Archana Asthana
La Villa Rugosa in Campbell, CA was the venue last week Sunday, for the coming together of like-minded people focused on transforming the lives of underprivileged children in India, in support of CRY’s (Child Relief and You) worthy mission.
The evening was aptly nicknamed “Uphaar” (gift), as it was one, for both the attendees and the organizers, who are the change makers, advocates and supporters to build compassion, resilience and hope for our children who deserve them the most. CRY is an Indian non-government organization (NGO) that works towards ensuring children’s rights; providing free education, primary healthcare and protection from violence, abuse and exploitation in the guise of child labor and child marriages.
The American chapter works to protect such rights, to develop through education; to survive through healthy nutrition; to be safe and to participate in the management of their own rights. Charitable organizations like this run on volunteer and donor power who are dedicated, selfless supporters with their time and monetary contributions, having impacted the lives of over 800,000 children.
Gracing the occasion as guest speaker were actor Ms. Shabana Azmi, a Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardee; philanthropist M.R Rangaswamy, founder of Indiaspora; and project partner, Ms. Lalithamma from Andhra Pradesh, India.
It was a memorable evening of capturing fun moments with the celebrity at an elegantly decorated photo booth, done up by Arpita Bagri of Spundhun, a warm welcome by MC, Sunny Moza, a rousing dance sequence by Bollywood for Life, comedic entertainment by Abhay Paranjpe, and several impassioned speeches by the guests of honor, as well as by Patrick Bocco, the fundraising director. The speaker’s fervor for the cause was palpable as they shared their experiences with CRY the many projects that have impacted the lives of village children favorably. This segued into a pledge session with deep pocketed donors helping to meet the goal of $350, 000 easily, while over $3 million was raised in the six-city fundraising marathon. Several donors shared their feelings after visiting the creditable work underway by CRY in India. A fun event with a cause where the participants were united by the desire to dig into deep pockets to bring a ray of light in the bleak lives of the most underserved children in India.
Ms. Azmi in her emotional speech shared an incident of having met a child who had been trained to experience hunger only every other day… the hush that followed was a strong motivation for the attendees to come up with even more donations than asked. CRY America is funding multiple projects in India, ably supported by local partners.
The only way to keep such organizations active and functioning in this charitable cause is through the generosity of influential and affluent donors, of which there were aplenty at this gathering. The community was touched by the stories that the leaders brought home to them; and promised to return each year with continued help to fund the noble cause.
Photo credit: Sameer Yagnik
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