Uphaar 2008

Platinum Sponsor:  

Sponsored by Anu and Naveen Jain and Intelius, the Seattle Chapter of CRY - Child Rights and You America Inc., organized its annual benefit dinner ‘Uphaar 2008’ on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at The Golf Club at Newcastle, WA.

At the event, R ‘Doc’ Vaidyanathan, Trustee, CRY America showcased CRY America’s effective child rights approach that has transformed the lives of over 150,000 children in India in just 5 years of its existence. As he puts it, “The scenario of India’s marginalized children is getting worse even after 60 years of independence. However, we at CRY America, through our experience with working with these communities and grassroots partners know that this situation can change.”

Uphaar 2008 was attended by over 200 members of the Western Washington community in an affirmation of their commitment to the cause of standing up against the violation of child rights. This year Uphaar raised $155,000 with the support and encouragement of people in Seattle facilitated by Sunil Shah, Entrepreneur.

Dr Niraj Kumar Mishra, Founder, SATHEE, a CRY America-supported project, while demonstrating the success of the rights based approach at SATHEE, succinctly described the issue at large. He says, “Districts in Jharkhand, India, are regions plagued by frequent droughts and seasonal agriculture. People generally migrate to the adjacent places with their children in search of jobs, leading to school dropouts and increasing cases of abuse of children and women. Once these communities are made aware and empowered of their rights according to the constitution, through massive sensitization programs they demand their rights and seek accountability from the local authorities and subsequently, are instrumental in changing the situation of their communities and their children.”

Every year, Uphaar gives the Seattle volunteer chapter a great opportunity to spread the word about how we can do our bit for marginalized children in India. At CRY America Inc., we strive to invite as many people as we can so that together we can make change possible. We are grateful to Vijay Vashee for all his help with organizing the event and mentoring us to make Uphaar 2008 a great success”, says Madhulika Gadde, Volunteer.

For more information please visit http://www.cryseattle.org/uphaar or email seattle@cryamerica.org