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Sewa Atlanta raises over $500K at annual Gala
Celebrating Philanthropy, Culture, and Service Excellence in a Night of Inspiration and Recognition
Guests at the Annual Gala Dinner / Sewa Atlanta
The Atlanta chapter of the charitable nonprofit Sewa International raised over $500,000 in its annual gala dinner held earlier this month. Over 250 donors and volunteers attended the event at the Midtown Hotel 12 in Atlanta.
The event started with lighting of the ceremonial lamp by Nita Sardana, chairman of Innova Foundation, Paul Lopez, chairman of TiE Atlanta Board, and Samir Bhatia, CEO of Smartcare. Prayers were offered by the students from Saraswati Music Academy.
The gala featured a keynote speech by Ravi Venkatesan, CEO of Cantaloupe, Inc. During the event, the organization presented awards to individuals and organizations for their contributions across a variety of areas.
Samskrita Bharati Atlanta and Ved Vidyalaya received the Sewa Sanskritik Award for Art and Culture. The Adult Seva Care and the Heartfulness Institute received the Sewa Abhigyan (Recognition) Award. The Young Entrepreneur Award was bagged by Animesh Koratana and the Karma Yogi Award for selfless service was presented to Bhikhu Patel.
Sewa Volunteers at the Annual Gala Dinner / Dr. Devesh Ranjan, Dr. Sanjeev Parikh, Dr. Amita Parikh, Krishnakumar Narayanan, La Chiquita Tortilleria, Celia Lopez Robles, and Arvind Chhiba received the Sewa Abhimulyan (Appreciation) awards for their remarkable contributions to the community.
Raj Sardana, who received the Sewa Entrepreneur of the Year award shared his journey inspiring the audience to pursue their dreams regardless of age while Subhash Patel, CEO of the Natson Hotel Group, appreciated Sewa International's work for the community in his speech.
Sewa's Vice President for Fund Development and the outgoing chapter president, Srikanth Gundavarapu, introduced Madhav Durbha as the incoming president of the Atlanta Chapter.
Highlighting the year's achievements, Vivek Srivastav, Atlanta Chapter coordinator, announced that the Atlanta Sewa AmeriCorps Program won the prestigious "Georgia AmeriCorps Team of the Year 2023" award.
Providing an overview of Sewa, Srivastav announced that over 100 high school students had enrolled in the LEAD internship program in 2023, and 33 received the Presidential Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) for dedicating more than 100 hours of service.
He also noted that the Family Services initiative assisted 30 families, and food drives supported over 100 families with two weeks' worth of groceries.
Entertainment at the event was provided by the students of the Saraswati Music Academy students and a 10-year-old tabla prodigy Varneya Sastry. Raj Radhakrishnan, vice president of the chapter, and Vidushi Gupta, LEAD Program assistant coordinator, emceed the event. Madhav Durbha delivered the vote of thanks.
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