thaakat atlanta 2012-2013

7/30/2019 Thaakat Atlanta 2012-2013

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THAAKAT ATLANTA

Year 2012-2013


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Thaakat Atlanta 2012-2013

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I. Mission Statement.. 2

II. Atlanta Chapter Leaders 3

III. Summer of Strength..... 4

IV. Thaakat Retweets... 5

V. Events.. 6

a. #BreaktheSilence... 7

b. All Around the World with Thaakat... 8

c. Will you be my Thaakat?.. 9

d. Swag the Swab with Thaakat... 10

e. Thaakat Spring Clothes Drive ... 10

f. Henna Booth .. 10

VI. Volunteer Events... 11

VII. Thaakat Thrives at Oglethorpe, Article by: Jomi Hirata 12

VIII. Pritams Power.... 13

IX. The Team.... 14


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Our missionis to promotecharitablegiving amongstudents and young professionals in the localand national communityand beyond

To drivea movement of creative altruism,unparalleled givingand preservation ofand culture

To bring hands on to our localcommunitiesand hope to ourglobal society


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When you realize youhave strength, anything ispossible with hard work

and dedication. I realized

that all the little things wedo together can create big

differences in peopleslives across the world.

Helping the communityhas always been my

passion and being a partof Thaakat has helped me

achieve that in ways Icould not have donebefore.

Thaakat has given me an

avenue to feel inspiredabout the world around meagain by reminding me that

there are other studentsthat are passionate to help

out global and local needsthat surround them.

President | Ayesha Lodhia

Vice-President | Caryn Dreibelbis

Public Relations | Nidha Jivan


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Thaakat Atlanta kept its first year momentum going strong throughout the

summer by participating in several local projects. First, our group took one

Saturday to volunteer at Norcross Cooperative Ministry (NCM), which is an

organization that strives to provide food, clothes, toys, and apartment

furnishings to those in need. In addition to those services, NCM offers

education for adults such as ESL classes. Our team had various

assignments: sorting the clothes, keeping the clothes area neat

(provides a sense of comfort and dignity to the people who receive their

items from NCM), searching for apartment furnishings or interview outfits if needed, and provided

office administrative volunteers. Yet, this experience also brought us valuable insight on what

makes charitable organizations possiblededicated volunteers. During our time at NCM, we

were introduced to an elderly woman who had been volunteering at NCM weekly for over 30

year and her attitude toward her work was both infectious and inspiring to our team as weplanned for our new school year.

Our next project was an Eid Toy Drive that we participated in during

Ramadan. The toy drive benefitted families across the metro Atlanta

area and provided gifts for over 300 children. For our part, we

distributed boxes for toys to be collected and also assisted in the toy

wrapping party. The toy wrapping party proved to be the best part

because we got to instill the joy of giving into the next generation by

helping younger children wrap toys that were to be given away. At first

many children had difficulty understanding why these toys were not for

them, but by the end of the day all of them had truly gotten into the

spirit of giving. Ultimately, this lead to Thaakat Atlantas donation ofused toys to NCM since we were only allowed to accept new toys for

the Eid Toy Drive.

Lastly, Thaakat Atlanta donated a painting, which was designed by our

groups designated Picasso, Ayesha Lodhia. The painting went to an

organization called Wellspring Living that stands up against sexual

abuse and forced prostitution. For our Thaakat team, this genuinely was

a summer of strength that gave us a renewed appreciation of what we

work towards throughout the school year! Good luck to all other

Thaakat Chapters and dont lose sight of how little acts of charity can

lead to the brighter future that we imagine!

By: Caryn Dreibelbis| Co-Founder | Thaakat Atlanta
http://atlthaakat.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/260508_1937083423052_8064606_n.jpg


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Through social media, Thaakat Atlantas member Parth Patel utilized

Twitter to promote Thaakats initiative #lethedreambe campaign. Heinspired our team to tweet to celebrities so we can get a retweet!

Successfully, we were able to get a RT from about 37 well-known faces!

Oscar Award Winner: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Hollywood: Russell Crowe, Jenna Dewan-Tatum

Musician: Sunny Brown

Teen Wolf Stars: Sinqua Walls & Gage Golightly

Indian Member of Parliament: Shashi Tharoor

Bollywood Stars: Anupam Kher, Madhuri Dixit, Priyanka

Chopra, Preity Zinta, Boman Irani, Shekhar Kapur, Neil Nitin

Mukesh, Jaaved Jaaferi, R. Madhavan, Konkona

Sensharma, Gul Panag, Sonakshi Sinha, Lara Dutta

Bhupathi, Ayesha Takia Azmi, Shreyas Talpade, Sonu Sood, Ashish Chowdhry, Mallika

Sherawat, Amrita Arora, Minissha Lamba

Bollywood Music Directors: Salim Merchant, Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani

TV Stars: Ram Kapoor, Prachi Desai, Rohit Roy

B4U Hosts: Khushboo Grewal, Salil Acharya

Cricketer: Yuvraj Singh

Fashion Designer: Neeta Lulla

Thank you to all the celebrities who gave us RTs,which allowed us to share our project will to millions of fans!

Follow us: @ThaakatAtlanta


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On September 27, 2012, Thaakat co-hosted a movie night with

S.M.A.S.H. to raise awareness about a global problem: domesticviolence.

To spread Thaakats initiative #BreakTheSilence, we watched the

movie, Once Were Warriors directed by Lee Tamahori,about a New

Zealand family trying to deal with the aftermath of the mothers

physical abuse by her husband. Heart-breaking and touching, it was

hard to hold back tears for some of the people present at the event.

Coming from an honorable Maori family, the female lead of the movie manages to rise above

her circumstances triumphantly, displaying her spirit and strength which she had long ago

forgotten. The children also undergo their own journey in search of peace, but not everyone

makes it out alive. A sense of justice is accomplished when the mother confronts her husband as

she proudly states, Our people once were warriorsmy spirit survived.

In attendance were a representative from the DeKalb Rape Crisis Center and Morgan Coffey, an

Oglethorpe student who works with Stronghold Atlanta. These organizations provide services to

women who are victims of rape and domestic violence, two issues which were seen in the film.

After the movie, they discussed the cycle of domestic violence and the psychology behind it; the

common characteristics shown by both the movies characters and real-life victims.

If you were unable to attend, we encourage you to watch the movie which can be found online

at Netflix. & Thank you to all those who came to support our cause!

Betsy Rosillo | Member

For more information on how you can help, visit:

http://www.strongholdatlanta.org/

http://www.dekalbrapecrisiscenter.org/mission.html
http://www.strongholdatlanta.org/http://www.dekalbrapecrisiscenter.org/mission.htmlhttp://www.dekalbrapecrisiscenter.org/mission.htmlhttp://www.strongholdatlanta.org/


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On Monday, November 12, 2012 Thaakat Atlanta put on

its 2nd

Annual Fundraising Event in Lupton Auditorium. Theevent was very much a success! Many students came out

and we were greeted by a few faculty members as well to

partake in the festivities of food, fun, and the significant

cultural exploration underlying this event. There were four

tables set up; each meant to represent a different country

from around the world. The tables depicted countries from:

Costa Rica, Somalia, India and Pakistan.

At the Pakistan table

we had Henna, a

popular tattoo process that uses a flowering plant to create

non-permanent body art that can be used to dye skin, hair,

and fingernails. Additionally, the henna tattoo uses intricatedesigns to decorate the skin and lasts up to two weeks. Also,

at the Indian table we had chess and carrom. Carrom is a

popular game in the East used in many clubs and cafes to

host regular tournaments. The object of the game is to use a

striker disk and with a flick of the finger one must try to thrust

the corresponding puck into one of the four corner pockets.

The other tables featured card games, maps of the region,

and flyers regarding our fundraiser.

The funds received went to the children attending

school in Kachra Kundi, Pakistan, as well as, to the

Childrens Hospital of Costa Rica to supply much needed

equipment for the Tower of Hope Project. The Tower ofHope is a section of the Costa Rican hospital specifically

designed for severely burned children. The event

featured food from India and Pakistan with delicious

dishes like Pakoray, Jalebi, and vegetable rice; Costa

Rica included empanadas; and from Somalia we had

Samosas. We also had desserts from these countries

along with chocolate cake and brownies.

Overall, the event did much more than take us around the world, or put us in another frame of

mind. What All Around the World with Thaakat did was take us away from ourselves, and from

Americanized traditions. We got to experience flavors and textures that most of us had never

experienced before, play games that had we not only had never heard of, but would have

never gotten a chance to play if not for this event. It is only by liberating ourselves from one wayof living that we can be free. And the best part is that it all went to great cause to help advance

the opportunities of others so that they may live free as well.

Christian Locklayer | Member


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On February 14th, 2013 from 12:00 to 2:30 pm, members of Thaakat

Atlanta and others from Oglethorpes community gathered around alarge table to create and decorate unique and heartfelt Valentines

Day cards for domestic abuse victims. Will You Be My Thaakat is an

annual event hosted to provide Valentines Day cards for Stronghold

Atlanta, an abuse shelter for victims in North Atlanta. Together we

created over 60 cards. From each of our hearts we adopted a friend

on this day of love and cherishing. Ultimately, we at Thaakat want

survivors of domestic abuse to know that they are not alone on

Valentines Day and that their strength is inspiring.

If you would like more information on Stronghold Atlanta and how you

can help please visit their website at:http://www.strongholdatlanta.org.

Christian Locklayer | Member
http://www.strongholdatlanta.org/http://www.strongholdatlanta.org/http://www.strongholdatlanta.org/http://www.strongholdatlanta.org/


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OGLETHORPE UNIVERSITY,ATLANTA- It may be premature to singthe praises of a fledging organizationnot even in its second year, but itspractically impossible to ignore the rawimpact Thaakat Atlanta has had on theOglethorpe University student body thispast year, and the potential influence itmay well have in the future. ThaakatFoundation, according to its missionstatement, is a group of students andyoung professionals seeking to promotecharitable giving and volunteerism,focusing on instilling creative altruismin its members for both local and globalprojects. And did it ever. TheOglethorpe chapter is just over a yearold, but boasts a membership of atleast 30 members, and with almost adozen fundraisers and volunteerprojects under its belt, has raised over$8,000 for projects in Pakistan andSierra-Leone.

Even on a national level, the ThaakatFoundation is a fairly youngorganization, originating in Chicago onlyfive years ago. It began when six youngpeople made a social network forcharity. They wanted to empower otheryoung people to make a difference in

areas they were passionate about,whether it is education, poverty,domestic abuse or supporting those inneed of medical support. Since itsinception, the Thaakat Foundation hasgrown into sixteen chapters across theUnited States, several of which arecollege chapters.

Founder and current President ofThaakat Atlanta, Ayesha Lodhia, is an

Accounting major and junior atOglethorpe. Though initially fragile-looking and unassuming, her smile is

wide and her passion for Thaakat isfiery and infectious. Her hobbies includecrafts, puzzles and cross-stitching. Itwas my first time being a leader, sherecalled with the tilt of her head, whenasked of her experience as the founderof Thaakat Atlanta. Her experience,previously limited by her constantcommuting and freshman-year shyness,

has skyrocketed thanks to her decisionto start a chapter Thaakat in Georgia.

Her cousin is the Executive Director ofthe Thaakat Foundation, and herinvolvement filtered down to Ayesha,though several states away. In April2011, Ayesha came across blog articleson WordPress about the aid Thaakathad raised to support people in othercountries. Moved by Thaakats activitiesand ideals, she decided to help them byraising money for Thaakat over thesummer. However, after consulting herfriend Caryn Dreibelbis, future Co-founder and Vice-President of the

Atlanta chapter, they decided to make ita campus-wide organization.

Thaakat means strength in Urdu, andis the base of Thaakats philosophy.

Ayesha put it quite simply that Thaakat,more than simply raising money andgiving opportunities to volunteer, wantsto give strength to people. The nameembodies the groups desire to bothempower young people to socialactivism and support others across theworld. Its all about being unified as apeople, she explained, [Thaakat is]non-political, non-religious its about

being diverse because were humansand everyone needs help, and thosewho are able to help, should be able tohelp. On a side note, she mentionedthat she was worried that peoplewouldnt understand the name and thatit might throw people off, or make themunable to identify with the group. Itdidnt.

Thaakat debuted unto the local scene atOglethorpes annual Activities Fair, ashowcase of school clubs used to bothrecruit and advertise in the Fall 2011.

Ayesha was surprised at theoverwhelmingly positive response.Thaakat Atlanta kick started their firstyear with a variety of creativefundraisers, from going to Pinkberry, toTrick-or-Treating for change, to havingan Indian culture expo.

Vice-president Caryn Dreibelbis is asenior majoring in Economics andEnglish, an avid sportswoman andamateur boxer. She used her firstboxing match as a fundraisingopportunity, mixing her hobbies andpassion with charity. Caryn detailed oneof the projects that the funds went to,the #Lethedreambe project, a schoolbuilt in Kachra Kundi, a town wherepeople earn their living by burning trashin hopes of finding something worthselling. The money raised is used tokeep the 300 students enrolled in thisseverely disadvantaged town in school.

One of the clubs most distinctiveprojects was Will You Be MyThaakat?, where volunteers recruitedstudents to make valentines for victimsof domestic abuse through a localcharity called Stronghold Atlanta for

Valentines Day. Students wrote dozensof cards, and never before didStronghold Atlanta have valentines froma campus club. It was truly a uniqueand beautiful way for Thaakat to givestrength to others. When students areasked to name their favorite fundraiser,often this one is one of the top picks.These inventive fundraisers with

international causes and local projectshave served to distinguish Thaakat fromother clubs. They were even awardedthe Deans Award for OutstandingService Club. It was pretty magical,

Ayesha related, hard work definitelypays off.

Thaakat Atlanta is a now a major playeron campus and will continue to be so aslong as its original spirit is kept alive.Thaakat plans to expand to othercolleges, foster new leaders, and as

Ayesha declared, Grow, grow, grow!

Who knows what this year will bring?

Article courtesy of Jomi Hirata,Journalism student atOglethorpe University.

September 27, 2012


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Pritam Adhikari, 21-years-old, a member of Thaakat

Atlanta, passed away on January 5th, due to a recent

sickness. Our team is greatly disheartened to hear the

news of our friend passing away. Pritam was a nice young

man, who will always be remembered. He was a friend to

many and a wonderful person. Pritam was majoring in

Aerospace Engineering. He was a very bright student and

was always willing to help others. He truly had a heart of

gold. Pritam always had a smile on his face. He won all our

hearts will his smile and positive attitude. He left a shining

mark on all of us. We are all thankful we had

an opportunity to meet such an amazing person. Pritam

you will never be forgotten.

Our thoughts and prayers for the Adhikari Family.

Rest in Peace, Pritam.

A huge congratulations from Thaakat Atlanta to Atlanta

Corporate Fight Night 6scompetitorKelsey Smithfor

winning her bout on January 24th

, 2013. Due to Kelseyschoice to represent Thaakat on this show, we were given an

amazing opportunity to network with other local charities in

our community, to share our mission with the attendees of

this event, and also raise money for our new initiativePritams Power. Kelseys victory secured a sizeable

donation that will go towards the initiative we have begun inour former members honor. Her fight was an impressive,

challenging bout that roused the entire audience, and

inspired those that have been following her journey towards

victory. Thank you for choosing us as your cause Kelsey! Your

contribution truly has made a difference and you are a

wonderful example for others who might be wondering how

they can contribute to a cause they care about! Heres to

many more wins for you in the future; may Thaakat (strength)

be with you in all of your pursuits.


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Thaakat Foundation LinksWordpress

Tumblr

Twitter

Facebook

Email: [email protected]

Check out the 2012 Annual Report of Thaakat Foundation, clickHere.

Atlanta Student Chapter LinksWordpress

Twitter

Facebook

Email: [email protected]
http://www.thaakat.wordpress.com/http://www.thaakat.tumblr.com/http://www.twitter.com/thaakathttp://www.facebook.com/Thaakat.Foundationhttp://www.scribd.com/doc/125245362/Thaakat-Annual-Report-2012http://www.scribd.com/doc/125245362/Thaakat-Annual-Report-2012http://www.scribd.com/doc/125245362/Thaakat-Annual-Report-2012http://www.atlthaakat.wordpress.com/http://www.twitter.com/thaakatatlantahttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_14/Fawww.facebook.com/Thaakat.Atlanta.Chapterhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_14/Fawww.facebook.com/Thaakat.Atlanta.Chapterhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_14/Fawww.facebook.com/Thaakat.Atlanta.Chapterhttp://www.twitter.com/thaakatatlantahttp://www.twitter.com/thaakatatlantahttp://www.atlthaakat.wordpress.com/http://www.atlthaakat.wordpress.com/http://www.scribd.com/doc/125245362/Thaakat-Annual-Report-2012http://www.facebook.com/Thaakat.Foundationhttp://www.facebook.com/Thaakat.Foundationhttp://www.twitter.com/thaakathttp://www.twitter.com/thaakathttp://www.thaakat.tumblr.com/http://www.thaakat.tumblr.com/http://www.thaakat.wordpress.com/http://www.thaakat.wordpress.com/

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