Last month, Los Gatos 14-year-old Dhiya Padmanabhan and her friend Anithra Shradha Narayanan, who is going into Grade 12 at Lynbrook High School in San Jose, held a dance fundraiser based on classical South Asian dance forms to raise money for people who need eye surgery in rural India.
“The girls reached their fundraising goal one day before the event,” says Padmanabhan’s mom, Vidhya Venkitakrishnan. “We stand at $8,094 as of today.”
Narayanan had been working with Milpitas-based Sankara Eye Foundation on a volunteer writing project, so when Padmanabhan’s grandmother spoke about her need for cataract surgery in both eyes on a video call, Venkitakrishnan pointed her in the direction of that nonprofit.
“They provide free cataract eye surgery for underserved people in rural India,” Venkitakrishnan said. “Each of these surgeries costs only $30 for one eye.”
While Padmanabhan’s grandma, who lives in India, could afford to pay for her surgery, the girls couldn’t help but think about all the people who live nearby who can’t afford what costs no more than the price of a meal at a restaurant in Silicon Valley.
“They said, ‘Let’s do a fundraiser,’” Venkitakrishnan recalled. “They started planning it last summer.”
Their goal was to try to raise $3,000 each by holding a special dance performance, since they attend the Shri Krupa school in Saratoga, which is turning 50 this year.
Vishal Ramani, the artistic director, worked with them to develop the program over the ensuing months.
On June 22, the culmination of all their hard work came to life.
“What I saw that day was how deeply connected they were to the cause,” Venkitakrishnan said. “They brought out the classical dance form in a very graceful and very touching way. The founder of Sankara Eye Foundation was there and he spoke. There were over 250 people who attended the event.”
It included stories based on age-old mythology. And they ended with a dance meant to reflect the beginning of a monsoon, which features a peacock.
They raised enough money to provide surgeries on 250 eyes.
“If they can do it at this age I think everyone can be inspired,” said Venkitakrishnan, noting their efforts have already sparked another similar fundraising effort for Sankara. “We can already see the ripple effects of this in the community.”
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