To continue to raise awareness of Sankara Nethralaya in the Detroit Metro area, Michigan, the SNUSA volunteers organized the 2nd annual 5K Walk on Sunday, September 15th, 2024.
The event was held at the ITC Community Sports Park in Novi, which had beautiful and wide walking trails, with picturesque trees around the park.
The event was coordinated and organized by SNUSA Michigan Trustee Prathima Kodali, The CVP of Michigan Chapter Ramana Mudeganti, volunteers Sai Gopisetty, Sujatha Tammineedi, Vamsi Gopisetty, Venkat Aekka, and youth members Abhi Mudeganti and Dhrithi Padukone.
The team displayed all philanthropic activities and statistics about Sankara Nethralaya on poster boards around the event area, so the participants got a glimpse of the impressive facts about this organization that is implementing the noble mission of eradicating preventable blindness in India.
Sankara Nethralaya (SN) was founded in 1978 by Padma Bhushan awardee Dr. S.S. Badrinath with the objective of providing world class eye care for free to the poor and at an affordable price to others. SNUSA Founder SV Acharya conveyed best wishes to the Detroit Team.
At the beginning of the event, Prathima and Ramana talked about the SNUSA activities as the fund-raising arm of Sankara Nethralaya and requested participants to donate generously. They explained and brought awareness to the MESU camps and their importance especially in the rural areas of India. They also thanked the participants, donors, and sponsors of the event.
This second event in Detroit on behalf of SNUSA was free and had a goal of raising awareness among the community in Michigan. The event was successful and raised a significant amount for SNUSA.
121 participants registered for the event and participated. Numerous others donated through the link that was socialized through local community events and emails.
Delicious breakfast was provided by OM Group (Dunkin Donuts) and by Sweet Timez for the participants to enjoy. Raghu Ravipati flagged off the walk at 10 AM.
The following sponsors have contributed to SNUSA through the event: OM Group, Rao Gari Vindu, Namaste Flavors, Kutumba Rao Ravi, MCM Quality Systems, Sunny Reddy and Sridevi Gogineni.
Sai Gopisetty announced the Prizes for the top finishers in the Walk. He also talked about the important work SNUSA is doing and provided some highlights. Prizes were given out on behalf of the sponsors by Sunny Reddy, Rajani Bethini and Venkat Kodali to the winners in Men, Women, Juniors and Children categories.
The following people won the gifts by coming at the top – Chandra P, Ramakrishna Atluri, Rashmi Patil, Radhika, Rishank, Dyan Patil, Subhan and Samyan.
15 Students from Novi High School Robotics team (Frog Force 503) had volunteered and helped with activities like posting the signs, giving away water bottles to the participants along the walking trail, etc.
The following volunteers also helped with registering the participants, posting the signs, recording pictures & videos of the event, picking up food, etc.: Jithendra Bondada, Rajani Bethini, Sujatha Tammineedi, Vikas Kodali, Viraja Gopisetty and Vinitha Kodali.
Special thanks are due to the Sankara Nethralaya USA team: President Bala Reddy Indurti for encouraging and supporting the team to make this 5K Walk a signature event to SNUSA Detroit Chapter. EVP Moorthy Rekapalli for logistics, Sports committee Chair Ramesh Chaparala for guidance, Joint Secretary Vamsi Krishna Eruvaram for promoting on social media, and Theagarajan & Deena Dayalan for technical help.
The weather was pleasant and enabled this to be a memorable fun-filled family event.
SNUSA Detroit team is planning to organize a cultural program with popular singers Mallikarjun and Anjana Sowmya on November 3rd, 2024. Please stay tuned for more details.
Please visit the website to support the noble cause: www.sankaranethralayausa.org.
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