Mustang Music Festival, which showcases local talent, including local kids. This event has an economic impact during the off season.

He feels most strongly about the children and the elderly people in the community and as a result has been involved with DARE Education Foundation and the Outer Banks Hospital. He meets with the Hospital Board and other boards for retirement communities to understand the needs of the elderly to see how, as a business, he can solve their needs.

Mr. Gupta is keenly aware that SCF must help bridge the gap between the have and have not’s to the extent possible and as such will make every effort to continue to do this.

Over the past seven years, by his demonstrated leadership, Amit has encouraged others to volunteer in non-profit organizations and he has been the point person for activating the SAGA employees to ”join in” a volunteer effort in order to assist in a positive outcome. For example, Amit used social media and web to help coordinate volunteer efforts for the 2013 Triathlon. He also helped increase volunteerism, while team-building, by challenging the employees to compete in the putt-putt for polio challenge (proceeds were for Rotary International and their cause to eradicate polio).  He has been a board member of the Dare County Arts Council.

Amit, has been involved with his local church since his teenage years. He helped to coordinate a youth group at his church, and was instrumental in helping to raise funds by setting up Mother’s Day Walk-A-Thon in the local community park. He was also a volunteer that helped setup and breakdown after events. While in High School, Amit helped to put on (telecast) large scale sporting events to help raise funds for the church. Later as an young adult in college, Amit used his IT skills to setup the church’s IT network and server to help the priests and other volunteers better manage scheduling and accountability for money. One value that he has learned from his father is to donate a part of his monthly salary for a good cause. As a result of that, Amit has been donating a fixed amount from his salary every month to his church for more than 10 years now.

Further, he believes in business’s ability to play an important charitable role within the community and has been key in undertaking various “Challenges” that demonstrate this approach. He feels that business leaders share a responsibility in strengthening the community by supporting those in need and this belief is the one of the primary reasons for SCF’s existence.  For example, Amit, was an integral part in creating a 21 Day Challenge to bring about awareness and collect food for the local food banks by utilizing social media and print media to attract businesses to join in the efforts.  A goal of 100 bags of groceries was set, and over 160 bags were raised directly plus others gave directly to the food banks. Amit was also instrumental in arranging events like “Breakfast for AED” and “Sky Diving Challenge” to encourage local businesses to donate for the AED cause. The AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators) were placed in local patrol cars.

He looks forward to his continued role at SCF, and identifying additional programs that will better assist the people and communities of the Outer and Inner Banks of North Carolina.

Prem is a one of the Key members of the first Hindu Temple (Church) in Northern Virginia. He has been actively involved as a volunteer since the inception of this Church in 1990 and was involved in all type of volunteer work. It included setting up things for Church’s weekly services at remote locations before the Church has its own building in 2001.  One of the most important things for the survival of any Church/non-profit organization is to raise sufficient funds for day to day activities as well as monthly loan commitments. Once completed, the Church had a difficult time meeting its monthly financial obligations and therefore fell behind in mortgage payments.

Prem has always had a giving sprit, and believes true devotion is through volunteering and working hard.  He, along with a small group of board members, designed a program called Monthly ACH Bank Donation, specifically designed for monthly loan mortgage payments. Through this program, any devotee was able to donate money directly debited from his/her bank account for 100% credit to Church bank account with the BB&T bank.  Prem single handedly raised over $30k a month through this program (About 1500 members, donation ranges $5-500 a month, average $20/member. The program was so successful and the Church was not just able to pay the bank all back due interest & principal, it actually paid the whole loan ($2,5M) in about 6-7 years, almost 15 years earlier than the due date. Prem was responsible for raising over 95% of all ACH membership by standing outside the Church during all weekly/daily services to spread the word and register members, and through constant communication with the members, kept the revenues up and helped increase long-term membership. Today, the same Church turned around from a failing Church/a non-profit organization to an organization with a reserve fund of over a million dollars and helping other non-profit organizations set up similar ACH programs.

Being an accountant, he also helped the Church and other non-profit organizations, by designing & implementing CASH control system to minimize any misuse of cash, which also helped increase the monthly cash collections from church services. Prem has since moved away from the area but is still involved to any extent possible, and by periodically visiting the Church as, & when, needed. With the great success of this ACH program, he helped many other Churches/non-profit organizations to implement similar ACH fund raising programs. Prem believes the success is in the implementation and not the idea as it takes hard work and dedication to make any idea successful.

Prem has always believed in that a part of one’s salary/income should be donated for a good cause(s). With that in mind, he has been donating a part of his monthly salary to educational fund in India for the last over 23 years and has passed the same value to his children

From 1993 to 2004, Prem has also sponsored personal scholarship programs for deserving students in India who didn’t have the financial resources to continue education and were forced by parents to work for family income.  This program was specially designed to assist not only these deserving students who will continue their education; they will have to improve their grades every semester and will similarly help other students in life. Additionally, Prem has made special visits to India to personally meet and motivate these students and has constantly stayed in touch with them like a mentor. He believes that if his help can keep even one student from straying onto a bad path, then he will have gotten worth of every penny he donated. In fact, a few of these students have ended up going to college and hope one day other students will get similar help from them.

Currently, he is involved in volunteering for meals and wheel, Outer Banks Triathlon, and the March of Dimes.

In 2009, Shweta joined SAGA Construction as a Marketing and Web Strategist. Today, she is the Manager of Marketing and Web Strategy there.

In a professional capacity, she has been able to give back to the community, for example, by donating technical and marketing assistance to design, host and update websites for “Ruthie’s Kitchen” (a group that feeds the hungry once per week) and “Food for Thought” (a group that provides back-pack meals to public school children that are eligible for free and reduced lunch and might otherwise go hungry after-school and on weekends).

In her personal life, she has been a volunteer for “Meals on Wheels”, delivering meals and much needed companionship to older people. She is also involved with numerous community initiatives like the AED Challenge, Outer Banks Triathlon, March of Dimes, Putt-Putt for Polio, Relay for Life, etc.  She teaches a meditation and chanting class at an area yoga studio and donates the proceeds to a local food pantry.  In addition, Shweta leads a free, bi-weekly meditation session at her home and prepares a healthy meal for all participants to have an opportunity for understanding and fellowship.

Shweta is also known for her bright smile, and she takes great pride in promoting a work environment that focuses on good health, happiness and job satisfaction.
“I don’t believe that I have found my true calling yet, but I have come to understand a legacy of giving back will be a large part of my own personal fulfillment.  There is no greater feeling than knowing your daily choices in life can create harmony and happiness in others.