large event held by the Kirat Rai Society of America drew some 300 people in December 2019, with both a large number of Rai and a large number of Nepali New Yorkers from other ethnolinguistic groups. The Kirat Rai Society of America is one organization representing members of several dozen different ethnolinguistic groups of eastern Nepal considered Indigenous to the region, but not Sunwar, Limbu, or Bhutanese Rai, who have their own organizations, or Yakkha, of whom there may be a small number. Almost all groups, after centuries of pressure, are shifting to Nepali, with the largest Rai language Bantawa sometimes also serving as a kind of common language. Estimates of the New York Rai community, centered in Queens, ranged from a few hundred to as many as 1,000. Besides Bantawa, of which there may be dozens of speakers, there are a significant number of Chamling speakers, some Khaling, Nachhiring, and Sampang speakers and reportedly a few speakers of Kulung and Thulung.