Ekal Vidyalaya's Musical Evening
The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of USA, southeastern region, held its annual fundraiser at Berkmar High School on August 9, 2008. EVFUSA is a non-profit organization that supports basic education for children in the rural and tribal areas of India. It currently has more than 26,000 schools running all over India.
About 150 people attended the fundraiser. The show started with a Kathak Thumri by Samta Savla from the Nritya Natya Kala Bharti Academy. This was followed by a warm welcome by the emcee, Rachna Gupta, and C.M. Aggarwal, Regional Vice President of Ekal Vidyalaya. Amitabh Sharma made a passionate presentation about Ekal and the urgency to impart education to the forgotten children of India. He urged the audience to get involved in the Ekal movement by donating to the schools and volunteering for the organization.
The talented Pandya family from Lexington, Kentucky —Raj, Smruti, Amit, and Eshna — kept everyone glued to their seats until 11.30 p.m. with their singing, which included bhajans, new Bollywood numbers, and songs from the sixties, which stirred the audience’s nostalgia. The Raj Kamal Foundation donated two $50 cash Visa cards for the raffle prize.
In addition to several programs throughout the year, Ekal has an annual fundraising program. Neelum Tariyal coordinated the overall program, and was supported by Ajay Bhatt, Manhar Valand, Sudershan and Kusum Khurana, Tilak Sikri, Sneha and Vasav Mehta, Sneh and Ravi Gupta, Shobha Aggarwal, Sant Khanna, Manju and Malla Reddy, Sachin Subhedar, Jairam Yerramilli, Dr. Krishan Gupta, Narendra Mehta and Dr. Basant Tariyal. In all, the event was successful and raised enough funds to support six schools this year.
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