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Vibha kicks off Dream Mile 2021 with press event

Cover photo: The Vibha Atlanta team and Pyramid co-founders take a group picture at the end of the kickoff.

BY NAISHA ROY

Atlanta, GA, August 5, 2021: On Sunday, August 1st, Vibha Atlanta held a press event at Pyramid Consulting, Inc., to kick off their Dream Mile 2021. A variety of officials from Vibha as well as representatives from Pyramid, who happen to be the title sponsor of the virtual portion of the event, were present.

The Dream Mile is Vibha’s flagship fundraiser. Participants register to track their steps either virtually over the month of September or in-person for single-day events, and all funds go to supporting underprivileged children in India and the United States. The Dream Mile also promotes wellness and a healthy sense of competition as groups can form teams and awards are available for the highest fundraisers.

The CEO of Pyramid, Sanjeev Tirath, as well as Co-founder Ramesh Maturu attended the kickoff event. Seven members of the Vibha Atlanta team were also present, and members from all over the world joined virtually through a zoom call. Representatives from New Jersey, the Bay Area, Houston, Pune, and more all met to discuss their goals for the Dream Mile 2021. 

The event started out with a huge round of applause to the goal of a huge Dream Mile for 2021. Ruchi Iyengar, a Vibha Atlanta representative, kicked off the conference by reiterating Vibha’s mission. 

“Our mission is to ensure that every child attains his or her right to quality public education […] and enable skeletal solutions to drive excellence in the quality of public education,” she stated.

Over 20 representatives joined virtually from places all across the globe.

The team celebrated the success of Dream Mile 2020, which raised over $ 400,000 for children in need. The event, held virtually across the globe, included over 4000 volunteers from 13 different countries, from ages two to eighty-two. Over 47,000 miles were counted, and these numbers helped set the goals for 2021. 

Mr. Tirath and Mr. Muturu then spoke about the impact that the Dream Mile had on their company, Pyramid. The two organizations have been working together for the past several years.

“I visited one of the Vibha chapters in Delhi and I directly was able to see the impact Vibha is making,” recalled Mr. Tirath. “There were at least 200 kids from all different levels, kids that were going to elementary school, and kids that were going to high school. So we are very proud and happy to sponsor Vibha this year.”

Vibha CEO Durgesh Das told NRI Pulse he was very grateful to Pyramid Technologies for their partnership and support to Virtual Dream Mile.

“Virtual Dream Mile is a great way to set your fitness goals, challenge your friends, family, or teammates as well as support a cause. It is a win-win for participants as well as beneficiaries,” he added. “The funds raised will support post-covid support projects in India and the US mostly to bring the children back to school, accelerate recovery of loss of education and provide digital education to rural and semi-urban children.  The need is immediate and bigger than any time in the past and we hope that our supporters will rise to the occasion.”

At the event, Vibha’s Anoop Sinha also talked about the appreciation he had for all the volunteers that were part of the event. 

“This organization just blows me away. The amount of people we are able to bring as volunteers, from youth to seniors, I think that’s what attracts me to this organization. It’s completely community driven,” he explained. 

Ritesh Mathur, the leader of the global virtual Dream Mile, spoke about his goals for the event. “There will be several month-long and day-long challenges this year. In addition to this, we will have some more fun challenges that we will do periodically through an app,” he said. Members are working on making the app compatible with apple watches and galaxy watches so users can sync their steps to Dream Mile Challenges. 

“It’s going to be a lot of fun for the participants, and that’s the theme- ‘have fun competing, and at the same time, support a great cause,’” he concluded.

Representatives also told heartwarming stories about the way the Dream Mile inspired their colleagues to walk to and from work, sometimes all the way up till midnight, to count steps. Pyramid even had a large golden trophy commemorating the winners each year.

Then, Vibha members at the zoom meeting went around and explained their goals for their respective places. Although the in-person mile would be happening in Atlanta and New Jersey, the virtual run actually connected the entire globe and allowed for safety in the face of COVID-19.

Participants can register at dreammile.org and pay for individual events, with all proceeds going to underprivileged children and organizations such as Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. They can run or walk all the way from 1Ks to half marathons, and even set distance or step goals for the month. The in-person event is set to take place on September 18th, 2021.

The kickoff ended with a heartwarming video showing the children who had already received the help of Vibha, and was met with thunderous applause as each representative set their goals for the coming event.

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