Pongal-Republic Day 2010
Summary of Pongal and Republic Day Celebrations - 2010 by Bighelp for Education
Bighelp for Education held its annual fundraiser "Pongal and Republic day Celebrations" on Jan 9, 2010 at Horace Mann Middle School, Franklin, MA. The event started with contests in Spelling, Art, and Coloring for kids and a Rangoli contest for adults. The Cultural programs were emceed by very energetic students Monica Nagalla, Nishanth Iyengar, Ravi Yelamanchili, and Susruthi Rajanala who are also part of Bighelp's Youth Committee. A colorful mix of songs and dances, devotional and filmy, classical and modern, performed by children and adults made up the cultural programs. All were very well received by the audience.
President & Founder of Bighelp, Mr. Chand Pasha presented the developmental milestones of the organization, thanked all donors for the support and appealed on behalf of the needy children for continued support. He said Bighelp is currently sponsoring the education of 300 poor children and supporting 50 government public schools in India. He said all the details of the children are published in our website www.bighelp.org to enable the donors to know about their sponsoring children. He presented the video showing the some of the highlights from 2009 accomplishments. Mr. Pasha also said Bighelp activities were expanded to Special Needs children in 2009 and helped 250 physically and mentally challenged children.
Mr. Pasha presented the 2009 Best Volunteer Awards to Mr. Amar Jayam and Mr. Vijay Panchakshari for their outstanding efforts to the cause of Bighelp. All contest winners were honored with trophies and certificates by our honorary guests and contest coordinators Srihari Valiveti, Sandhya Bommaraju, Raj Thota, Niranjan Avadhuta, Sylvia Deodas, Sivakumar Rajan, Shahina Sheik, Srikala Jonnada, Raja Chilakamarri, Paresh Poonatar and Jagadeeswara Nagalamadaka.
Certificates of participation were awarded to all cultural program participants by the cultural coordinators Deepthi Kanuparthy, Madhavi Kamma and Anuradha Nagalla to acknowledge their efforts and to thank them.
Mouth watering and tasteful dinner prepared by volunteers was served to all guests at the end of the event. Several volunteers, including youth, enthusiastically participated and made it a most colorful and memorable event.
Here are a few facts about the event:
- Number of attendees: 1125
- Number kids participated in Spelling Bee Contest: 215
- Number of kids participated in Coloring Contest: 88
- Number of kids participated in Art Contest: 130
- Number of ladies participated in Rangoli Contest: 38
- Number of kids participated in Stage Performances: 250
- Funds Raised during the event: $12000
Bighelp would like to take this opportunity to thank all its volunteers, attendees, program and contest participants for making this event a memorable success and urges all to extend the same helping hand to the children in need in the future too.