With a goal of bridging the gaps and bringing communities together, South Asian Community Outreach (SACO) hosted its tenth annual interfaith holiday gala at the Royal Albert Palace in Edison on Wednesday, which, among other things demonstrated the close ties of Middlesex County to political behemoth Essex.

“The aim of SACO since it’s founding in 2012 is to celebrate the ‘Unity in Diversity’ by collaborating with various organizations of South Asian origin and showcase our heritage giving opportunity to everyone to understand us,” said Sam Khan, founder of SACO. “During the pandemic while the world seems to be divided, our goals is to bring everyone together and break bread with each other.”

Middlesex County Democratic Committee Chairman Kevin McCabe (who received an award) occupied the stage with Democratic State Committee (and Essex County Democratic Committee) Chairman LeRoy Jones. Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-19) attended and spoke.

Consul General of Pakistan Ayesha Ali showed up. So did Pat Diegnan (State Senator, LD-18), Sam Thompson, (State Senator, LD-22), Robert Karabinchak (Assemblyman LD-18), Sadaf Jaffer (Assemblywoman-elect LD-16), Sterley Stainley (Assemblyman LD-18), Raj Mukherji (Assemblyman LD-33), Claribel Cortes (Middlesex County Surrogate), Mildred Scott (Middlesex County Sheriff), Nancy Pinkin (Middlesex County Clerk), Brad Cohen (Mayor, East Brunswick), Thomas Lankey (Mayor, Edison), Charlie Carley (Mayor, South Brunswick) Jonathan Busch (Mayor, Metuchen) John McCormac (Mayor, Woodbridge), Sam Joshi (Mayor-elect, Edison), Wayne Richardson (Essex County Commissioner) and , Shanti Narra, Charles Tomaro (Middlesex Commissioners).

South Asian Community Outreach was founded in 2012 with their inaugural event as the Independence Day Fireworks in Edison.