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Sankara Nethralaya USA hosts virtual devotional concert on Maha Shivaratri

Atlanta, GA, March 7, 2023: On the occasion of Maha Shivaratri, Sankara Nethralaya (SN) USA organized a program of devotional songs on Lord Sankara in Telugu, Tamil and Kannada by singers from USA, Australia and Singapore.  It was telecasted by several major television channels.

SN USA is the fundraising arm of Sankara Nethralaya (SN), a not-for-profit charity organization providing ophthalmic (eye) care throughout India.  For the last 4 decades, SN has treated millions of patients.  SN also organizes eye camps, school screenings and has eye banks.

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 to remote villages, screen around 1,000 patients and perform cataract surgeries on 150 to 200 patients over a two-week period and return to main campus after post-operative care.

SN USA is managed by thirty-five honorary trustees spread across fourteen chapters in the USA and has been raising over a Million dollars for the past several years.

The virtual devotional concert was seen on the following channels:

ManaTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5aAjhhNtes

 TVAsia Telugu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjB10ksB9R4

SakhiTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuzjsEDqF-M

TV5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSu6k_3MSNc

Tone TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlw367fnvmo

KIW World TV: https://meworldet.com/home/play-video/705

Singapore Telugu TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE0zxvkdTz4

“Thanks are due to the following singers across the globe. Without their support we could not have raised significant amounts for this virtual concert,” said a press release issued by the organization.

  • Sri Sai Kasibhatla (Los Angeles, CA)
  • Smt.Sandhya Eswara (Melbourne, Australia)
  • Smt.Edavalli Seshu Kumari from Swara Laya Arts along with her students Abhinav Kantipudi and Aadarsh Agni on behalf of Samskrutika Kalasaradhi, Singapore
  • Smt.Geetha Bhat (Rockville, MD)
  • Smt.Shanti Medicherla & Smt.Neelima Gaddamanugu (Atlanta, GA)
  • Sri.Srikanth Lanka & Smt.Sreshta (Dallas, TX)
  • Sri.Babu Vinayagam & Smt.Sumitra Sampath(Herndon, VA)
  • Vidwan Sri Sabari Girish (Los Angeles, CA)
  • Sri.Bhaskar Udaya Ganti, (Washington D.C.)
  • Sri.Srinivas Durgam(Atlanta, GA)

President of Medical Research Foundation, Dr. Girish Rao thanked the efforts of Sankara Nethralaya USA and the service of NRIs.

President Sri.Bala Reddy Indurti, President Emeritus Sri.SV Acharya planned, coordinated, and executed this program and made it a grand success.  Following Trustees and office bearers of Sankara Nethralaya USA appealed to donate generously to restore the vision of poor patients.

Sri.Moorthy Rekapalli, Vice President; Sri.Krishna Raj Bhat, Secretary; Sri.Shyam Appali, Joint Secretary; Dr.Raj Modi, Trustee; Sri.Sowmiya Narayanan, Trustee; Sri.Srini Reddy Vangimalla, Trustee; Sri.Upendra Rachupally, Trustee.

During the show, appeals by following Brand Ambassadors of Sankara Nethralaya was telecasted.

Bharat Ratna awardee Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Bharat Ratna awardee Smt M.S.Subbu Lakshmi; Padma Vibhushan awardee Sri.Nani Palkhivala; Padma Vibhushan awardee Ratan Tata; Padma Vibhushan awardee Amitab Bachchan; Padma Vibhushan awardee Rajnikanth; Former CEO of Pepsico, Padma Bhushan awardee Indra Nooyi; Padma Shri awardee Sourav Ganguly; Scientific Advisor to Raksha mantri Dr.G.Satheesh Reddy; and Famous actor Madhavan.

On this auspicious occasion, Sankara Nethralaya USA welcomes new Board of Trustees: Dr. Kishore Chivukula, Auburn AL; Sri. T. Sridhar Reddy, Philadelphia PA; Sri. Raju Pusapati, Salt Lake City UT; Sri. Hari Raini, Chicago IL; Dr. Jayasimha Sunku, Colorado Springs CO; Sri. Suresh Vemulamada, Atlanta GA; Sri. Sridhar Julapally Atlanta GA; Sri. Vinod Parna, Seattle WA; Sri. Ramkumar Yadavalli, Freemont CA.

Sri. Ramesh Reddy Valluru from Washington DC is sponsoring MESU camp through Adopt-A-Village program. This camp will be organized in his village, Nendalur of Annamayya district from August 24th to September 3rd, 2023.  Smt. Ruby Nahar has contributed $15,000 and this generous donation will restore the vision to 230 indigent blind patients in India.

Joint Secretary Syam Appali was thanked for his video support for TV channels.

All the Board of Trustees, volunteers, philanthropists, and supporters were also appreciated for their selfless service.

Media partners manaTV, TV5 (Sridhar Chillara), TVAsia (Srinivas Ganagoni), Sakshi TV, US1 (Simhabaludu), TeluguOne (Subbu Kosuri), KIW WORLD TV (Srihari Kommineni) were thanked for promoting Sankara Nethralaya virtual streaming concert on different timings to give the flexibility to all viewers in different time zones.

SN USA was given the highest rating of four stars by the prestigious rating organization, Charity Navigator.  More information can be found at https://www.sankaranethralayausa.org.

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