On October 7, the Sankara Eye Foundation (SEF) will host their annual Be The Light Gala, a fundraising event to help eliminate curable blindness in India. The gala will be held at Cipriani 25 Broadway, starting at 6:30pm.
The Be The Light Gala looks to raise money to provide free eye surgeries to the visually impaired citizens of India. With more than 45 million people in India suffering from eye disease and 12 million of them blind, SEF works to treat the 80% of people with curable eye disease. SEF will be performing 450,000 free eye surgeries this year at its eleven Sankara Eye Hospitals and ten partner eye hospitals. SEF is looking to meet its Vision 2030 goal, which is to provide 1 million free eye surgeries annually in India.
“The Be The Light Gala is our most important fundraising event of the year,” says Murali Krishnamurthy, Founder and Executive Chairman, Sankara Eye Foundation, USA. “With an overwhelming demand for eye care in India, we want to raise as much money as possible to help as many people as possible. With each patient whose eyesight we restore, we know we are inching one step closer to our mission to eliminate curable blindness in India.”
The keynote speaker will be Jay Choudhary, CEO, Chairman and Founder, Zscaler Inc. In addition to running his cybersecurity firm, Mr. Choudhary is #79 on the 2022 Forbes 400 list and a 2018 finalist of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Before founding Zscaler, Mr. Choudhary founded SecureIT and CipherTrust, which were later acquired by Verisign and Secure Computing Corporation. He also founded AirDefense and CoreHarbor, later acquired by Motorola and AT&T.
In addition, entertainment will be provided by Geetesh Iyer and The Incident. Mr. Iyer is a renowned singer, songwriter and performer. He is a 2010 Indian Idol finalist and a 2011 X Factor India finalist. Additionally, he has performed with several reputable Indian artists including Shankar Mahadevan, Kavitha Krishnamurthy, Neha Kakkar and Atif Aslam among others.
The Incident is a leading Indian-American band based in the tri-state area, who have teamed up with prominent singers such as Shaan and Kavitha Krishnamurthy for musical performances. With influences from genres spanning rock, jazz, R&B, and Bollywood, the band blends modern and nostalgic Indian music with Western in perfect harmony.
Individual tickets are $500 and $1,000 for VIP. Tables are available for $5,000 and VIP tables cost $10,000. Sponsorships are also available. To purchase tickets, RSVP or for sponsorship opportunities, visit https://sefcharitygala.org/ .
Cipriani is located on 25 Broadway, New York, New York. For more information, or to donate, call 1 (866) SANKARA (726-5272) or visit https://sefcharitygala.org/
About Sankara Eye Foundation
Sankara Eye Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing free eye surgeries to those experiencing blindness or other visual impairments across India. The organization relies on donations to eradicate curable blindness, performing eye surgeries for only $30 USD. Sankara performed 355,000 eye surgeries last fiscal year and has built the capacity to perform 490,000 this year. By 2030, the organization hopes to reach their “March to a Million” goal of performing one million free eye surgeries annually. For more information, visit www.giftofvision.org.
