Sewa gala celebrates its many humanitarian projects, raises $78,000
(Left) Sewa USA-Atlanta's annual fundraising gala had a full house in a beautiful setting. (Photos: Viral Kothari)
On November 11, 2016, the Atlanta chapter of Sewa USA held its annual fundraising gala banquet at Tadka Banquet Hall, Alpharetta. The event was attended by about 300 guests. Mr. and Mrs. T. R. Reddy, Founder and Owner of Powerline Inc. in Augusta, graced the event as chief guests. Consul D. V. Singh, along with many other dignitaries of Atlanta attended the event.
(Right) Deep prajwalan by chief guests Mr. & Mrs. Reddy, with Consul D. V. Singh, Sewa Atlanta President Pratap Singh, and Sewa Atlanta Media Coordinator Shyam Gupta.
The celebrations started with a welcome by Vikas Arora, Atlanta Chapter coordinator, followed by deep prajwalan by our esteemed guests, who then shared their personal motivations for supporting Sewa and the stellar service it performs. Mr. Pratap Singh Chauhan, President of Sewa Atlanta Chapter, shared his intention of educating 10,000 children by 2020, a very admirable goal which was met with tremendous applause. The importance of imbibing Sewa bhavana was shared by Mr. Reddy, which struck a chord with the audience. Mr. D. V. Singh shared his association with numerous events Sewa Atlanta has been conducting ever since he started working with the Indian Consulate in Atlanta.
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Distinguished guests being honored. |
Community Reach Corodinator Yashwant Belsare with Mr. Rajiv Sardana of American Cyber System. |
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Presidential Award for Volunteerism to youths. |
Mrs. Deepa Luthra and Sai Santosh emceed the event with effervescent wit. They introduced interns from Sewa Get Inspired and Sewa Run events who won the President’s Award for exemplary contribution to society.
(Left) Volunteer Vivek Srivastva presenting Sewa's accomplishments in 2016.
A number of fascinating presentations followed on Sewa’s humanitarian projects. Mr. Vivek Srivastav gave a presentation on his work for the Bhutanese Empowerment Program, giving facts and figures on the impressive inroads Sewa has made in the local Bhutanese community towards education, health, family services, etc. Sewa has always been committed to promoting excellence in education amongst the Bhutanese community. Towards this goal, two Bhutanese students, Umesh Mongor and Padam Koirala, were presented with scholarships for achieving excellent grades in high school.
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Scholarships were presented to Bhutanese high school students for graduating with excellent GPAs. |
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Volunteer Yogesh Thapliya made a presentation on Family Services. |
Sewa has recently increased its focus on Family Services for providing support to victims of domestic abuse. Mr. Yogesh Thapliyal gave an engrossing presentation on the progress in this area.
Sarita Rana and Mayuri Singh spoke about Sewa’s Sponsor a Child program, where Sewa, with the help of other cooperating institutions, helps donors sponsor education, lodging, school, and auxiliary expenses of underprivileged children.
A recent Sewa initiative has been to work with grassroot-level small- and mid-range farmers. Mr. Milind Thakre gave an engaging presentation on this project’s progress.
(Left) Humanitarian of the Year Award was presented to Mrs. Sarita & Mr. Ankur Rana of Knowledge Momentum.
The “Sewa Humanitarian of the Year Award” was presented by Atlanta philanthropist Dhiru Shah to Mr. Ankur Rana and Mrs Sarita Rana for their initiative, Knowledge Momentum, Inc. which has sponsored the education of 73 girls. Mr. Anil Dhamani’s contribution towards sponsoring 100 children for 2017 was recognized and applauded greatly by the audience.
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| Lambert High School dance group Lush (top left); Northview High School dance team Masti (top right); Ridhi and Samiksha (bottom right) |
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Dr. Prasad Garimala, an oncologist and supporter of Sewa, gave the vote of thanks. During dinner, the audience was entertained with artistic Indian and Western dances by four different troupes. The dances concluded by 10pm, and the floor was thrown open for everyone to enjoy.
The gala dinner was a great success, raising $78,000, largely possible due to generous donations from our sponsors, great and small, who showed their big heart. Sewa Atlanta team is all excited to continue spreading happiness around the world.
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Ga Tech-GSU team Tufaan. |
[The article above is a Website Bonus Feature, appearing only on the website for September 2016, not in the September print/digital issues.]
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