Sankara Nethralaya USA virtual concert raised $520,000 to restore vision to 8,000.
Inspired by a speech by Pontiff of Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt he attended in 1974, Dr. S S Badrinath founded Sankara Nethralaya in Chennai in 1978 with the sole objective of providing world class eye care, free to the poor and affordable price to others. Sankara Nethralaya (SN) is a not-for-profit charity organization providing ophthalmic (eye) care throughout India.
For the last four decades, SN has treated millions of patients. Nethralaya also holds eye camps, school screenings and eye bank. One of the unique services is Mobile Eye Surgical Unit (MESU), only one of its kind approved by Government of India. These are operation theatres on wheels. MESU consists of two buses serving as operation theatre, go out remote villages, perform cataract surgeries on 150 to 200 patients over a two-week period and return to main campus after post-operative care.
Sankara Nethralaya USA (SN USA), our fund-raising arm in US was established in 1988 with the sole objective of raising funds for Nethralaya to provide free services to indigent patients. SN USA is managed by thirty-five honorary trustees spread across fourteen chapters in US and has been raising over a million dollars during the past several years.
Every year, Sankara Nethralaya USA organizes Indian classical dance and music programs in various cities to raise awareness and funds. Because of the pandemic, this year all programs were conducted through online virtual streaming.
Renowned playback singer and music director, Parthu Nemani along with his music team presented virtual semi classical devotional music program on December 19th, 2021, and it was telecasted by the following major channels:
ManaTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUitJfqJTBs
TVAsia Telugu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_2RD-lakO4
GNN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwQBDuJH58E
TV5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-Yv2I5PXXU
SakshiTV: https://youtu.be/vWWlw_FSQS4
Great response to the program towards the Sankara Nethralaya USA year-end campaign raised USD $520,000 to restore vision to 8,000 indigent blind patients in India. Kudos to the fundraising team, Philanthropists, and community across the USA for unconditional support.
President Bala Reddy Indurti, President Emeritus S V Acharya, Vice President Moorthy Rekapalli planned, coordinated, and executed the Sankara Nethralaya USA year end campaign with grand success.
Dr. Girish Rao, President of Sankara Nethralaya made passionate appeal to the community for the campaign and explained Sankara Nethralaya service activities. During the program the MESU (Mobile Eye Surgical Unit) operations and the following brand ambassadors’ messages were shown: Former President and Bharat Ratna awardee Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Bharat Ranta Smt M.S. Subbalakshmi, Padma Vihushan Nani Phalkiwala, Padma Vibhushan Ratan Tata, Padma Vibhushan Amitabh Bachchan, Padma Vibhushan Rajnikanth, Padma Shri Sourav Ganguly, DRDO Chairman Dr. Satheesh Reddy, Tollywood actor Madhavan. Sankara Nethralaya Team is very thankful to these ambassadors.
Special thanks to Tollywood writer, actor, and director Tanikella Bharani for his passionate appeal to the campaign.
Thanks to Singer/Music Director Parthu Nemani and his team of Musicians: Prakash (Keyboards), Srinivas (Flute), Suresh Prasad (Tabala), and Srinivasa Reddy (Rhythms). Harmony: Students of Keerrhana Academy (Bhuvana Swaraja Challa, Vaishnavi Kovvuri, Akhil Chandra, Saketh Kommajosyula). Sai Deekshit Vangara (Camera & Lights), Sai Manohar Dubbaka (Recorded & mixed), Srikanth Pudari (Editing), Nagesh (Assistant), Krishna Priya Pothukuchi (Project Supervision), Keerthana Recording Studios (Sound), String Wings (Video Floor).
Thanks are due to Dr. Reddy Urimindi for promoting ‘nayanam pradhaanam’ program through Tori for 100 successful weekends. Thanks are due to Shyam Appali and Prameela Gopu for video editing and MESU video for TV channels. Thanks are due to all Board of Trustees, Volunteers, Philanthropists, and supporters who are working selflessly to restore vision for indigent patients.
Thanks are due to Dr. Raj Modi and Dr. Bellamkonda Kishore for spreading the news in AAPI event and publishing the news in JAAPI magazine.
Thanks are due to Moorthy Rekapalli for MESU (Mobile Eye Surgical Unit) project and the following ADOPT-A-Village donors Dr. Sanjeeva Reddy (New Orleans LA), Leela Krishnamoorthy (Houston TX), Anand Dasari (Dallas TX), Srini Vangimalla (Atlanta GA), Rajasekhar Aila (Detroit MI), Srinivas Ganagoni (New Jersey NJ), Suresh Vemulamada (Atlanta GA).
Thanks are due to Jagannath Vedula, and Chennai staff Theagarajan, Suresh Kumar, Sunitha Doss, Kavitha, and Dheenadayalan.
Fundraising team members: Bala Reddy Indurti, SV Acharya, Moorthy Rekapalli, Leela Krishnamoorthy, Dr. Raj Modi, Srini Vangimalla, Upendra Rachupally, Shankar Setty, Shyam Appali, Prasad Rani, Meher Lanka, Narayan Indurthi, Ramesh Chaparala, Sowmi Narayan, Neelima Gaddamanugu, and Banu Ramkrishnan.
As you already know during our mid-year campaign, we conducted Flute Nagaraju Talluri program and received $150,000 donation from Dr. Govinda Visvesvara to name a floor in Chennai Hospital. This is not included in year-end campaign.
Thanks are due to media partners TVAsia (Srinivas Ganagoni) manaTV, TV5 (Sridhar Chillara, Ragini, and Harishi), Sakshi TV (Simhabaludu), GNN (Rammohan Reddy and Ravi Reddy Maraka) for promoting Sankara Nethralaya virtual streaming concert on Dec 19th at different timings to give the flexibility to all viewers in different time zones.
Sankara Nethralaya professionals were awarded with numerous awards for their outstanding accomplishments. Our founder Dr. S S Badrinath was given the prestigious awards of Living Legend and Padma Bhushan for his outstanding public service. Newsweek named Sankara Nethralaya as one of the four Best Ophthalmic institutions and one of the Best one hundred hospitals in the World. SN USA, our fund-raising arm in US was given the given the highest rating of four stars by prestigious rating organization Charity Navigator.
Please extend your support for this noble cause of restoring the vision of indigent patients by generously contributing at https://www.sankaranethralayausa.org
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