Girish in USA
Updated: Sep 13
Our founder, Dr Girish Kulkarni visited the States for six weeks in July and August. He visited many cities and attended the USA's biggest Marathi meet, the BMM Convention in Seattle on 6-9 August.
Girish was joined by Rajeev Kumar Singh, a founder member of Snehalaya who has spent a lot of time working and living in the USA and helped manage the full itinerary. Both offered their unique insights into their own journeys and updates on our Indian projects.
Our amazing Snehalaya USA and Snehalaya America's teams also arranged a host of events giving the opportunity to meet these brilliant men face-to-face.
For 37 years, Girish's ground-breaking work rescuing and rehabilitating vulnerable women and children in India has transformed over 200,000 lives. For his profound impact, he was awarded the President of India Award. Snehalaya was also featured on the very first episode of Aamir Khan’s Satyamev Jayate.
His tour took in both the east and west coasts and we invited supporters to hear directly from him his story about what it truly means to bring freedom, dignity and a future to those who need it most.
Most events included a presentation, Q&A with Girish and team and an opportunity to network with our wonderful USA-based communities.
Where Girish went
Below is a schedule of Girish's visit
Date | Location |
|---|---|
24 - 25 July | New Jersey |
26 -27 July | Boston, Massachusetts |
28 July | Washington DC |
29 -30 July | Maryland, Virginia |
31 July | Richmond, Virginia |
1 - 2 August | Raleigh, North Carolina |
3 August | Dallas, Texas |
4 August | Houston, Texas |
5 August | Dallas, Texas |
6 - 9 August | Seattle, Washington |
10 - 15 August | Bay Area, California |
16 August | Los Angeles, California |
18 August | Chicago, Illinois |
19 - 20 August | Ohio |
21 August | Indianapolis, Indiana |
22 August | Ohio |
23 August | New York |
HIGHLIGHTS
Every day of Girish’s visit provided many memories and connections it is impossible to list them all. However we can share some significant moments that Girish himself has shared.
Everywhere our programs attracted Indians successful in various fields who are curious about social issues; senior citizens who still have “one foot in India”; parents who have adopted our children; and Rajeev Kumar’s contacts from the last 20 years of working in the US, including his batch-mates from Scindia School in Gwalior and his MBA studies as well as friends from Wipro and Salesforce. Every event was made possible by the commitment of our supporters who managed everything from accommodation, venues, food, sound systems and so much more and the warm welcome and genuine enthusiasm of the attendees.
BMM
The main focus of Girish’s visit was to attend the BMM Conference 2026 in Seattle. Over 300 attendees visited our Snehalaya stall and we were also able to present our work at the events Sadhusant Yeti Ghara session. Girish was busy interacting with the other 19 NGOs and business present.
Raleigh
On 1 August, a gathering of over 50 Snehalaya friends was held at the home of Aboli (Amapurkar), a long-time Snehalaya volunteer, and her husband Mahesh Alurkar. Their home includes a large 1,200 square foot hall where our Snehalaya documentary was screened followed by Aboli sharing some old and very entertaining memories of Snehalaya and her uncle, the late Snehalaya trustee and actor Sadashiv Amrapurkar.
Among the impressive attendees were the Tiwari brothers originally from Uttarakhand, who run a large real-estate business and with five friends have built a resort, Devbhoomi where they will host and sponsor the next Snehalaya Snehamelava.
We were especially happy to see Vice President, Rutuja Samant, and CEO, Ravi Nagarkar. of Kalyani Technoforge who have been providing CSR funding to Snehalaya for two decades. Thanks to their help, our Himmatgram project has been transformed, especially through the improvement of our vegetable production. The next day Girish had the opportunity to see the astonishing industrial empire that Bharat Forge and Kalyani Technoforge have built in the US. They manufacture forged products for cars like Toyota, Mercedes, and Tesla and have over 250 employees, including a large number of women. There was a great surprise when they met Faizal Sheikh who is from Ahilyanagar and is now the owners’ right-hand man.
The next day Girish moved to Tulshiram Bhakar’s house where a stimulating night of dinner and conversation ended a successful Mission Raleigh.
Houston
Our Snehalaya Sneha Melava on 5 August in Houston, was hosted by Jasmin Singh and her daughter Santvana. The seeds of Girish’s Houston visit were sown in a tragic incident in Nashik in 2014. A domestic LPG cylinder exploded in the home of Santvana, killing her parents and brother. The sole survivor, 60% of Santvana’s body was covered in burns. She was brought to our adoption center where she received treatment and eventually was adopted by Jasmine, adding to her family of three other adoptees. Jasmine, a single mother, has successfully raised five children with special needs and fully supported Santavana in her recent visit back to Snehalaya.
When Rajeev Kumar gave her a new title, Vishwamata (Mother of the Universe), at the event Jasmine humbly clarified: "The only Vishwamata is Bharat Mata - Mother India. I am just an ordinary mother trying to give and receive as much love as possible in this world."
Houston was not part of our original plan for the US tour by during Santvana’s visit the Houston Sneha Melava was added. Jasmin has learned Karnatic music and began with the event began with a Kannada bhajan in perfect rhythm and melody. Guests included many young people interested in social work, members of the Jewish synagogue and the Chinmaya Mission’s Swami Chinmayananda’s ashram in Houston.
California
Indians for Collective Action (ICA) are long-time supporters of our work promoting it in the USA. Jayashree and Govind Desale invited Girish to meet ICA volunteers and discuss future collaborations. Similarly, Asha For Education is another US-based supporter and Dr Malika and Rohit Setia organised one get-together of their close friends where their children Rishaan and Anika gave feedback on their recent visit to Snehalaya and our English medium school.
At an event hosted by T and D Cares, it was announced that the group has organised a big fundraiser for Snehalaya on 4 October in Fremont, California for our Snehadhar Project.
Thank you to our core USA team of Googlers who invited 50 Google employees for a talk at Google headquarters in California. The response was fantastic with many expressing an interest to join us as volunteers. During the visit Girish was able to meet long-term supporter Puja Jaiswa’s two week old baby, Girish!
This was followed by a visit to another industry leader, Intuit, organised by Aditi Lamkhede. Girish and founder of Goonj and Ramon Magsaysay Award recipient, Anshu Gupta, were invited to the home of R. Sundar, co-founder of the Hi 5 Youth Foundation. You can read an account of the event written for New Indians Abroad by attendee, Prasad Kaipa, here.
Ohio
On 22 August, Girish was at a get-together in the Houston Assembly House at Ohio State University (OSU), attended by eminent personalities in education and business supporters to coincide with the start of the academic year. The event included attending the Annual Student Involvement Fair involving 1,450 registered clubs associated with various humanitarian, environmental, social and recreational initiatives attended by over 25,000 students. Girish was invited by Snehalaya@OSU, a student team dedicated to supporting our work which was established in 2017.
Since then the OSU team have delivered fundraising and awareness raising events and earlier this year two members Surit and Sarthak Krishna and their parents visited Snehalaya for the first time. They were honoured to invite Girish to meet with the students and to discuss future initiatives with the students involved.
You can read a review of the book about Snehalaya, Up against Darkness and another account of Girish's visit written by attendee Lakshmi Balakrishna here.
