The Telugu Association of North America (TANA) under the leadership of President Satish Vemana organized the kick-off/fundraiser banquet at the Hyatt Regency, Herndon, VA with pomp and grandeur on Saturday November 3rd, 2018. A record amount of $3.2 MILLION was raised—a new record for conference donations in the 42 year history of the TANA. The donors were very extremely generous, and the attendees were ecstatic and enjoyed the wonderful event. It was a full house banquet dinner with very good ambiance, smiling faces, great food, music and donations for the conference which will be held at Walter E. Washington Convention Center from July 4th to 6th 2019.
The delightful fundraiser was graced by more than 800 people. The program began with a traditional “Jyothi Prajwalana.” After the lighting of the auspicious lamp, there was a presentation of an artistically choreographed invocation dance by talented women performers from the DC metro area. Consequently, teaser introducing the venue and the expected highlights was displayed to the audience followed by a 6 minutes documentary on TANA history and activities in the past four decades received thundering applause from the audience.
TANA President Satish Vemana thanked the attendees, introduced the EC, BOD and Foundation members and Past Presidents and praised their services to the community. He commended the support of the the local community leaders and The DC area business leaders for their hard work and service to the community and explained significance of the celebrations in great detail. He single-handedly conducted and executed the fundraising amidst cheers and applause by taking time to introduce and recognize every single donor.
Hero Sunil attended the event and thanked TANA and donors for inviting him to the prestigious fundraiser banquet in support of the 22nd Conference and he encouraged the audience to step forward and support the organization and its service initiatives. Singers Sruthi Nanduri and Dhiraj Barla enthralled the audience with haunting melodies.
The TANA culture of positive thinking and warmth was evident in the pleasant way the TANA leadership greeted all of the attendees in a fun filled atmosphere exhibiting respect and gratitude. The positive energy that generated from this charged atmosphere leaves no doubt that the 22nd TANA Conference will set a new benchmark and take the organization and its hugely popular impact oriented service initiatives to greater heights.
The 22nd TANA Conference is expected to welcome over 15,000 people of Telugu origin to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in downtown Washington DC during July 4th – 6th 2019. Preparations are underway to ensure a historic mega-event with state of the art cultural, social, educational and religious programs.
