Atlanta, GA, February 7, 2022: Sankara Nethralaya’s virtual concert of patriotic songs held on January 30 raised $101,010 to restore vision to 1,554 indigent blind patients.
Inspired by a speech by Pontiff of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham 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), the organization’s fund-raising arm in the 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 the 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.
The virtual patriotic songs concert was was telecasted by the following major channels:
ManaTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhamllfcCiM
TVAsia Telugu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEpXgUkZqy8
SakshiTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftFQw6dbrr0
TV5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJOs0jedy5M
99TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTDSogOble0
GNN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah0-HpMLYtE
President Bala Reddy Indurti, President Emeritus S V Acharya, Vice President Moorthy Rekapalli planned, coordinated, and executed the Sankara Nethralaya USA Republic day campaign with grand success.
Shailesh Lakthakia, IFS, Consul (Retd), Indian Consulate, Atlanta GA made a passionate appeal about Republic Day virtual concert to encourage the donors. Dr. Girish Rao, President of Sankara Nethralaya appealed to the community to support the the campaign and explained Sankara Nethralaya’s service activities.
Sankara Nethralaya USA’s Past President Leela Krishnamurthy and Board Of Trustee Upendra Rachupally made a video appeal during the program.
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.
President Bala Indurti coordinated with Joint Secretary, Prasad Rani & Board of Trustee, Shyam Appali to present this virtual concert on January 30th through various TV channels and social media.
President Emeritus SV Acharya announced new Board of Trustees Rao Kalvala (Dallas TX) and Dr. Madhuri Namuduri for the year 2022.
Board of Trustee Sowmia Narayan coordinated and presented daily classical singing virtual concert “Do you have 11 minutes?” which had participants from the US, India, UAE, Canada, and Australia.
Neelima Gaddamanugu and Narayan Indurthi promoted the Republic Day concert on social media.
Singers Names, Song, and their Geographical Locations:
Srivalli Sridhar – Vinara Vinara Desam Manadera – Atlanta GA USA
Usha Mocherla – Jaya Jaya Priya Bharatha – Atlanta GA USA
Ram Durvasula – Punya Bhumi naa desam – Atlanta GA USA
Srinivas Durgam – Janani Janma Bhoomi – Atlanta GA USA
Radhika Nori – Padavoyi Bharateeyuda- Talahasse FL USA
Shivnath Paranandi – Jis desh mein ganga behti hai – Los Angeles CA USA
Sabari Girish & Keerthana Girish – Mile Sur Mera Tumhara – Los Angeles CA USA
Sai Kasibhatla – Bharata Mataku Jejelu – Los Angeles CA USA
Bhaskar Ganti – Naa Janma Bhoomi Yenthaandhamaina – Rockville MD USA
Nagarjuna Reddy – Gandhi puttina desama idi – Ashburn VA USA
Harini Sugantharaman – Ninnai Charanadainthen – Ashburn VA USA
Sandhya Eswara – Aye Mere Wattan Ke Logo – Melbourne Australia
“Thanks are due to all Board of Trustees, Volunteers, Philanthropists, and supporters who are working selflessly to restore vision for indigent patients,” the organizers said through a press release.
“Thanks are due to media partners manaTV, manaTV International, TV5 (Sridhar Chillara, Raagini, Harish Bennuri, and Sharat Pasumathy), TVAsia Telugu (Srinivas Ganagoni), Sakshi TV (Simha Hanumanth), 99TV (Harikrishna Inturu) , and GNN (Rama Mohan Reddy Yellampally & Ravi Reddy Maraka) for promoting Sankara Nethralaya patriotic songs’s virtual concert on January 30th 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. 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, was given the given the highest rating of four stars by prestigious rating organization Charity Navigator.
You can support for this noble cause of restoring the vision of indigent patients by contributing at https://www.sankaranethralayausa.org.
