THAAKAT ATLANTA

Year 2012-2013

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. Pritam’s Power……………………………………………………………..…………………….. 13

IX. The Team…………………………………………………………………………..……………….. 14

Thaakat Atlanta 2012-2013

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Our mission… is to promote charitable giving among

students and young professionals in the local

and national community and beyond…

To drive a movement of creative altruism,

unparalleled giving and preservation of

and culture…

To bring hands on to our local

communities and hope to our global society…

Thaakat Atlanta 2012-2013

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“When you realize you

have strength, anything is

possible with hard work and dedication. I realized

that all the little things we do together can create big

differences in people’s lives across the world.”

“Helping the community

has always been my passion and being a part

of Thaakat has helped me

achieve that in ways I could not have done

before.”

“Thaakat has given me an

avenue to feel inspired

about the world around me again by reminding me that

there are other students that are passionate to help

out global and local needs

that surround them.”

President | Ayesha Lodhia

Vice-President | Caryn Dreibelbis

Public Relations | Nidha Jivan

Thaakat Atlanta 2012-2013

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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 possible—dedicated 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 we

planned 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 Atlanta’s donation of

used 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 don’t lose sight of how little acts of charity can

lead to the brighter future that we imagine!

By: Caryn Dreibelbis| Co-Founder | Thaakat Atlanta

Thaakat Atlanta 2012-2013

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Through social media, Thaakat Atlanta’s member Parth Patel utilized

Twitter to promote Thaakat’s initiative #lethedreambe’ campaign. He

inspired 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

Thaakat Atlanta 2012-2013

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Thaakat Atlanta 2012-2013

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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: domestic

violence.

To spread Thaakat’s 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 mother’s

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 warriors…my 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 movie’s 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

Thaakat Atlanta 2012-2013

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On Monday, November 12, 2012 Thaakat Atlanta put on

its 2nd Annual Fundraising Event in Lupton Auditorium. The

event 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 intricate

designs 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

Children’s Hospital of Costa Rica to supply much needed

equipment for the “Tower of Hope Project.” The Tower of

Hope 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 way

of 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

Thaakat Atlanta 2012-2013

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

Atlanta and others from Oglethorpe’s community gathered around a

large table to create and decorate unique and heartfelt Valentine’s

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

annual event hosted to provide Valentine’s 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

Valentine’s 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

Thaakat Atlanta 2012-2013

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Thaakat Atlanta 2012-2013

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Thaakat Atlanta 2012-2013

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OGLETHORPE UNIVERSITY, ATLANTA- It may be premature to sing the praises of a fledging organization not even in its second year, but it’s practically impossible to ignore the raw impact Thaakat Atlanta has had on the Oglethorpe University student body this past year, and the potential influence it may well have in the future. Thaakat Foundation, according to its mission statement, is a group of students and young professionals seeking to promote charitable giving and volunteerism, focusing on instilling “creative” altruism in its members for both local and global projects. And did it ever. The Oglethorpe chapter is just over a year old, but boasts a membership of at least 30 members, and with almost a dozen fundraisers and volunteer projects under its belt, has raised over $8,000 for projects in Pakistan and Sierra-Leone. Even on a national level, the Thaakat Foundation is a fairly young organization, originating in Chicago only

five years ago. It began when six young people made a social network for charity. They wanted to empower other young people to make a difference in areas they were passionate about, whether it is education, poverty, domestic abuse or supporting those in need of medical support. Since its inception, the Thaakat Foundation has grown into sixteen chapters across the United States, several of which are college chapters. Founder and current President of Thaakat Atlanta, Ayesha Lodhia, is an Accounting major and junior at Oglethorpe. Though initially fragile-looking and unassuming, her smile is wide and her passion for Thaakat is fiery and infectious. Her hobbies include crafts, puzzles and cross-stitching. “It was my first time being a leader,” she recalled with the tilt of her head, when asked of her experience as the founder of Thaakat Atlanta. Her experience, previously limited by her constant commuting and freshman-year shyness,

has skyrocketed thanks to her decision to start a chapter Thaakat in Georgia. Her cousin is the Executive Director of the Thaakat Foundation, and her involvement filtered down to Ayesha, though several states away. In April 2011, Ayesha came across blog articles on WordPress about the aid Thaakat had raised to support people in other countries. Moved by Thaakat’s activities and ideals, she decided to help them by raising money for Thaakat over the summer. However, after consulting her friend Caryn Dreibelbis, future Co-founder and Vice-President of the Atlanta chapter, they decided to make it a campus-wide organization. Thaakat means “strength” in Urdu, and is the base of Thaakat’s philosophy. Ayesha put it quite simply that Thaakat, more than simply raising money and giving opportunities to volunteer, wants to give ‘strength’ to people. The name embodies the group’s desire to both empower young people to social

activism and support others across the world. “It’s all about being unified as a people,” she explained, “[Thaakat is] non-political, non-religious… it’s about being diverse because we’re humans and everyone needs help, and those who are able to help, should be able to help.” On a side note, she mentioned that she was worried that people wouldn’t understand the name and that it might throw people off, or make them unable to identify with the group. It didn’t. Thaakat debuted unto the local scene at Oglethorpe’s annual Activities Fair, a showcase of school clubs used to both recruit and advertise in the Fall 2011. Ayesha was surprised at the overwhelmingly positive response. Thaakat Atlanta kick started their first year with a variety of creative fundraisers, from going to Pinkberry, to Trick-or-Treating for change, to having an Indian culture expo.

Vice-president Caryn Dreibelbis is a senior majoring in Economics and English, an avid sportswoman and amateur boxer. She used her first boxing match as a fundraising opportunity, mixing her hobbies and passion with charity. Caryn detailed one of the projects that the funds went to, the #Lethedreambe project, a school built in Kachra Kundi, a town where people earn their living by burning trash in hopes of finding something worth selling. The money raised is used to keep the 300 students enrolled in this severely disadvantaged town in school. One of the club’s most distinctive projects was “Will You Be My Thaakat?”, where volunteers recruited students to make valentines for victims of domestic abuse through a local charity called Stronghold Atlanta for Valentine’s Day. Students wrote dozens of cards, and never before did Stronghold Atlanta have valentines from a campus club. It was truly a unique and beautiful way for Thaakat to give

strength to others. When students are asked to name their favorite fundraiser, often this one is one of the top picks. These inventive fundraisers with international causes and local projects have served to distinguish Thaakat from other clubs. They were even awarded the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Service Club. “It was pretty magical,” Ayesha related, “hard work definitely pays off.” Thaakat Atlanta is a now a major player on campus and will continue to be so as long as its original spirit is kept alive. Thaakat plans to expand to other colleges, foster new leaders, and as Ayesha declared, “Grow, grow, grow!” Who knows what this year will bring?

Article courtesy of Jomi Hirata, Journalism student at Oglethorpe University. September 27, 2012

Thaakat Atlanta 2012-2013

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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 6’s competitor Kelsey Smith for

winning her bout on January 24th, 2013. Due to Kelsey’s

choice 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 initiative

“Pritam’s Power”. Kelsey’s victory secured a sizeable

donation that will go towards the initiative we have begun in

our former member’s 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! Here’s to

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

be with you in all of your pursuits.

Thaakat Atlanta 2012-2013

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Thaakat Atlanta 2012-2013

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Thaakat Foundation Links Wordpress

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Twitter

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Email: thaakat@gmail.com

Check out the 2012 Annual Report of Thaakat Foundation, click Here.

Atlanta Student Chapter Links Wordpress

Twitter

Facebook

Email: thaakat.atl@gmail.com