Vibha’s The Dream Mile 5K – a Trailblazer Event
The Dream Mile 5K – Vibha's ninth annual run/walk event to support the cause of underprivileged children in India and USA, was held on Sept 22nd, 2007 at the Yellow Jacket Park on Georgia Tech campus. The event was also held across seven cities in the United States as part of a community service program. More than 500 participants and 100 volunteers gathered with a purpose of running/walking a few miles and helping several underprivileged children.
Energetic volunteers of Vibha and members of Alpha Iota Omicron, Sigma Beta Rho, India Club, GSU-ICE and SALSA-Emory were seen milling around the race venue as early as 5 am that morning. Aarti Patel from Aarti Fitness got the crowd and the participants going with an aerobic workout.
The Dream Mile 5K Run was kicked-off at 8:30AM and the 5K Walk at 8:45AM. Chris Weir with an amazing timing of 17 minutes 59 seconds came in first cheered by the crowd. Chris Rockettz followed at 18 minutes 26 seconds. Savah Slagle was the first woman to finish the race closely followed by Laura Sunbrecher.
Mrinal Chakrabarti won the Vibha 5K Walk for Men with a timing of 37 minutes 44 seconds followed by Vasan Vombu. Prachi Mehta (38min 23sec) got the trophy for the 5K Walk for Women while Veena Venkataraman took the second place.
While the casual walkers and runners slowly made it to the finish line, the carnival���atmosphere started to settle in with toddlers participating in the 50 Meter Dash! Later, kids enjoyed face painting and bead art making.
Vinita Sangtani, one of the event volunteers, thanked all the participants and emphasized the need to do more for the underprivileged children of India. Ms. Zumer, from the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Georgia and Alabama gave away the prizes to the runners. She applauded Vibha's commitment to the local community as well as its work in India.
Rohan Bafna was recognized with the Volunteer of the Year Award for his leadership. The award was instituted in the memory of Sumati Mahajan, who passed away earlier this year after being a senior member of the Vibha family for over ten years. Later Mr. Narender Reddy gave away prizes to the winners of 50M kids competition dash and the walkers.
"I would like to thank the all the volunteers for their efforts in making this event a success. Their dedication and commitment to the cause is truly commendable. Their efforts will go a long way in fulfilling the dreams of several underprivileged children in India," said Keshav Kumaran, the overall coordinator for the event.
Vibha thanked all its sponsors- Manhattan Associates, Equifax, AT&T, Primus software, American Telugu Association, Semaphore, Pyramid Consulting, Future Tech Consulting, Delta Information Systems, Proactive Resources, Blue Ocean, Dosa Houze, IACT, Khabar, Coke, Kroger, Deloitte, Rivaaz, and George Willy and Associates.
All the proceeds from this event will go towards Make-A-Wish Foundation of Georgia and Alabama and child development projects in India. For a complete list of projects, their budgets, and to better understand the work being done by these grassroots projects, please visit www.vibha.org/projects.
Enjoyed reading Khabar magazine? Subscribe to Khabar and get a full digital copy of this Indian-American community magazine.
