Vibha Cricket Tournament raised funds for underprivileged children’s education
“Come bat and ball for a child's bright future!” said Vibha. Twenty-one years ago, a handful of energetic and visionary Vibha volunteers came up with a unique idea to organize a cricket tournament in Atlanta to raise money for the education of underprivileged kids in India. They knew it was a huge undertaking but their nonprofit mission didn’t faze their vision. So, they organized the first Cricket tournament with 16 teams. Year after year, the Vibha Cricket tournament started gaining popularity among cricket aficionados. The tournament became so popular that four years ago, they added women’s teams in the tournament. So, this month Vibha successfully held its tournament with 42 teams and more than 500 players for three consecutive Saturdays (April 27, May 4, and May 11, 2019) in Roswell and Waller Park.
In the Men's game, the winner was Cozy Bazookas; runner up was Allied Informatics Master Blasters. Barun Singh from Atlanta Maniacs won the Man of the Tournament award, Best Batsman went to Raja Vijay from Allied Informatics Master Blasters, and Best Men’s Bowler to Barun Singh.
In the Women’s game, Cozy Bazookas Supernova won the winner trophy; the runner up team was Crickootam. Woman of the Tournament and Best Women’s Bowler went to Anila Shaikh from Crickootam, and Best Batswoman award went to Kaveta Deepak from Crickootam.
Since 1991, Vibha has raised around $17 million, supporting more than 300+ projects in India and 10 projects in the U.S., including Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Over 2 million underprivileged children have been helped. At this Cricket Tournament, Vibha raised almost $100,000.
FutureTech, an Atlanta-based consulting information technology company, was title sponsor and has been an integral partner for the cause. The company has been part of Vibha since its inception, and it has raised more than $200,000. At the closing ceremony, CEO and Chairman Sravan Vellanki thanked Vibha volunteers and encouraged people to contribute, saying, “Vibha has a cause, they have a purpose, and they are meeting and maintaining the purpose successfully for a long time.” The event was also sponsored by RapidIT, SplashBI, Serenity, GVR Realty, and Datum. Three new sponsors were Moxy Financial, Farmers Insurance (Milan Merchant), and IncorpTaxAct. Besides the sponsors and volunteers, each team raised money for Vibha through their pledge pages. Coolguys raised the most ($11,000) in the men’s category, and Crickootam raised the most ($2,000) in the women’s category.
Moreover, this year, Vibha took a big initiative to “go green” and has collaborated with the nonprofit Green Cell Atlanta to reduce plastic use.
This tournament was led by three dedicated and committed volunteers: Raj Vuchatu, Sameer Pirani, and Sirisha Lingareddy. They worked tirelessly to make the event a huge success. At the closing ceremony, Raj thanked the volunteers, saying, “Sometimes the volunteering work seems enormous ...but when we think of the impact these funds we raise will have on underprivileged kids, it just feels so good.”
The next Vibha events are the College Readiness Program for middle school and high school students and parents in August 2019 and DreamMile on September 22, 2019. The slogan of Vibha Cricket sums it up greatly: “Be the champion for a cause.” Surely, Vibha has been the champion to raise money for the welfare of kids who don’t have a voice.
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