VT Seva Detroit successfully celebrated the 7th Annual Cultural Event RAAS-2022 on November 19th, 2022, as a never-before event. RAAS is our Annual Celebration event, culminating a great year of various fundraising activities and volunteering service to the community.
Some of the key highlights of the event:
Raised funds for 257 Visually Challenged and Tribal students’ education
450+ people attended
Sumptuous Dinner with Mesmerizing Entertainment
Special Thanks to all the Donors, Volunteers, Participants, Sponsors, Choreographers, and everyone for bringing a big success to VTSEVA Detroit and keeping VTSEVA Detroit Top in the service.
A memorable evening with marvelous Entertainment & Sumptuous Dinner.
VT Seva Detroit board acknowledged the year-long hard work of our dedicated volunteers and kind donors with an evening of music, dance, skits, food, fun, and celebration.
Emcee Jyotsna Kankatala raised the curtain at 5:15 p.m., and the event started on time with Jyothi Prajwalana followed by USA & India National Anthem with JET & Prajna students' Prayers. Thanks Jyotsna and Shivani, and Prajna students.
An awesome Veena performance followed it. Thank you, Prashantha Veenananda team!
JET Michigan Coordinator Narasaraj Kompally delivered a speech about Jeeyar Education Trust and how these Nethra Students benefit from JET & VTSEVA. Thanks Narasaraj Garu.
Director of VTSEVA Detroit Srinath Karnati talked about the Donors and Volunteers. He explained how significant an impact both volunteers and Donors were creating and thanked them for keeping VT SEVA Detroit in the #1 position in doing community Service Projects and the Top#4 position in the USA in supporting the Visually challenged & Underprivileged students' education.
National Secretary and past Branch Director Sudheer Koppu addressed the audience and conveyed thanks to them.
National Youth Director and Detroit Volunteer Coordinator Vanitha Gopalan Talked about all the community service projects conducted in 2022 and thanked all the donors. Please review the short video below on the key accomplishments.
In 2022, apart from Detroit Youthboard activities, the Detroit branch conducted 32 community services events & 8 fundraising events
- Over 27,545 lbs. of food packed in Food Banks Volunteering
- Over 2000 meals served at the Community Kitchen Volunteering
- Raised $800 & around 6 big boxes of hygiene items for Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, a homeless shelter
- Large-scale cleanup and removal of invasive plant species during Eco Restoration Projects
- Over 160 Young Women and children received ~2000 hygiene supplies
- ~5200 mailing supplies packed in support of fundraising activities for Visually Challenged Children Centers
- Over 350 boxes of nutritious, culturally sensitive food items distributed
- 833 Fleece blankets made and distributed
Secretary and Youth board director of VT SEVA Detroit Priya Jaisankar presented beautiful slides for the entire event and talked about Youth board Projects (especially outreach) and also spoke about the VT SEVA High school Clubs and thanked all the Youth volunteers and both High School Club teams.
In 2022, VT Seva Detroit Youth Board did an excellent job serving the community and environment by participating in many volunteering events and raising money to support 42+ students' education through various summer camps and fundraising projects. They celebrated 3rd anniversary and had a party for the senior sendoff. They established 2 High School Clubs also. A recap of their achievements in 2022 are
- 35 Youth Board Initiated Events led by youths
- 6 Summer Camps led by youths
- 2 Fundraising projects initiated and led by youths
- 2 Fun events
- 2 High School Clubs
- 750+ youth volunteer hours in youth-initiated projects
- 100+ parent volunteer hours
- Raised $3500 to support families impacted by cancer
- Raised more than $15,500 to support Nethra Vidyalaya student's education through Outreach Project
- Many students acquired leadership skills and felt confident
Anvika Perumalla, President of Troy IAE School VTS Club, talked about two high school clubs (Troy IAE & Troy High) activities and thanked VTSeva for setting up clubs at high schools. Thanks, Anvika and Troy VTSeva Club teams.
Youth Volunteer Anurag shared his India Internship experience with the audience. Thanks Anurag.
Core Volunteers thanked all the donors for their generous donations to VTSEVA for visually challenged and Under Privileged students’ education.
Rocking Dance performances:
We had a gala of professional teams and local talent that rocked the stage from classical to Bollywood. Thanks for the Goose Bump performances by
Smrithi Dance Team
Tripura Dance Team
Vandana Krishna swami Dance Team
Usha Dance Team
Veena Madhukar Dance Team
Arpita Dance Team
Swati Dance Team
Avantika Dance Team
Bighearted local restaurants sponsored delicious food. Our dedicated volunteers served hot food for the RAAS attendees.
Branch Director Srinath Karnati announced the PVSA winners of 2021 and awarded Medals and trophies from the hands of Sudheer Koppu, Vanitha Gopalan, Suresh Rajan, Priya Jaisankar, JaiSankar Kannan, Srinath Karnati, Jyothi Karnati, Nandini Cheemalamarri, and Sreenivas Cheemalamarri.
Congratulations to all PVSA winners.
Gold: Oviya Jai Sankar, Saisha Srivatsan, Hiba Zyna
Bronze: Harish Jaisankar, Abhinav Suresh, Nikhil Aerabati, Siddharth Tirumala Kanduri, Sai Sahasra Namuduri, Shreya Srivatsan, Rashmitha Raghunathan
Thanks for the Melodious Singing Performances by Kalyani Ji Team and local talents.
Madhavan ji handover the Plaques to Hrudwani Team.
Latha ji handed over the plaques to the Sponsors.
On this Wonderful day, Shreya Srivatsan did a fantastic artwork. She sold her artwork to Kind art lovers and donated the amount to VTSEVA for the great cause of Visually Challenged and Under Privileged students’ education. Thank you, Shreya.
Last but not least, a huge shout and Thanks to Hrudwani Team for the Live Band Performance on RAAS Stage. Live started at 10:00 and continued up to 11:45 p.m. Melodious voice and an excellent keyboard, Flute, and other Instrument players.
VTSeva Detroit Thanks all the Sponsors and Volunteers for their services.
Delicious Food by local Restaurants.
Thanks to Zaharaji for coordinating the food from various restaurants.
It would not have been possible to conduct such a successful event without such a large group of our AMAZING, DEDICATED, and ENTHUSIASTIC volunteers:
All these volunteers (adult and youth) did a terrific job in all these areas:
AREAS | ADULT | YOUTH |
Program Coordination | Swapna Kalva | Sreenika Perumalla |
Emcee | Jyothsna Kankatala
| |
Registration Desk | Latha Nimmagadda, Anand Renganathan, Jaishankar Kannan
| Veeksha Somula, Shivani, Siva Suravarpu |
Event Fundraising & Marketing | Srinath Karnati, Sudheer Koppu, Anand Renganathan | |
Volunteering & Food Coordination | Vanitha Gopalan | |
Sound System | Srinivas Raju and Lucky | |
Presentation Tech | Priya Jaishankar, Srikanth Ramanadham | Harish Jaishankar |
Donations Forms | Jaisankar Kannan
| Anvika Perumalla
Arsheya Bhattad
|
Photography | Anoop Macharla
| |
Set up | Vanitha Gopalan, Durga Sangita, Veena Hebbar, Ramya Srikanth, Suresh Rajan, Raghunath Namuduri, Akshay Pedamallu, Prathyusha Vurum | Alex Kola, Abhinav Pagidi, Sakib Hussain, Aakash Singh, Sai Sahasra Namuduri, Sai Chakrika Yadali, Ashish Rajam, Saanvi Mandapati, Akshay Kumar, Haji Muhinthan, Varshan Muhinthan, Yug Patel, Rishi Adduri, Nikhil Aerabati, Sriraam Hebbar, Supraja Pattangi
|
Food Department | Aravind Narayanan, Architha Kramadati, Asha Puranam, Chandra Sekhar Annavarapu, Durga Sangita, Jyothi Karnati, Keerthi Dingari, Komathy Muhinthan, Nandini Cheemalamarri, Pavani Namuduri, Priya Jaisankar, Raghunath Namuduri, Sreenivas Cheemalamarri, Srikanth Ramanadham, Srinath Karnati, Srivardhan Dingari, Sudhakar Kolluri, Sudhakar Raghunathan, Suresh Rajan, Vanitha Gopalan, Venkat Pisipati, Vidhya Anand, Vijay Perumalla | Aditi Jethri, Haji Muhinthan, Ishaan Sid, Kalki Reghunathan, Kavya Karnati, Lalitaditya Akkaraju, Nikhil Aerabati, Purani Murukathas, Rishi Adduri, Rishi Chowdhury, Saanvi Mandapati, Sai Karnati, Sai Chakrika Yadali, Siva Suravarapu, Supraja Pattangi, Varshan Muhintan, Veena Karthik, Veeksha Somula, Veena Karthik, |
Social Media Updates | Nandini Cheemalamarri | |
This was one of the best events we ever had. Thanks to all Event Sponsors, Donors, Supporters, and Volunteers who helped to make this event a big success.
Thanks to all the unsung supporters for this great cause. It would not have been possible to pull off such a HUGE event without your constant support and help.
For more pictures, please visit our Facebook Album
To watch the complete RAAS event, Please click here
To Like, Share and Comment, Please visit our Facebook Post
For other events and activities from Detroit, Please visit
RAAS 2022 Flier
Blog created and published by
Nandini Cheemalamarri (Detroit Communications)
THANK YOU SO MUCH, ALL!
YOUR SUPPORT IS OUR STRENGTH TO SERVE