FAQsPledge 2007: An Evening for Child Rights
An Update
We hosted our first benefit dinner 'Pledge 2007' under our new name CRY- Child Rights and You America Inc. in New York on May 2nd, 2007. Fareed Zacharia, Editor, Newsweek International was the guest of honor along with Meera Gandhi, Goodwill Ambassador for CISRI at the United Nations and Vikram Gandhi, Head of Global Banking at Credit Suisse who came together to pledge their support to the cause of child rights. The main sponsor for the dinner was Credit Suisse.
The gala was attended by 200 people from the tri-state area, Indians as well as Americans to celebrate the successes CRY America, partner NGOs at grassroots level and volunteers across India and the US have had in impacting the lives of thousands of children thus far, and to make future achievements a reality. An estimated $90,000 was raised at the dinner, funds that will be directed towards funding several initiatives that ensure irreversible change in the lives of children.
The evening commenced with cocktails and a silent auction and the main program included an introduction to CRY by Ingrid Srinath, CEO of CRY, leading advocate for child rights in India and a keynote address by Dr. Fareed Zakaria, Editor, Newsweek International.
Ingrid Srinath, through her presentation on the status of children in India, explained the reason for CRY America's name change. She said, "The change from Relief to Rights projects the need for a change in the language of the debate from child welfare to child rights that all children are entitled to by the constitution of India. Millions of children across India are excluded from the rights most American children can take for granted - education, healthcare, protection from exploitation and abuse. Charity alone is woefully inadequate to the task of ensuring sustainable change on any significant scale. Unless we address the root causes of this situation - endemic poverty, gender bias, class and caste divides and misgovernance - we will only be scratching the surface of the problem."
In his powerful keynote address at the event, Dr. Fareed Zakaria said, "Change in India can only come from bottom up, not top down, and that can happen by getting the civic society involved and pressing the government and amplifying the voices like that of CRY."
A painting donated by octagenarian Indian artist Ram Kumar was auctioned by Hugo Weihe of Christies at this event. The winning bid of $26,000 was made by Sundaram Tagore, who runs an art gallery in New York.
CRY would like to thank several individuals and organizations for making Pledge 2007 a success.
- Vikram Gandhi and Credit Suisse for sponsoring the event and putting their faith in CRY America
- Meera Gandhi, our co-chair for this event who in many ways went beyond the call of duty to help ensure that this evening was a success.
- Our event benefit committee – Tania Ahuja, Harjot Bassra, Gary Miller, Neeta Bhasin, Jaswant Lalwani, Kim and Raju Panjwani, Tashi Rizvi, Neeta Bhasin and Ayesha Hakki
- Fareed Zakaria for his inspiring keynote address
- All our auction item sponsors:
- Dr.Neal Schultz and Park Avenue Skin care
- Tracy Young and A little indulgence
- Peter and Marsha Webster and Roberto Coin
- NHow Milan
- Amethyst Healing Arts
- Ram Kumar for generously donating the painting for the live auction
- Tracy Stern of SALONTEA
- Krait Beer and Bilimoria wines
- Bukhara Grill and Vicki Vij for the wonderful food and for always being so supportive of CRY’s efforts
- Our volunteers for the event
- Hugo Weihe of Christies for generously donating his time to conduct the live auction
Event Details:
Type of event: Fundraising Dinner
Venue of the event: The Altman Building, 135 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011
Date: May 2, 2007
Time:
6.30 pm - Cocktails & Silent Auction
7.30 pm - Keynote Address & Dinner
Ticket Price:
Passes $175 per person.
Description:
Key note speaker: Dr Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International
Event chairs: Meera and Vikram Gandhi
Event co-chairs:
Tania Ahuja Harjot Bassra (iStyle magazine) Neeta Bhasin
Ayesha Hakki (Bibi magazine) Jaswant Lalwani Gary Miller
Kim Punjwani Raju Punjwani Tashi Rizvi
CRY America New York Action Center presents Pledge 2007, our second annual benefit dinner hosted in New York on May 2, 2007. By attending Pledge 2007, you will help support a movement that is committed to restoring basic rights of survival, development, protection, and participation to underprivileged children. The proceeds from the evening will go towards funding several initiatives that ensure irreversible change to the lives of children in need.
Your support is key to fighting the continuous battle for child rights. We hope you will join us to celebrate the small successes we've had in impacting the lives of thousands of children thus far and to make future achievements a reality.
CRY America is a representative of India's leading advocate for child rights, CRY- Child Rights and You, which has established a reputation of effectiveness and trust over the past 28 years.
More information about Pledge 2007, will be incorporated shortly.
For further information, please contact Kreeanne Rabadi , CRY America, at 617-959-1273
