New York, April 17, 2025 — CRY America (Child Rights and You America), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is launching its much-anticipated CRY Gala 2025 series, bringing together supporters across six U.S. cities—New York, Houston, Austin, San Diego, Seattle, and the Bay Area—to raise awareness and funds for children’s rights. These events are a celebration of hope, opportunity, and transformation for underprivileged children in India and the United States.
This year’s gala series will be graced by legendary actress and Padma Bhushan awardee Shabana Azmi, a long-time advocate for child rights. “Join me at the CRY Gala to ensure that every child has the right to be happy and healthy,” Azmi shared. “Together we can help every child’s dream turn into reality.” The series will also feature notable guest speakers, including Chef Vikas Khanna in New York, Subrat Tripathy (SVP, L&T Technologies) in Houston, Sanjeev Sehgal (Vice President , Caliber Collision) in Austin, Nakul Duggal (Group GM, Qualcomm) in San Diego, and MR Rangaswami (Founder, Indiaspora) in the Bay Area.
Joining Shabana Azmi on the gala tour is CRY Project Partner Lalithamma, who leads the People’s Organization for Rural Development (PORD) in Andhra Pradesh. Lalithamma has worked tirelessly to combat child labor, child marriage, and lack of access to education—issues that affect countless children in her community. Two remarkable success stories from PORD include Kalpana and Mahesh. Kalpana, who dropped out of school in Grade 8 to support her family, was guided back into education by the PORD team. She went on to score a 9.8 GPA, complete an engineering degree, and now supports her entire family. Mahesh, once a farm laborer who left school to earn a living, was re-enrolled into a residential school with PORD’s help. He later earned a Master’s degree and currently works at a reputable bank while mentoring other children in his community.
These inspiring journeys reflect the deep and lasting impact of CRY-supported initiatives like Project PORD. With the support of over 35,334 donors and 2,000 volunteers, CRY America has transformed the lives of 825,539 children across 5,064 villages and slums through its support of 111 projects in India and the United States.
The CRY Gala 2025 will take place on the following dates: New York, NY on April 25 (https://www.cryamerica.org/ny-gala-2025), Austin, TX on April 26 (https://www.cryamerica.org/austin-gala-2025), Houston, TX on April 27 (https://www.cryamerica.org/houston-gala-2025), San Diego, CA on May 2 (https://www.cryamerica.org/san-diego-gala-2025), Seattle, WA on May 3 (https://www.cryamerica.org/seattle-gala-2025), and the Bay Area, CA on May 4 (https://www.cryamerica.org/bay-area-gala-2025).
This year’s event sponsors include TV Asia, Parikh Worldwide Media, GDB International, SBI NY, Morgan Stanley, Dallas Venture Capital, CSR Communities, Merlin, Vantive, Laxmi, Texas Inpatient Consultants, Rock N Grill, Taproot Solutions, Prime Dental, Trinity Texas Realty, and Marc Robinson Jewelers, among others.
(Used with permission from NIT)
