Upakriti & Coolguyz , on their mission to support education for underprivileged children, joined hands this year & hosted an amateur volleyball tournament in the SF Bay Area. The Coolguyz group has been religiously hosting the “Volleyball Cup” tournament every year to raise funds to support a deserving non-profit org as a way of giving back to the community. To accomplish this, each year Coolguyz select an organization whose mission and vision resonates with them. This year, Coolguyz selected Upakriti, recognizing Upakriti’s deep and long running commitment to education of underprivileged children in India. In the words of a member of Coolguyz : ” Upakriti’s integrity & humility really touched our hearts and we instantly decided to support Upakriti”.This tournament, a sporty-fight for the “Coolguyz Volleyball Cup” had men, women and children of all ages competing in their respective categories. This event was originally scheduled for the 21st of September 2013, but wet-weather intervened and the games were halted bearing in mind the safety of the participants. The organizers stuck to their tasks and the enthusiastic teams came back in full-force on October 5^th, 2013, volleying for a second time, successfully this time, with the sun and the smiles brightly shining through at Ponderosa Park in Sunnyvale, CA. There were more registrations than the first time and the participation was truly overwhelming. The event commenced at 8:30am on October 5^th, 2013 when the ‘hunger-games’ for the Grand ‘Coolguyz Volleyball Cup’ began & roared to life!

Some of the note-worthy highlights of the day were the surprise-sponsors who sponsored the young teams that were playing, the very organized help-desks by Coolguyz & Upakriti volunteers, the eatery-stalls, number of children volunteers from Upakriti that sold chilled-lemonade & eats to the players & families, the colorful “Art Corner” hosted by Upakriti youth volunteers to promote “creativity for education”.

Upakriti and Coolguyz raised well over $3500 through this event. The proceeds are earmarked for SOCARE, a non-profit in India. This particular event enabled Upakriti fulfill SOCARE’s funding needs for the rest of the year.

Pictures from this event can be found below :

Upakriti wishes to extend their deepest thanks to the Coolguyz teams, participants, families & friends and the array of generous sponsors Athidhi, Baysmile dental & others whose contributions made the day for us and the SOCARE children in India! So go ahead & take a bow. It is much deserved.

-The Upakriti Team
www.upakriti.org