Telugu Association of North America (TANA), the largest and oldest Telugu Association  raised  a record breaking 1.6 million dollars for the 20th TANA Conference (July 2- 4, 2015), at the Kick-Off and Fund-raising event fundraiser held in the Detroit suburb of Farmington on Saturday, October 25, 2014.  The fundraising event held under the leadership of the Conference Convener   Gangadhar Nadella and President Mohan Nannapaneni  received phenomenal response from all Telugu Community and raised record-breaking $1.60 million, an extraordinary amount that is three times bigger compared to any fund raising event that was held by any of the Telugu Organizations in the past. Over 600 Telugu people from Detroit are and more than 50 leaders of   TANA attended this event.

The fundraiser kicked off with traditional lighting of lamp by Smt. Padmaja Gadde and followed by various cultural programs in a grand way. TANA President Mohan Nannapaneni, TANA Executive Vice-President Dr. Chowdary Jampala, Board Chairman Dr. Naren Kodali, TANA Foundation Chairman   Jayasekhar Talluri, Ex-President   Jayaram Komati, Foundation Secretary  Sreenivasa Rao Gogineni, Treasurers  Madhu Tata,   Sagar Malisetty, and TANA leaders Dr. Hema Prasad Yedla,   Subba Rao Kolla,   Anjaih Chowdary Lavu,   Yugandhar Yadlapati,   Niranjan Srungavarapu,   Harish Koya,   Srinivas Jarugula,   Purna Veerapaneni,   Vasudeva Reddy Chinna.   Hema Kanuru,   Jogeswarara Rao Peddiboyina,   Ravi Potluri,   Goutham Gurram,   Rajesh Adusumilli,   Rao Yalamanchili and many others attending the event were introduced by TANA Secretary Satish Vemana.

Addressing the large crowd, TANA President   Mohan Nannapaneni recollected the deep and long standing of TANA with the Detroit Telugu community and the Detroit Telugu Association (DTA) and thanked them for coming forward again to host the 20th TANA Conference.  His recounting of the many services provided by TANA, TANA Foundation, TANA TEAM Square to the Telugu Community was received with tremendous applause from the audience.   Dhulipala Narendra, a senior legislator and CPI Party leader Nagewara Rao Muppalla graced this occasion with their presence. They praised TANA for their abiding commitment in helping those affected by the recent HudHud Cyclone and extended their best wishes to TANA in making the forthcoming Conference a great success.

Uday Kumar Chapalamadugu conducted the fundraising event in his unique style.  Many of the attendees, passionate about TANA started announcing their donations and a record number of 1.6 million dollars was raised in the span of one and a  half hour.  Prominent TANA members   Krishna Prasad Katragadda and   Vara Prasad Potluri   donated $100,000 each in support of the forthcoming conference.   Durga Prasad Gadde donated $51,116;   NT. Chowdary donated $50,000,   Srinivasan Gonuguntla, Naveen Yerneni and   Vinod Kukunoor donated $25,000 each in support of this event. TANA leaders, who travelled all the way to Detroit for this event donated a generous $470.000. TANA Conference Coordinator   Gangadhar Nadella thanked all the generous donors for raising the record breaking fund amount in a short span of time. TANA President Mohan Nannapaneni thanked all the donors and DTA for making this event a grand success. He also extended thanks to all of those who attended this event all the way from California and Canada and made this event a grand success.

TANA Conference Coordinator   Gangadhar thanked all the donors and guaranteed that the upcoming Conference will be unique and will be a great experience for all the attendees. Fund raising Committee Chairman   Suresh Puttagunta and Vice Chair   Naeveen Yerneni thanked the donors who generously extended their support.  Srivani Koneru decorated the hall and Srnivas Raju provided audio support.  Sunil Koneru captured excellent moments with his photography,   Manorama Gondhi organized cultural activities and   Narahari  Kodali,   Sivaji and Namaste Flavors, Chutneys restaurants provided mouthwatering dinner for this occasion.   The young singers Hema Chandra and Sravana Bhargavi entertained   the audience with their melodious Telugu songs and Mimicry Ramesh’s humorous talents raised huge laughter. Secretary of TANA conference, Srinivas Rao Gogineni offered vote of thanks to all of those who   travelled long way for attending the event as well as the locals who supported and donated to make this event a great success.

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Earlier in the day, a meet and greet meeting was held  at Indus Banquet hall between the TANA Leadership  from all over the country and the Conference Committee Leaders   Experienced leaders like Chowdary Jampala, Satish Chilukuri, Jayaram Komati, Dr. Hanumaiah Bandla, Murali Vennam, Chalapti Kondrakunta, Jaysekhar Talluri, Satish Vemana discussed various important aspects of conducting a successful Conference. TANA Regional Representative Joe Peddiboina, DTA President Venu Suraparaju and Vice President Srinivasan Gonuguntla, Dwaraka Prasad and few others from the community also spoke about the upcoming Conference. Conference Secretary Sreenivasa Rao Gogineni thanked everyone for valuable input and affirmed that all the conference volunteers will work with unity and mutual cooperation to deliver a great conference.

Later,   the TANA Leadership and Conference leadership together visited the COBO Hall, Crown Plaza and Marriott Hotels in Detroit where the 20th TANA Conference will be held and discussed thoroughly for the arrangements needed.   Mohan Nannapaneni and   Gangadhar Nadella have stated that this exchange of ideas was very beneficial and gave them great reason to believe in the success of the upcoming conference.

In summary, the day’s events renewed the confidence and provided encouragement to the Conference leadership and raised the expectations for the 20th TANA Conference.