Sharwani, along with her group organised flash mob in NY
Members of Hope4Spandana group
ANANTAPUR: A teenagers group of American-Indian in US performed flash mob in New York Times Square for raising funds for autistic students in Anantapur. The Hope4Spandana group adopted autistic children of a special school located near Shantinagar circle in Anantapur along with affiliation to St. Peters University Hospital in New Jersey.
About 20 kids led by Indo-American teenager Sharwani Kota from New Jersey performed the flash mob of Bollywood and Hollywood mixed theme at the famous Times Square on October 10 to awareness on autism. Sharwani’s mother N. Madhavi, a native of Tapovanam in Anantapur and father Narasimham Kota of Vijayawada are software engineers settled in the US for the past 20 years.
Sharwani had started Hope4Spandana when she was a eighth grade student to help the poor and the needy. She is a eleventh grader now and her team has been regularly organising musical performances to mobilise funds for their school in India, named Spa-ndana, and to other autism charities around the world. The girl began organisation by first conducting res-earch on autism. She found that the highest incidence rate was in New Jersey, with roughly one child in every 42 being affected. Additionally, the teen lear-ned that there was no cause or cure for autism.
Inspired by the services of her father Lakshminarasimham Kota, she started an organisation for autistic children at Spandana School with about 72 autism-afflicted kids at Shant-inagar Nagar during her visit to Anantapur, her maternal uncle K.Raghu recalled. She contributes about Rs 4,000 every month towards essential commodities and physiotherapy of the school inmates. She also plays veena, and is determined to raise funds by performing at senior citizens homes. By the end of the summer, she had raised $5,000 for the jumpstart programme at St. Peters University Hospital in New Jersey, said her father. She had started mobilising funds through flash mobs with a 16 minute dance and to create awareness among the public on the issue.
Currently, her non-profit organisation includes 25 members of her age, and they work to coordinate performances, such as flash mobs, which she said work very well with large crowds to get the word out and raise money. Half of the funds raised goes to St Peter's University Hospital and the other half goes to the Spandana School at Anantapur. The funds are generated for building a proper school as right now they work from a rented building. Sharwani Kota, who eventually wants to become a surgeon, hopes to adopt more schools to reach out to as many people as possible.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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