American Telugu Association (ATA) celebrated the ‘Detroit ATA Roju & Cultural Night’ over the weekend at St. Toma function hall, Farmington Hills, Michigan. The event was organized to express gratitude to Detroit Telugu people for their continued support to ATA, to celebrate the Telugu Culture, to bring awareness about ATA service activities and also to raise funds in support of the 13th ATA convention scheduled to be held in Philadelphia from July 3th-5th, 2014.
The auditorium was full with over 350 Telugu people who enjoyed the evening with stupendous cultural performances by kids and grand buffet dinner. The event started at 7:30PM and continued until after midnight. The audience participated with great enthusiasm and danced well into the night while popular singers Deepu, Vijaya Lakshmi, and Praveen Jaligama entertained the Detroiters with their energetic, mesmerizing, and melodious performances. During this event ATA team has raised about $102,000 in pledges from Detroit area with the help of Uday Chapalamadugu’s entertaining and interesting fund raising talk.
Mr. Karunakar Madhavaram, ATA president and Mr. Narender Chemarla, ATA Treasurer graced the event. Mr. Madhavaram addressing the gathering highlighted the purpose, objectives and success stories of ATA in the last two decades. He briefed the community services done by ATA to the Telugu Community in North America and in India. He stated that ATA is a vibrant organization with a great commitment to provide services to the Telugu Community, to promote Telugu Culture and to bring Telugu Community together. He explained the activities that are planned for 13th ATA convention and invited everyone to Philadelphia for the convention.
Mr. Madhavaram appreciated the ATA Detroit team, Dr.Ramchandra Reddy (ATA Jt. Treasurer & Finance Chair), Vinod Kukunoor (International Coordinator), Hariprasad Reddy Lingala (Media Chair), Ram Reddy (ATA Trustee), Rao Nerusu (Regional coordinator), Nagender Aytha (Regional coordinator), Murali Bommanaveni (Regional coordinator) for their continued support and commitment to ATA.
Sreedevi’s anchoring was a special attraction at the event. The ATA team thanked its donors and supporters who came forward enthusiastically to support the 13th annual ATA convention. ATA executive committee presented mementoes to the donors, Mr. Vinod Kukunoor, Mr. Rao Nerusu, Mr. Kishore Chavva and Mr. Anurag Bajaj who were very generous with their pledges.
The event was organized by Detroit ATA team with the help of volunteers, Srinivasa Raju, Kishore Tammineedi, BV Reddy, Yugandhar Bhumireddy, Sreedhar Thippireddy, Konda Reddy, Purashotham Kukati, Srinivas Chittaluri, Sunil Manduti, Bhargav Cheruku, Thrinath Reddy and others. The function hall was decorated by Mohan Koneru.
The event ended with the vote of thanks to everyone who made the occasion a very grand success with special mention to the parents who worked hard to prepare their kids for the event and thanked all the volunteers, local Telugu People Media and local Telugu associations, DTA, TTA, TDF, and DTC for their support.
Picture Gallery: https://plus.google.com/photos/103801333558394134345/albums/6013461737556037249?banner=pwa
