The connections go all the way from New York to New Delhi. Huge posters of radiant, smiling children lined the elegant, beautifully lit up Pier Sixty on Chelsea Piers – images of children who have achieved health and education through Children’s Hope India, a New York based non-profit organization. These children live in crowded slums and villages in cities like Delhi, Bombay and Calcutta but the help has come from New Yorkers.

Sunset to Starlight Gala celebrated these commitments and connections between Indian-Americans and the children of their homeland with a fundraising evening on October 9, 2005. Over 500 people turned up from the tri-state area to support health and education initiatives undertaken by Children’s Hope India, a New York based organization of women professionals, which celebrates its 13th year of service this year. Their efforts raised over $175,000.

The evening began with cocktails and live sitar and tabla music, followed by a silent auction that raised over $10,000, with its luxury goods donated by a host of supporters, including two air tickets to India by Emirates, a designer saree by Alia Khan and a rare Tagore book donated by Tracey Jackson.

The VIP guests included Mrs. Shashi Tripathi, Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, who is on the Honorary Advisory Board of Children’s Hope India and has been involved with the organization for the last six years. The board also honored Consul General Pramatesh Rath who has supported Children’s Hope and will be leaving soon to become ambassador to Argentina.

Azhar Usman, the noted Muslim comedian, who is MTV Desi’s Vijay the VJ, was the master of ceremonies for the evening and kept the crowd smiling with his witty observations on Indian-Americans. Raghav, the sensational singer from England, was the star attraction and got everybody on the dance floor with his electrifying performance.

One of the highlights of the evening was the presentation of the Children’s Hope Making a Difference Award to Andrew Krieger, President and CEO of NorthBridge Capital Management for his remarkable work with survivors of the Tsunami. He created the IMGE Emergency Relief Fund, raising nearly 4 million dollars for long-term relief efforts, including Save the Family Life Packages, which includes all the necessities to give survivors a fresh start.

Krieger, who has a long relationship with India, said, “India has been a very important part of my life. It got into my system when I was very young and it’s continued to percolate. I truly don’t think there’s possibly a way that I could repay India for all the benefits I’ve received from her.”

Although the evening was about fun, music and socializing, it was also a celebration of finding solutions, of solving problems. It was a celebration of children’s lives that have been remade with health and education efforts. Maya Rajani, President of Children’s Hope, made a slide presentation, taking the audience into the lives of the children and showing them the changes that their dollars had made.

Children’s Hope projects in India include Arushi Shelter for runaway girls in Delhi, Guru Teg Bahadur School in Mumbai, balwadis for preschool children in Delhi, mobile health vans for six Rajasthani villages and health clinics in the Calcutta slums. This hundred percent volunteer organization has also undertaken the running of Children’s Hope Prayas, a child-friendly urban slum on the outskirts of Delhi, transforming it with crèches, community centers and non-formal learning centers.

Pooja Midha spoke on behalf of CH2, the junior arm of Children’s Hope which organizes fun fundraising events for young professionals in the New York area, and encouraged people to join them. The most exciting thing was seeing the number of young people who attended the event and expressed interest in getting involved with children’s health and education.

The Platinum Sponsors United Retail Group, Atlast Sportswear and Sani Family Foundation were recognized along with Gold Sponsors Pepsico, Andrew Sportswear, I.E. Industries, Telebrands, Ross International and Sunil Bhavnani of UBS. The Entertainment Sponsors were Tanzara International, Air India and Dream Hotel. The huge ballroom had been decorated dramatically by Elegant Affairs and Johnnie Walker, Billimoria Wines and Cobra Beer made product donations for the evening.