CRY America’s just concluded Annual Travel Sweepstakes was a whopping success, not just raising money well beyond expectations but also raising the community awareness and participation in CRY and for child rights. The event culminated in a draw on October 12, 2007 at Mirch Masala, one of the most popular Indian restaurants in the Greater Atlanta area and the winners’ tickets were picked out by Shefali Sunderlal, President, CRY America, Kreeanne Rabadi, Marketing & Resource Generation lead and R 'Doc' Vaidhyanathan, Treasurer of the CRY America Board.
CRY volunteers had helped sell the tickets to the Sweepstakes, which was capped at 300 tickets, but was such a success that over 340 tickets were sold. The last 40 buyers were regretfully turned away – so next year, make sure you buy your tickets early!
The winner of the sweepstakes and of the Grand Prize, two return tickets to India via Jet Airways¬ – was Pranav Kothari, holder of ticket number A-250. Other prizes given away include:
* A weekend’s stay in any W hotel in North America (value ~ $1000)
* 6 day / 7 night India holiday package (Kerala or Golden Triangle) from Make My Trip (value of ~$1500)
* A weekend stay at any Starwood property around the world worth up to 10,000 points (value of approximately $700)
* One night’s stay at W Times Square, overlooking one of the most recognized landmarks of the world.
* (2) Annual Subscriptions to Travel + Leisure magazine (~$50)
* (2) Travel guides by Travel+Leisure - World's Best Travel, World's Greatest Resorts+Spas
The complete list of prize-winning tickets can be found online at http://america.cry.org/
CRY Atlanta would like to thank our Platinum sponsors, Jet Airways, who’ve partnered with such an important event for us, and helped make such a grand success of it. Jet Airways has just launched its daily flight from New Delhi to New York’s John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport - effective fall 2007 – we encourage all CRY America supporters to travel by Jet Airways, India’s leading airline. We also thank our Prize sponsors, Make my trip.com, W Hotels North America & W Hotel New York, Gold Sponsors The Boston Consulting Group, Surya Rugs and silver sponsors Hamilton, Jaipur Rugs, and Re-proact. CRY Atlanta is indebted to Mr.Cass Patel and the staff at Mirch Masala for their support and help at the draw event. A big thank you to our corporate partnership team who helped make this event a zero-cost exercise for CRY and ensured that every ticket sold directly benefits child rights.
Aparna Garimella, the President of CRY Atlanta, said, “The idea for this event started at a picnic in a park in the middle of Atlanta on a warm spring day this year. Five of us, volunteers with CRY Atlanta, agreed that the ONLY thing common amongst all first generation immigrants was: communication with and travel back to India – an event centered around this would be a special event that would connect with all Indian-Americans, regardless of which region they were originally from, where they lived or worked at present, what their income levels were or what language they spoke at home. Most make trips home at least once every 2-3 years, and it is almost always an expensive venture, plus a nostalgia-& emotion-filled event. Be they students or software professionals or self-employed small business owners, or even doctors or successful entrepreneurs, the $2000-odd required per head for the India trip is a substantial expense. Our initial idea evolved, and we studied it as scientifically as possible, with a highly evolved market research plan and a quantitative survey with 100 samples. The people told us what they wanted, and we put together our best efforts to make it happen, and together, we hope that all this results in the beginnings of a better world for children. This is a first-of-its kind vacation sweepstakes targeted to the South-Asian community in America, and designed to raise funds to support child rights.”
The raffle was publicized at various events across North America, including a Festival of India, basketball tournaments, etc. It is estimated that the event has touched around 10,000-15,000 people via the on-ground awareness campaign.
Contact us
Aparna Garimella
President, CRY Atlanta
404-247-8341
agmella@gmail.com;
