CRY America Volunteer Network

CRY Eastern WA was started by a bunch of us around a couch and with $40 in our pockets in March 2010. We all were driven by the idea of making a dent; making a dent on something we all believed in strongly – Child Rights.

The opportunity to eat well, study well, play, be safe and celebrate childhood should not be the priviledge of a select few lucky children, or a stroke of fate. Rather it should be the right of each and every child, and we must, as individuals, work towards ensuring that every child enjoys this right.

“One Hundred Years from now
It will not matter
what kind of car I drove,
…What kind of house I lived in,
how much money was in my bank account
nor what my clothes looked like.
But the world may be a better place because
I was important in the life of a child.”

–CRY Eastern WA Team

Past Events

Events of CRY Eastern WA 2010

1) CRY Picnic – May 9th Leslie Groves Park, Richland, WA

2) CRY My Vision for Children Campaign – June 8th, Amistad Elementary School, Kennewick, WA

3) CRY Cricket 2010 – Aug 14th, Columbia Park Atheletic Complex, Richland, WA

4) CRY Walk 2010 – TBD

Featured Volunteers

Maruthi Devarakonda

Dr. Maruthi Devarakonda has been associated with charity organizations since Dec 2002 when he co-founded Asha Toledo (Asha for Education) with Ranajit Banerjee, a friend at the University of Toledo, where he obtained his Masters degree. He is currently an active volunteer in the Eastern WA action center. Maruthi’s interests are vested primarily in two areas (1). Play an active role in the project selection, planning and disbursement of funds to ensure sustainable progress. (2). Work towards promoting literacy in regions which have been severely affected by the malignancy of poverty, discrimination and exploitation in India, with a special focus on areas where females have been victimized for ages. He is extremely passionate about charity and dreams about a real socio-economic change in the lives of the under-privileged. Profession-wise, he is a Research Engineer at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA. Apart from the CRY activities, his interests include US foreign policy and its political affairs.

Nirupama Prakash Kumar
When Nirupama came to Eastern WA from Seattle, she felt a little disoriented. It came across as a vast desert; and in the desert, when you dont have direction, you are lost.
And lost she was, to the point of calling her parents over from India to visit her! That’s when she decided to stop feeling sorry for herself and do something about it.
The idea about starting a CRY Action center came somewhat naturally, since she had been associated with CRY India in Delhi. Starting the CRY Eastern WA Action Center has been very fulfilling for her and she hopes it can sustain for many years to come.

She dreams of a day when every child can dream of a future of making choices that is not contingent on any economic situation. She says – “You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one :)”.

Amit Gupta

Amit Gupta is a senior scientist working with Battelle Toxicology Northwest. He is one of the founding members of CRY-Eastern Washington and currently serves as the one of the core group volunteers leading the CRY cricket tournament in the local region. Prior to this, Amit was a core volunteer for CRY-Raleigh Durham action center in 2004-2005 and helped organize various fund raising events including Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia concert, volleyball tournament, annual CRY walk and a Khelathon tournament.