DIWALI CELEBRATION AND FUNDRAISING EVENT 2006 - DETROIT/FARMINGTON HILLS, MICHIGAN

SPREAD INDIA held their 4th Diwali celebration and Fund Raising Event on Oct 28th 2006 form 5:30 pm to 10:00 pm in the magnificent St. Toma Church and Banquet Hall in the heart of Farmington Hills City, Michigan, USA, raising funds for education in Rural India. About 300 participants showed up for the Event, and about $ 75,000 was raised on the day of the event, via incoming pledges and donations. Over a three hundred prominent community leaders, students and young professionals attended, including special guests, Mr. Andy Meisner (State representative, Michigan, USA) and Mr. Raj Nair (Executive Director, Ford Motor company), Hansen Clarke (Michigan State representative), Ravi Yalamachi, Troy city counselor, Michigan state.

SPREAD INDIA is stands for Society for the Promotion of Rural Environment And Development of INDIA (www.SpreadIndia.org). SPREAD INDIA is a tax exempt Non-Profit Organization under section 501(c)(3) in USA. The Tax-ID is 80-0084590.

SPREAD INDIA's mission is to provide under-privileged children with an opportunity to gain the lifelong gift of education. We believe that education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty and taking control of one's own life.

Keynote speakers for the event were Andy Meisner (Michigan State Representative) and Raj Nair (Executive Director, Ford Motor Company).

Annual Diwali and Fundraising Event was inaugurated by the Ceremonious Lighting of Lamp by Mrs. Uma Madhav Reddy garu (MLA, Bhongiri constituency, Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh), who is on a personal visit to Detroit USA, Andy Meisner, Raj Nair, Dr. Sudhakar Reddy, Venkat Aekka, Sridhar Patel.

UmaMadhavi Reddy appreciated SPREAD INIDIA activities. She talked to many attendees at the event. She appreciated each and very one (NRI) for their participation, and support for rural India development through SPREAD INDIA.

Anu GopalaKrishnan (local Detroit radio show host and biggest Michigan portal MIIndia.com contributor) was the MC (Master of Ceremony) for the event. She started the event by introducing the co-founder of SPREAD INDIA, Sridhar Patel. As you might know, Sridhar founded SPREAD INDIA in 2003 with a group of like minded NRIs. He hails from Balemla village in Suryapet Mandal, Nalgonda District, Andhra Pradesh. He has been spearheading the great cause of SPREAD INDIA with a motto to develop rural India focusing on education.

Sridhar Patel started his speech by thanking every body for attending the event. He also thanked all the volunteers for their restless hard work for arranging this event. He expressed his deepest appreciation for SPREAD INDIA Board of Directors, executive members, all the regional coordinators all over the USA, all the volunteers, and the team in India for their commitment, dedication, and hard work in serving the underprivileged through SPREAD INDIA. He made a power point presentation about the SPREAD INDIA org, its activities, achievements, and process. Please click here for power point presentation.

He also highlighted that one project initiated by Sudhir Kulkarni who is treasurer of SPREAD INDIA at his native village of Terkheda, in Osmanabad district, Maharastra. Sudhir presented more details about his project. Please click here for more details of the project.

Dr. Sudhaker Reddy, Board of Director of SPREAD INDIA introduced Andy Meisner at the event. "State Representative Andy Meisner was born and raised in the district he currently represents, which includes the South Oakland County communities of Huntington Woods, Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Oak Park, Berkley and Hazel Park. As a college student, Andy was a Lyndon B. Johnson Fellow in the Washington office of Congressman Sandy Levin. After graduating, Andy returned to Capitol Hill to work for United States Congressman David Obey (D-WI) and returned to Congressman Levin (D-MI) as a policy analyst working in the areas of criminal justice, mental health, unemployment insurance and foreign affairs. Andy’s work with Congressman Levin led him to his next role as vice president of the national, non-profit Drug-Free Kids Campaign, or CADCA. Andy lives in Ferndale with his wife, Johnna, and “her” cat, Luna". ....... more

Andy Meisner addressed the crowd by appreciating SPREAD INDIA's efforts and how SPREAD INDIA is finding simple solution to a complicated problem. He was moved by Sridhar and his pals' commitment to make a difference in this world by going after one issue at a time.

Detroit Telugu Association / SPREAD INDIA active member Venkat Aekka introduced Ford Executive Director Raj Nair. "Raj is a second generation Indian with his parents migrating from Kerala about 30 yrs ago. He graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Kettering Institute in Flint, Michigan. He joined Ford in 1987. By hard work and several foreign assignments like South America (Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina) and Europe, he worked himself up thru the management chain to an important role in Ford Motor Company on Cost Reductions. Venkat Aekka appreciated that despite Raj's busy schedule, especially due to difficult economic climate at Ford, he instantly agreed to speak for this cause"...... more

Raj Nair excellently articulated in his speech the contrast he sees in affordability of Indian Community in USA and poverty/backwardness of their people in India. He highlighted that 1 in 10 American millionaires is an Indian. Similarly for every 90 NRIs, there is a millionaire, 64% of NRIs have bachelors degree vs. only 28% Americans, 32% NRIs hold Masters vs. only 8% Americans. Also India is the 2nd biggest growing economy, the 4th largest economy, a nuclear state and with its own space program. Despite these stunning strides by NRIs and India itself, 80% of India lives under $2 / day and India ranks 122nd in per capita income globally. Raj stressed that India is very soon reaching an inflection point and appealed to audience that they donate generously for this great cause. Ravi Yalamanchi, Troy city counselor gave a plaque to Raj Nair as a token of appreciation from SPREAD INDIA.

One of the surprises of the night was Michigan State Senator Hansen Clarke showing up at the event to endorse and support SPREAD INDIA cause. Hansen Clarke's father migrated from India several decades ago. He was the keynote speaker for Diwali and Fundraising event in the year 2005 on behalf of SPREAD INDIA.

There was SPREAD INDIA Video (when you click on Video it may take a few seconds to download) presented detailing about rural India people life style, problems what they are facing in their day to day life, and how SPREAD INDIA projects are helping them.

Fundraiser was kicked off with Anu and Venkat Aekka motivating the audience with their experiences and interacting with the audience. There was a total amount of $75,000 raised in donations, and pledges through many generous donors.

Dr. Sudhaker Reddy explained about his projects which he has taken up like, new school building, nutrition food center for pregnant women, and grains storage center for villagers. As you might know, Dr. Sudhaker Reddy hails from Warangal district and has been in community service for many years. He is successful in motivating new breed of Detroit community members like Sridhar Patel, Venkat Aekka, Shailendra Sanam, and many others.

Delicious food was served from Chennai Vilas (Ann Arbor, Michigan), Zyka Indian Kitchen (Farmington, Michigan), Aladdin (Farmington Hills, Michigan) restaurants.

The Cultural programs for the event were organized by "LasyaPriya Academy" promoting Indian classical dance. Lasyapriya students, Natalie Lamport, Preeta Gupta, Sharanya Kandagatla, Shobhana Panuganti, Srividya Bhammidipati, Anisha Kumar, Nandhini Abburi, Anisha Koppolu, Harika Pancharpula, Goutami Gaddamsetty, Vikhyati Pallerla, and Shiharsha Bhamidipati, presented excellent lineup of Indian dances.

Mrs. Hema Bamidipati, Founder of LasyaPriya was recognized at the event by a memento for her services to promote Indian Classical Dance in Detroit area, Michigan. Mrs. Vasudha Komarigiri, popular Detroit singer, enthralled the audience with Hindi and Telugu Songs. Audio equipment was arranged by Detroit DJ, Keshav

SPREAD INDIA active member Shailendra Sanam presented vote of thanks to all the volunteers, guest speakers and attendees for making the event a grand success. SPREAD INDIA volunteers specially Sainath LachiReddyGari, Deepti LachiReddyGari, Narayan Rao, Subhashini Namburi, Kavya Namburi, ChandraShekar Annavarapu, Srinivas Raju Dhenuvekonda, Jaya Dhenuvekonda, Sudhir Kulkarni, Venkat Aekka, Prakash Raju, Ramesh Noone, Vikram Bandarupalli, Rajitha Dasari, Aparna Kallam, Lakshmi, and Jitna Valvekar, Venu Baliga, Vani Baliga, Dr. Padma Patel, and Vijval Patel were specially recognized at the event.

Many underprivileged kids could go to school with our help, otherwise they would have ended up a child labor.
Many underprivileged kids could sit in the classroom with our hlep, otherwise they would have ended up sitting under the tree.
Many underprivileged kids could sit on the benchs with our hlep, otherwise they would have ended up sitting on the floor.
Many poor rank kids could able pay their college expenses with scholarship awards, otherwise thery would have dropped the college.

A little generosity and a five minutes of your time will change one kid's life which inturn helps all of us.

Please try to help us out by sending your donation to help the underprivileged children for their education/rural development. Any amount that comes from your heart can go long ways.

Please click here to find how your contribution would help underprivileged children.

SPREAD INDIA is a non-profit tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) in USA, and SPREAD is tax-exempt organization under section 80G in India. All your contributions would be tax deductible in USA, and in India

Please write a check payable to: "SPREAD INDIA" in USA and "SPREAD" in India and mail it to the following address:

In the United States: SPREAD INDIA, 29531 Greenboro Farmington Hills, MI, USA - 48334		In India: SPREAD, H. No. 1-1-11, Anjanapuri colony Mandal: Suryapet District: Nalgonda State: Andhra Pradesh India 508213

SPREAD INDIA has a simplified and secure online donation process for credit card payments through paypal system. SPREAD INDIA website provides a user-friendly interface for online donations, an access to our activities, and projects information.

If you have any questions, please contact us

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