Sankara Eye Foundation (SEF) hosted a benefit dinner and dance at Hyatt, San Jose on Saturday evening, Nov 15th 2003. The funds from this event were earmarked for the Sankara eye hospital under construction on the Guntur-Vijayawada highway near Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. This hospital is a state of the art eye hospital, with the inauguration targeted for February 2004.

The event was held in the Mediterranean center ballroom of the Hyatt Hotel and the invitees were treated to a fun filled evening with dinner and music in a very elegant setting. About 200 people attended this event, with representatives from the entrepreneurial and business community. Some of the invitees flew from Los Angeles and Merced to attend this event and lend their support to SEF.

The night was introduced by MC Girish Muckai, followed by a welcome speech by Mr. Divyogi Patel, SEF board member. Murali Krishnamurthy, the chairman of SEF presented SEF’s mission, results and accomplishments of 40,000 free eye surgeries in 2002. He also provided insight into SEF’s strategy to achieve their mission of eradicating curable blindness in India and achieve “Vision 20/20 by year 2020”. He also acknowledged the largest donation made to SEF for $100,000 from Dr. Raja Veeraiah Kodali of Pennsylvania. Dr. Kodali made this donation, after learning about SEF at TANA2003, held recently in San Jose.

Radha Basu, CEO of support.com and other honorary guests gave other key speeches for the evening. Honorary guests for the occasion included Dr. Romesh Japra and Jayaram Komati from FIA, A.J.Patel and Kailash Joshi from TIE, Narinder Badwal and Lilla Singh, owner of BJS electronics Jessi Singh, cardiologist and philanthropist Dr. Hanimireddy Lakireddy and Dr. Arjun Daluvoy, a vascular surgeon from Los Angeles and also the founder and chairman of Indo American Film Festival Council.

We are encouraged by the continued response of the people from every region of India- because the cause is so good, and the spirit of the volunteers which drives this true service to the people.” said Jayaram Komati, Chairman of FIA, Northern California and an ardent supporter of Sankara Eye Foundation.

The suggested contribution to SEF was $1000 per couple for the evening. These contributions along with generous donation from Dr. Hanimireddy Lakireddy ($10,000) and pledges from Rayudu Vrudhula family ($10,000), Kumar & Ravi Koneru ($8,000), Dr. Arjun Daluvoy ($5,000) and Anil & Suman Lal ($10,000) brought the amount raised in donations and pledges to around $150,000. In addition to these pledges, the recent $49.5 million Lotto winners, Narinder Badwal and Lilla Singh pledged $50,000 for the Sankara Eye hospital in Andhra Pradesh and a pledge of $50,000 more towards a future Punjab Eye hospital project.

SEF thanked all the invitees for making the event a grand success. It thanked Swagat Indian cuisine for sponsoring the food for the evening and Don Bodio and Jay patel for arranging for donated wine from local vineries. SEF also thanked Ravi Gooty and Mihika Paranjpe who entertained the audience with their melodious voice. Jayaram Komati had played a key role in organizing this banquet and SEF conveyed its sincere thanks to his efforts.

SEF would like to urge the community for continued support to raise the remaining funds of around $450K for the Andhra Eye hospital by February 2004, of which at least $250K is needed by Dec 2003 to continue the current pace of construction. With your contribution of $1000 per family, your name will be engraved forever on the Wall of Founders in the hospital premises. Endowments of higher amounts can fund rooms/equipments etc. For more details, please contact SEF at 1-866-SANKARA or visit www.giftofvision.org. Or send an e-mail either to Venkat Maddipati at mvr_mv@yahoo.com or Hema Chamraj at hchamraj@yahoo.com