On July 1st, five like minded individuals got together over dinner in Raleigh and started discussing their desire to start an action center in the Raleigh-Durham area. After 2 hours of getting to know each other and having some delicious Indian food, we walked away with the goal of setting up the first event to gather more individuals and educate and spread awareness about Vibha.
We decided to have a meet and greet event to bring together individuals, friends, locals for a Bowling Night. Within two weeks we managed to secure a location, obtain discounted rates for bowling, spread the word among our friends and extended networks to drive crowd to the event.
On July 14th (just within 2 weeks of our first meeting) we had a very successful event. We had over 30 individuals join us for a fun bowling night. We also had a short introduction to Vibha, a few volunteers shared their experiences,shared ideas and had a good time bowling. We also had a raffle drawing during the event and gave away three prizes to the lucky winners. From a financial standpoint- we recovered all our expenses through the bowling event fees and the raffle. We also had a guest volunteer from Vibha Atlanta chapter who has been with the Vibha family for over 17 years. It was a great morale booster for all the Raleigh Volunteers to have this support at the event.
The Raleigh Action Center is supercharged and moving full steam ahead on planning meetings, participating/setting up booths and events in the area.
Shoutouts:
Deepali Bang worked very hard on not only securing a location and discounted rates, she also managed to obtain a bowling gift certificate worth $150 which was the First prize for the Raffle drawing!
Janki Patel worked on driving people to the event, introducing everyone to Vibha. She is now in charge of being the Volunteer Recruitment Lead of the Raleigh Action Center.
Varun Parmar was actively engaged with volunteers, sharing with them about Vibha’s mission, philosophy and encouraging them to join forces with us. He leveraged technology at its peak, by setting up an internet activated laptop at the event site and having volunteers register on the spot on Vibha’s website! His leadership skills and experience working with non-profits clearly has led him to be (one of the two key) Action Center Coordinator.
Hetal Patel worked diligently in driving crowds to the event. She also had a few people (families who were at the bowling alley) walk up to her and inquire about what our event was all about and share with them about Vibha. Her energy, networking skills, passion to run a school for children has led her to be (one of the two key) Action Center Coordinator.
As a long-time Vibha supporter and past Atlanta Action Center Volunteer, I am very excited to be part of this new beginning and new action center in Raleigh!
Great job guys!
Congratulations to the **NEW** Raleigh Action Center team….