Atlanta: Sankara Nethralaya raised whopping $715,000; 11,000 indigent patients to get cataract surgery

Padma Bhushan awardee Dr. S.S. Badrinath founded Sankara Nethralaya (SN) in 1978 with the sole objective of providing world class eye care for free to the poor and at an affordable price to others.

Nataraja Natyanjali founder Smt. Neelima Gaddamanugu, who is also a Trustee of Sankara Nethralaya USA (SN USA), did a fundraising event on November 5th, 2023 for the noble cause of restoring vision to indigent patients. Seventy-one students performed in Ananda Leela Kuchipudi Dance Drama, depicting the story of Lord Krishna from childhood to Bhagavad-Gita.

We gratefully acknowledge your support for noble causes in India and the USA and we thank you for your unstinting support to Sankara Nethralaya. You are truly an embodiment of “Natya Mayuri” in every sense. Nataraja Natyanjali co-founder Sri. Siva Gaddamanugu along with many volunteers worked tirelessly for many months to organize this event.

USD $715,000 (Seven Hundred and Fifteen Thousand dollars) was raised through this event and SN USA can sponsor 11,000 cataract surgeries for indigent patients.  Great applause was received from the attendees when Sri. Bala Reddy Indurti, President of the SN USA announced this whopping amount.

Sri. S.V. Acharya is the resident of Rockville, Maryland founded Sankara Nethralaya USA 35 years back and has been serving this noble cause consistently since then.  Through this Trust, Lakhs of people’s vision has been restored since its inception.  We gratefully acknowledge your outstanding vision, dedication, and commitment to SN USA. For your unwavering support and unrelenting guidance that helped in leading our path to success, you are honored with the “Lifetime Achievement Award” in honor of your 35 years of service. Sri. Acharya’s wife, Smt. Nirmala also attended the event.

Mobile Eye Surgical Unit (MESU) is a hospital on wheels and will cover an area in a 500 kilometers radius.  Each MESU consists of two buses.  These buses go to remote villages and do surgeries in the field itself.  One bus is used as a preparatory unit and the other bus is used as an operating theater.

Sri. Anand Babu Dasari is the resident of Dallas, Texas donated $100,000 (Hundred Thousand dollars) and pledged $80,000 more to set up a MESU based off of Puttaparthi and this will cover Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh states too.  We gratefully acknowledge your support for noble causes in India & Global communities worldwide and thank you for your unstinting support to Sankara Nethralaya. You are truly an embodiment of “Dheena Bandhu” in every sense. Famous philanthropist Anith Reddy Thimmaluru also came from India to support Anand Dasari

Sri. Udaya Bhaskar Ganti is the resident of Rockville, Maryland donated $95,000 (Ninety-Five Thousand dollars) and pledged $50,000 more to set up a MESU based off Visakhapatnam, and this will cover Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Odisha states.  We gratefully acknowledge your support for noble causes in India & Global communities worldwide and thank you for your unstinting support to Sankara Nethralaya.  You are truly an embodiment of “Dheena Bandhu” in every sense. Bhaskar Ganti’s wife Rohini garu also attended the event.

Sri. Moorthy & Smt. Madhavi Rekapalli pledged $100,000 (Hundred Thousand dollars) and contributing $10,000 (Ten Thousand Dollars) every year towards establishing a MESU unit. Sri. Pramod Sajja is a resident of Atlanta, and he is a well-known philanthropist for many community events.  He attended the event as a Guest of honor. Sankara Nethralaya USA team appreciated Pramod for his continued support.

Everyone appreciated the generosity of these mega donors.  Several people came forward and sponsored the MESU Adopt-A-Village program to restore the vision of indigent patients in and around their native place.  Adopt-A-Village sponsorship is $12,500 for the places that are within 300 Kilometers radius of the base hospital & $15,000 for the places that are within 300 – 500 Kilometers radius.

Adopt-A-Village Sponsors
Prasanna Kumar in memory of his wife, Late. Dr. Uma M. Kumar; Dr.Subrahmanyam K. Naidu, Trustee Hindu Temple of Atlanta; Dr. B. Krishna Mohan and Rajyam; Bala Reddy Indurti and Madhavi; Madadi Family (Bharath and Vamshi); Srini Reddy Vangimalla & Deepa; Ramesh Chaparala & Bhavani; Rajasekhar Aila & Jyothy; Dr.Kishore Reddy Rasamallu & Deepthi; Karunkar Asireddy & Prashanthi; Kiran Reddy Pasham & Swapna; Murali Sajja & Prema; Rajesh Tadikamalla & Sirisha Juluru; Dr. Madhuri Garimella & Prasad; Ramesh Yerneni; Neelima Gaddamanugu & Siva; Meher Lanka & Vijaya; Anith Reddy Thummaluru; Sabitha Pamulapati; Sateesh Kumar Segu; SR.

SN USA President Sri. Bala Indurti explained about the upcoming MESU projects, how much area they cover and how the Trustees and Volunteers are working tirelessly towards eradicating preventable blindness from India by doing fundraising events in different cities.  Huge applause was received from the audience for the efforts of SN USA towards restoring the vision for indigent patients.

Special thanks to SN USA Trustees from Atlanta, who put countless hours into making this program a grand success – Sri. Moorthy Rekapalli, Sri. Srini Reddy Vangimalla, Smt. Neelima Gaddamanugu, Sri. Meher Lanka, Sri. Upendra Rachupally, Dr. Madhuri Namuduri, Sri. Rajasekhar Reddy Aila, Sri. Sridhar Rao Julapally, Sri. Suresh Vemulamada, and Sri. Ramesh Chaparala.

Several community leaders and big donors who helped this event and cause were felicitated by SN USA: Veena Rao from NRI Pulse; Satish Musunuri, Sri Krishna Vilas Restaurant; Viju Chiluveru; Venkat Duggireddy; Prasad Banala; Satyanarayan Reddy Kancharla.

Smt. Malathi Nagabhairava and Smt. Shilpa Uppuluri were the Masters of the Ceremony and did an excellent job in explaining about Sankara Nethralaya and the Nataraja Natyanjali Kuchipudi dance drama, Ananda Leela.  Along with these, several people were recognized for their efforts – Eeshwari Ballari, Aruna Dhavaleswarapu, Kathyayini Pinnika, Santhi Medicharla, Raghunandan Nallanchakravathula, Usha Mocherla, Laasya Ananthu, Venkat Kattuva, Raghu Valusani, Amsh Gaddamanugu.

Vote of Thanks was given by SN USA Vice President Moorthy Rekapalli. Program was concluded with the national anthems of India and the USA. for more pictures, please visit www.NRI2NRI.com/Sankara Nethralaya USA Fundraising Concert 2023.