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Shabana Azmi urges diaspora to support child rights at CRY gala
The galas raised $1.4 million to fund grassroots programs for underprivileged children.
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Pranavi Sharma - Sun, 11, May 2025
- 02:43 EDT
- 202
Shabana Azmi. / Instagram
Actor and activist Shabana Azmi called on members of the Indian diaspora to back efforts that protect and promote children’s rights, at a series of fundraising galas held in six U.S. cities this year. The events, organized by nonprofit CRY America, raised $1.4 million to fund grassroots programs working with underprivileged children in India and the U.S.
“It is our duty as a society to support organizations like CRY that work at the grassroots with projects that make transformative changes in the lives of children,” Azmi told guests at the events.
The galas were held in six different cities, including an online auction of donated artwork, designer clothes, and jewelry, followed by a pledge session and Bollywood music and dancing.
High-profile guests included chef Vikas Khanna in New York; Subrat Tripathy of L&T Technologies in Houston; Nakul Duggal of Qualcomm in San Diego; Indiaspora founder MR Rangaswami in the Bay Area; and Sanjeev Sehgal, VP of Caliber Collision, in Austin.
Shefali Sunderlal, CEO of CRY America, said, “The multiplier effect that these programs have not only irreversibly transforms the lives of children in CRY-supported projects, but also lifts communities out of cycles of disenfranchisement.”
Lalithamma, a project partner working in villages in Andhra Pradesh’s Telangana district, shared firsthand stories of change. She spoke of Kalpana, who was pulled out of school to sell vegetables but returned to education through CRY-supported Project PORD and is now an engineer. Mahesh, another child laborer, is now employed at a national bank and mentors others like him.
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