Friends,
Tablers of VRT 77 who have the “First Smile Project” and perform free surgeries for Children with Cleft Lips have taken it to the next level.
They have been Working with the Maaya Foundation at Vizag and now at Mumbai they joined hands with German Cleft Children Aid Society and Donated 5 Lakhs towards the same and got great International publicity TO ROUND TABLE INDIA
Here’s a Report by Chairman Tr Ameet Mirpuri and Some Photos…
The weekend that was!
Friends,
I write to you in disbelief at the moment but with a sense of great pride urging on as I type down these words.
We, at Vizag Round Table 77 were invited by the Maaya foundation and the German Cleft Children Aid Society to attend an event in Mumbai this 20th and 21st of January 2012 titled Germany meets Mumbai. Little did we know about the depth of this event until I attended the same myself.
Through the Maaya foundation, we at VRT 77 have been working on, as most know, our project, First Smile, which has been recognized by the national board of Round Table India for the last 2 years. Here we help children with a cleft problem, have corrective surgery and literally, repair their lives.
On the 20th, I was invited to a concert by the consulate general of India to Germany to attend a concert called Bollywood to Babbelsburg at the National Centre for Performing Arts. It was a fabulous 3-hour performance by Germany’s best orchestra of 100 musicians performing our very own A.R Rahman’s music. The maestro himself was there too along with a number of celebrity figures and enthralled the audience with his grand finale. This was followed by a dinner with the who’s who of Mumbai, a very select event where I got to converse with a lot of the foreign delegation. The mayor of Stuttgart, Germany, was very happy to see the work of 77 through First Smile and to my amazement, he turned out to be a 41er as well. I pinned him with a 77 pin and a beaming smile!
The 21st, now this was the big one. The mayor of Mumbai, the mayor of Stuttgart, the whole German delegation, the municipal commissioner of Mumbai and the swish business crowd of Mumbai was present at the Taj Lands End in bandra to inaugurate a wine festival befitting to the essence of the event. It was called Lapp India presents the wine festival where Stuttgart meets Mumbai. I flashed my chairman’s jewel with pride all around the 600 guests and also supported the Maaya foundation stall there.
Professor Heinz, of the German Cleft Children Aid Society, who is their spokesperson and spearheads this mission in Germany and India as well, gave a speech in which he spoke about why these children need the help we are giving them and spoke very highly of Round Table India. He also played the First Smile video created by Vizag Round Table 77 that held the audience spellbound. I was then given the opportunity to speak and tell the delegates and the audience about Round Table India, our specialty of always remaining a young organization, our mission of freedom through education and the fact that we are also responsible for the upkeep of our schools. I went on to tell them about how First Smile has become a pet project at Vizag and how everyone should donate towards this very noble cause.
I then went onto present him with a cheque of Rs. 5,00,000/- on stage, which was much appreciated, by him and the rest of the crowd once I stepped down. With this contribution, VRT 77 has come up with a total contribution of over Rs. 25,00,000/- toward this project reaching 250 children with a promise to reach out to many many more! The classy evening full of performances and reveling speeches continued with some brilliant German Relishing food. I even caught up with Tr. Christoph of Germany Round Table 173 over a glass of wine (the jewel I wore attracted many a query, many a compliment, many an exchange of cards and promises and many a conversation about the Round table)
Friends, excuse me for probably taking 10 minutes away of your time reading this but I did feel a minute to minute revelation of this larger than life experience that Round Table India has had this weekend really needed to be given it’s due. The press we got and the pictures will tell you all and hopefully give you a visual tour of my exhilarating weekend in Mumbai.
Yours in tabling and (need I say it)… Proud to be a Tabler!!!
Tr. Ameet Mirpuri
Chairman, Vizag Round Table 77
ameetmirpuri@yahoo.co.in
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Reported By
Hamir Sampat
MKRT 181
RTI
Filed under: Community Service, Projects, Publicity
