TANA  TEAM Square’s Activities (2009-2010)

TEAM Square has been helping numerous requests. This is only a partial list of our activities.

 

1

Four Telugu Students died in a fatal car accident, with one critically injured. The accident happened at 1:45 a.m. on 03/21/2009 in the West St. Louis County town of Des Peres. The Highway Patrol said Miller, a 12-year veteran of the Sunset Hills police department, was driving in the wrong lane at the intersection of Des Peres Road and Dougherty Ferry Road when her Mitsubishi struck a Honda with five people inside. Everyone in the Honda except the driver, Nitheesh died instantly.

 

The Victims who lost their lives:
Priyadarasini Muppavarapu (22) Anitha Lakshmi Veerapaneni (23)
Anusha Anumolu (23)
Satya Subhakar Chinta (25)

 

 

 

 

 

The entire Indian community is shocked with the horrifying news. TEAM Square volunteers Trujakar Veeramachaneni and Dr. Prasad Bandi, along with a few other TANA members, rushed to the hospital where the victims were transported and worked tirelessly in assisting the families, friends and relatives of the victims. TANA Team Square alerted the Telugu community and sought donations to facilitate sending the bodies to India. More than 1,700 donors responded with generous contributions. Prasad Bandi travelled to Chicago to get permits from the Indian embassy, and Mohan Nannapaneni, TANA Treasurer, travelled to St Louis, each at his own expenses to coordinate and expedite the transportation. TEAM Square was successful in sending the bodies to the families in record time. A wake/visiting service was held in St. Louis before the bodies were transported to India. Hundreds of friends, relatives and local Telugu people attended the service. TANA paid $23,320, in full, for the funeral home services and transportation to India, from the donations raised for TEAM Square. TANA distributed additional $40,000.00 among the four families of the victims. The parents were very pleased with the support and response provided by the donors, TANA and its TEAM Square.

 

2

Rajiv Reddy Malladi, 28 yrs, Hyderabad, a computer science graduate, met with a train accident on Monday, March 23, 2009 at 9:30 AM at 40th St, Sunnyside, NY and passed away.

Mohan Nannapaneni, TANA Treasurer assisted the funeral service along with the help of TEAM Square volunteers, Jay Talluri, Sriharsha Garikapati, Suneel Bathina and Vijay Pati. TANA paid the full cost of $2,113.00 for the funeral services held in Long Island, NY.

3

A Telugu young man, Rudhraraju, 31, quality engineer at Toyota Motors in Atlanta, was found killed in his apartment in Atlanta on 02/05/2009.

 

Prasad Thotakura, TANA Secretary, along with other TANA Volunteers and the Telugu Association of Metro Atlanta helped to send the body to his family in India. TANA contributed $2,500 from its TEAM Square funds.

4

Shashank Pulluru, pursuing his MBA at Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN was shot on 11/15/2008 the early hours of Saturday in Murfreesboro.

TANA TEAM Square volunteer, and Tennessee Andhra Samithi president, Satyanarayana Rao Vadlamudi responded to the incident and assisted Shashank and his parents. TANA provided $500 financial aid to Shashank. TANA worked closely with Tennessee Andhra Samithi to provide necessary support to Shasank and his parents. Shashank recovered from near death and returned to join his family in Warangal, India.

 

5

A major accidental fire affected 17 Telugu students, leaving them homeless.  Some of the students graduated recently and are in search of jobs. Two apartments were burnt down, and residents of these apartments almost lost everything. The present economy and job market is impacting everyone in general, and disasters like this will surely have severe adverse affect.

 

TANA TEAM Square volunteers Hema Kanuri and Seetha Thotakura responded immediately.

Both went to the scene, took most of the victims out for food, shopping, clothes, groceries and kitchen utensils. TANA contributed $2,086.87 from its TEAM Square funds to provide immediate relief.

 

6

A Telugu student V.C. was taken away by the Immigration officials from University of Hawaii at Honolulu for deportation. The panicked parents, living in Palvoncha, Khammam District, called TANA for help.

Mohan Nannapaneni, responded immediately, and his corporate attorney, Mr. Sean Fowler, talked to both the Immigration and the University officials. Dr. Lokeswara Rao and his friend Dr. Krishan Rao Chalasani, OH helped raise $5,000.00 to bail the student. Mohan and Sean successfully negotiated with the University to reinstate his status. Sreemanth Chinnam, our volunteer, visited the detention center in Seattle to bail the student out.  After nearly a two-month battle, and through tireless efforts, our TEAM saved one student from deportation.

7

Dheeraj Sukhavasi, a 23 yr. old M.S. student of Lamar University, Beaumont, TX, died on Monday, Sept. 14th, 2009 at 8:30 PM in Houston. The circumstances of his death are unknown at this point of time and are under investigation.

 

Mohan Nannapaneni & Prasad Thotakura from TANA assisted the cousin of Dheeraj, Srinivas Sukhavasi, in sending the body to Dheeraj's parents in India. Dheeraj's insurance covered the transportation and funeral agency services.

 

8

On 10/31/2008, a Telugu mother and her two daughters, living in Novi, MI, were reportedly killed by the father, who police have been attempting to track down ever since.

 

Dr. Bandla Hanumaiah, Dr. Lokeswara Rao, Uday Kumar Chapalamadugu, Vidyasagar Maramreddy, Dilip Kuchipudi and many other TANA directors and Life members visited and assisted the funeral service.

9

Kadiyala Murali Krishna, a student of University of South Mississippi, was attacked on May 17th 2009,and severely injured. Murali was attacked when he requested payment for a case of beer from a group of people at the store in Gulfport City- AL, where he was working. While Murali was trying to note down their car registration, he was hit and ran over by their car dragging him for 300 feet. The attackers were arrested. Murali  underwent multiple surgeries and still needed financial support. 

 

TEAM Square responded to the incident.

Kishore Pula and Rajani Akurathi of IL raised $2,625. TANA matched the contributions. Venkataramana Yarlagadda, from TANA Foundation, visited Murali to present a $5,520 check.  Many more donors responded with generous contributions that enabled  TANA to send another check for $2017 to Murali, for a total  contribution of $7,267.00. As Murali belongs to a middle class family, this financial aid made a huge difference to his difficult situation. He is recovering from the injuries and is expected to return to his studies very soon.

10

Charan Akula, age 42, was admitted to Kaiser Permanente in Fremont, California, with a viral infection.  He passed away on 09/02/2009.  He was single with elderly parents living in Hyderabad and does not have any family members in USA.

 

TANA Joint Secretary, Veeru Vuppala, responded to the incident immediately and raised $3,000, along with the support of Bay Area Telugu Association. Jayaram Komati, TANA President, Veeru Vuppala, Joint Secretary, and many other TANA life members attended the funeral services held in Fremont, CA.  TANA contributed $1,937.00 from its TEAM Square funds for the funeral service.

11

A 12 yr. old Telugu girl, YP, born with Cerebral Palsy cannot stand or walk on her own, due to severe brain damage experienced during her birth. She is a 6th grade student at a public School in San Jose, CA. She desperately needed a motorized wheel chair to attend the school, and her father, who is working on a H1-B visa for a small company, could not afford anything other than her routine expenses.

 

TANA’s Executive Committee considered the request of her father and contributed $1,000 from TEAM Square funds to purchase a wheel chair for YP. Veeru Vuppala, Joint Secretary of TANA, raised, with the help of Bay Area Telugu Association, the remaining funds to purchase the chair, valued at nearly $8,000.00. The wheel chair made a huge difference to her and her family life.

12

Naresh Dacha, 22 yrsnative of Hyderabad, MS  student at Wright State University, died in a freak car accident on 09/01/09 at 5:30 AM  in Dayton, Ohio. Naresh died on the spot, hitting a tree while avoiding a cat running across the highway. Varun, friend of Naresh and who was in the passenger's seat, is safe with minor injuries.  

Mohan Nannapaneni, Prasad Thotakura, Ravi Vallabhaneni, and Dr. Chowdary Jampala, of TANA’s Board of Directors, worked with Dr. Mohan Rao Nuthakki and other local TANA life members to send Naren's body to his parents in India. Prasad Thotakura coordinated with the Embassy and University officials to expedite the process. The University insurance covered the transportation expenses. The money raised for this cause $10,549.00 is sent to his family.

13

A panicked mother called TANA from India to seek help for her daughter P.N., pursuing an MBA at Salem International University, WV. The parents suddenly found themselves in financial difficulties, and PN was about to be expelled from the college. The parents were deeply concerned for their lonely daughter, and lived, helplessly, thousands of miles away.

Mohan Nannapaneni negotiated with the CFO of the university and succeeded in getting P.N. immediate relief. Dr. Lokeswara Rao Edara took the initiative, and TANA Foundation granted $1,000.00 financial aid . PN received financial support in time and is now happily pursuing her MBA. She thanks TANA for helping her in a difficult time and commits to volunteering for TANA activities.

14

 

Mr & Mrs. Venkat Ram Reddy  Enukonda, residents of Hanamkonda, AP, India, came to see their son, a recent graudate at University of New Haven, CT. The parents, their son, along with two of his son's best friends, were returning from a two day trip to Maine on 9/23/09. At about 11:30 PM, the driver, Ramkishore Sadhu fell asleep, and the car rolled over and crashed on highway 495 near Bolton, MA, killing the parents, Mr. Venkat Ram Reddy Enukonda an Mrs. Bhagyalakshmi Beeram, on the spot and critically injuring Ramkishore Sadhu and Sripal Reddy. Later on, Ramkishore Sadhu was pronounced dead on 9/27/09 at MGH, Boston, and Sripalreddy is recovering from a critical surgery to his spinal cord.

 

As soon as the news broke, TEAM volunteers, Dr. Venu Bathina , Mohan Nannapaneni, Dr. Surya Chundru, Murthy Kanneganti, and Suneel Gundavelli, rushed to the hospitals to help the victims and their families. TANA spread the news among the Indian community and sought donations to help the victims. Several donors contributed generously to raise nearly $20,000. The leadership, and the members of TAGB, TACT, and  TANA volunteered tirelessly to support the survivors and the families of the victims. Mohan Nannapaneni & Koteshwara Rao Kandukuri travelled to the Indian Embassy in New York to get the required permits. A wake service was held on 10/2/09. Nearly 150 people came from within the local community and throughout the USA. Ramkishore's body was sent to his parents.  After a service, Mr.& Mrs. Enukonda were cremated at at Mt. Auburn Cemetery, MA on 10/06/09. TANA contributed $19,268.71 and committed to assist Sripal Reddy during his recovery. Prakash Reddy, Surya Jayanthi, Rao Yalamanchili, Purna Rao, Divakar Jandhyam, Madhava Reddy, Ram Bhakar Noduri, Venkat Dyavanapalli, and Dr. Bhavani Bathina are among the several people that volunteered to help. Ramkishore donated several of his vital organs to New England Organ Bank, leaving a remarkable impression on indian community at large.

Mohan Nannapaneni continued helping Ramkishore’s parents by filining necessary documents with the probate court, talking adminstrator’s role of Ramakishore’s bank accounts, protecting his hard-earned money from creditors and finally transfered such fund to his parents.

15

A Telugu Software professional, S.N.V coming to New York, was arrested by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in NY airport for an inappropriate entry. According to him and his parents, he has been cheated by an Indian consulting company in Bangalore.

 

The panic, retired, middle class parents calls desperately calls TANA for help. TANA paid $1,000 to provide legal help to SNV. Mohan Nannapaneni, traveled to NY, hired an attorney to defend the case, provided additional financial help to VSN. After nearly 8 months, VSN has been successfully deported back to India. VSN rejoined his family.

16

A toddler girl suddenly died with an unknown illness with a week after coming from India to join her parents in Denver, CO on 05/21/2009. Shocked parents, who were new to that place needed community support.

Mohan Nannapaneni, Dr. Lokes Edara along with local TEAM Square Volunteers Mastan Shaik and Anand Mikkilineni helped the parents in arranging Funeral services.

17

An toddler girl was killed in an auto accident in a parking lot of an apartment complex in GA.

 

As soon as TEAM Square came to know about this incident, our volunteers and Life Members, Purna Vaarapaneni, Gopichand Duggirala, Dr. Sambasiva Rao and Madhu Tata, rushed to the accident location to support and comfort the shocked parents. TEAM Square provided some guidance in seeking legal help and assisted the family during the trauma.

18

Supriya, H1 Visa holder, a native of Hyderabad committed suicide on 11/06/09 in her apartment in Greensboro, NC.

Victim’s friend Harith and relative Praveen Nori contacted TANA East Regional Director, Subba Rao Kolla, for TANA logistical help in sending body to India. TANA Secretary, Mohan Nannapaneni provided necessary info, which helped to reduce funeral home expenses. Mohan Nannapaneni and Subba Rao Kolla worked with Indian Embassy in Washington DC to obtain permits to transport her body to India. Ram Yalamanchili, TANA Treasurer provided Air lines info. Victim’s husband covered all expenses.

19

Deepthi, a recent graduate, working at UNC, Chapelhill, NC committed suicide on 12/09/09.

TANA Office Manager got the call for help. TANA Secretary  Mohan Nannapaneni, assisted Roy Matena, who has spent a significant amount of time helping to transport Deepthi's body to India. Mohan Nannapaneni coordinated with Indian Embassy, Air India and expedited the process.

20

Another  Telugu, young woman, committed suicide with distress at her home in Columbia, SC,  Jan 2010. Panic husband seeks help.

Dr. Raghu Korrapati, Chair Person, TANA Academic Affairs rushed to their home. Provided all necessary guidance, and support to send her body to India for cremation. Mohan Nannapaneni & Sudhakar Korrapati assisted Raghu.

21

Mrs. Subbalakshamamma Palle, 54 yrs, who came to Morrisville, North Carolina, USA from Nandayala, AP to visit her daughter’s family died in a road accident on Tuesday, December 9th, 2009 at 9:00 PM. She went for a walk nearby her daughter’s residence and while crossing the road, she was hit by a car and died on the spot. Subbalakshmamma is supposed to leave for Nandyala in ten days.

Jayaram Komati, TANA president expressed his deepest condolences to the Palle family. TANA Team Square committee Chair Srinivas Vallurupalli, TANA Secretary Mohan Nannapaneni and Executive Vice-President Prasad Thotakura made necessary arrangements to send Mrs. Palle's body to Nandyala.

22

Prasanth Goinka, a 28 yrs old, MBA student got killed in a store robbery in Oklahoma City on Sunday, March 20th around 7:15 PM. He came from Hyderabad to International Technological University, Sunnyvale, California two months ago to pursue  MBA degree. He went to Oklahoma City just three days ago to explore some job opportunities and found a part-time job in one of the convenience stores. Two men walked in to the store as customers, stole the cash from the cash register and gunned down Prasanth. The case is under investigation.

TANA Executive Vice President, Prasad Thotakura was in constant touch with the parents of Prasanth, Oklahoma City police department, the Chief Medical Officer and the Indian Consulate authorities and made all necessary arrangements to send the deceased to Hyderabad. Prasanth’s body was brought to Dallas and then sent to Indian within four days of the incident. TANA has raised enough funds to cover the expenses $5,465.00, from the generous donors. TANA President Jayaram Komati and Secretary Mohan Nannapaneni expressed their deepest condolences to the family of Prasanth.

23

 

Mrs. Kamala, a mother of a Telugu Family living in VA came from India to visit her son, who recently had a baby. She passed away with an unexpected illness in her brain. The shocked family called TANA for assistance in sending her body to India for cremation.

Secretary, Mohan Nannapaneni provided all necessary information. TANA Regional Director, Subba Rao Kolla coordinated with the family, went to the Indian embassy to obtain documents to send Mrs. Kamala’s body to India.

24

Six Telugu students involved in auto accident in West Virginia. One died instantly.

Praneetha Devi Kasani, (21 years), a Graduate student of Wright State University, Ohio. She went to West Virginia along with her friends and while coming back to Ohio, their car met with an accident around 6:45 AM on 05/06/2010 on I-64 in Beckley, WV.  Sashi Venkata Kondury (22), Harika Vangeti (22), Pavan Kumar Ragavajhala(23), Praneetha Devi Kasani (21) are from WSU, OH and Puneeth Reddy Amarella (22), and Santosh Maddali (22) are from University of Northern Virginia. Praneetha got ejected from the car and died instantly. Other passengers survived with some minor/major injuries.

Prasad Thotakura, Executive Vice President, Mohan Nannapaneni, Secretary, Naren Kodali, Trustee, Subba Rao Kolla, Regional Director and several TANA Team Square volunteers including Dr. Rajendra Prasad Valiveti of West Virginia  helped in rescue efforts. President of Indian Students Association of Rice State University, Raghu Bhagavatula, and other students including Rajesh Yarlagadda, Leela Krishna also assisted the survivors.

Jayaram Komati, TANA President and all other Governing Board members of TANA offered their deepest condolences to Kasani family.

Prasad Thotakura coordinated with the local volunteers, families and relatives of the students and made all arrangements in sending the body to India. TANA is took care of all expenses from its TEAM Square funds to send the body of Praneetha to India.

25

Naresh Naidu, 24 yrs, native of Bangalore, severely injured in a car accident on Tuesday, May 11th at 8:00 AM near Corpus Christie, Texas died on May 12th Corpus Christie, Texas. Naresh just graduated with MBA from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He and his friend Naveen came to Texas from Pennsylvania to visit their friend Praduymna. Praduymna, who was driving the car lost control of it and crashed in to an electric pole. Pradyumna and Naveen were escaped with minor injuries. But Naresh, who was in back seat suffered with severe head injuries and was taken to Christus Spohn Hospital. A team of doctors tried their best to save the life of Narseh but weren’t successful.  

TANA Executive Vice-President Prasad Thotakura is in touch with local hospital authorities and the Indian Consulate office in Houston to send the remains of Naresh Naidu to India. Prof. Anantha Babbili, Dr. Ram Mulukutla, Costal Bend India Association, Indian Students Association members, Aravind , Vikram and several other TANA Team Square members are helping with the arrangements.

TANA President, Jayaram Komati, Secretary Mohan Nannapaneni, Murali Vennam, South West Regional Director and all other Governing Board members expressed their deepest condolences to the Naidu family.

TANA has committed to disburse required money from its TEAM Square funds to send Naresh’s body to his parents in India.

26

Adarsh Johnson, 22 yrs, graduate student of University of Mary Hardin Baylor (UMHB), Belton City, Texas was found dead on June 12, 2010 Saturday night in a pond at the University Campus. As per Benton Police department’s initial report there is no indication of any foul play in this drowning accident.

Team Square volunteers and Sukumar Selvam, cousin of Adarsh who lives in Atlanta, Dr. YV Rao from Temple City, Murali Vennam, TANA Southwest Regional Director and friends of Adarsh,  Ajay, Jag and Sunny assisted in sending Adarsh’s body to India. University of Mary Hardin Baylor contributed $5,000 for this cause.

27

Sasi Sekhar Kunta, A 26 year old Vijayawada Native, and  a Ph. D in computer science student at University of Vermont, drowned after jumping from a bridge into the Winooski River for swimming on June 6th, 2010. Hi body was recovered on the next day moring. Shocked parents and friends called TANA for assistance.

Mohan Nannapaneni responded to the call, guided  TEAM Square volunteers, coordinated with the funeral home and Indian consulate.

Mohan Nutakki, Muthy Kanneganti  and Sasi’s Friends Ambu made necessary arrangements for the wake services. University of Vermont’s insurance covered all the expenses to transport Sasi’s body to India. With the TEAM Square help, Sasi’s body was able to reach  India within four days from the incident.

28

A 2 year old boy, Sujay befall a fateful accident on Saturday, May 22, 2010 while his parents who live in Massachusetts, were visiting their friends in Hartford CT. Sujay fell through a screen window of a second floor of an apartment building and died with critical injuries.

Rao Yalamanchili, President of Telugu Association of Connecticut along with other TEAM Square volunteers and friends assisted the family in making necessary arrangements for Sujay’s funeral service.

 

29

Software engineer Jayanth Bheemireddy (30), riding a bike and returning home after watching a weekend football match died when he rammed a road median near his residence at Virginia on Sunday June 13th, 2010.

 Jayant's employer,  Ram Kancherla of Computech paid all expenditures.  Jayanth’s friend Vijay Marupudi traveled to VA to assist local volunteers and friends. Satyanarayana Reddy Kandimalla, Ram Mohan Konda, Chittaranjan Reddy Nallu, Rajesh Madireddy, TEAM Square volunteers Trilok Kantheti, Subba Kolla, Jayanth’s friends Sathya Raman, Sridhar, Vittal, Harsha helped sending the body of Jayanth to India.  Mohan Nannapaneni explained  Jayant's friends in a conference call how to take care of  final issues such as  Jayanth’s Bank account, credit cards etc..Jayanth’s body was sent to his parents within five days from the date of incident.

30

Arun Kumar Narote, 26 yrs, M.S student at Stratford University, VA was shot dead in  a grocery store in Bridgeport, CT, where he has been working on a part time jobs to support his educational expenses. As per preliminary police reports, on Monday, July 12th around 9:30 PM, two masked men walked in to "Norman Grocery Store" where Arun Kumar was working as a store clerk, robbed the cash and shot him in the head, though there was no resistance found. The suspects were attested and the case is under investigation.

Prasad Thotakura, responded to the call from his friends, spoke with Arun’s family members and made necessary arrangements to complete the formalities to send the body to India. Mohan Nannapaneni and Dr. Naren Kodali, Arun’s friends Karthik, Revanth coordinated with Stratford University and Funeral home. Stratford University generously committed to contributing $5,000 towards transportation charges. TANA members and friends are contributing to TEAM Square to cover remaining expenses.

31

Srikanth Badrinath Eluri a 36 year old Software Engineer shockingly expired with a massive stroke. His brother and friends contacted TANA for help in transporting his body to India.

Dr. Hanumaiah Bandla asked TEAM Square to assist Mr. Eluri’s family. Mohan Nannapaneni assisted the family and friends from the time of the call received till Mr. Eluri reached India. Srikanth’s friends Prasad Kasireddy, Chaitanya, Vidya Sagar and Hari helped the family and TEAM Square at their best possible efforts. Mohan Nannapaneni coordinated with the Indian consulate, the Funeral home, and the family to expedite the process. Despite of their hectic schedule on a weekend, the officials of the Indian consulate Mr. Parmod Bajaj and Mrs. Abraham were kind enough in going extra mile in granting permits. The family and the employer of Mr. Badrinath took care of all the expenses. TANA TEAM Square provided a timely, efficient and seamless assistance to send Mr. Eluri to India within four days of his death. The family of Badrinath thanked TANA, TEAM Square and Indian Consulate for helping

32

Kalpana Immidisetty,  a 25 year old young woman passed away with a premature delivery of her pregnancy on July 15th, 2010 in Raleigh NC. Shocked husband and his best friend Murali Mahesh called TANA TEAM Square for  assistance. Kaplana is survived by her husband Kiran and a 2 year old son. They have recently moved to Raleigh, NC from California and do not have many friends or other family members around to help them.

Mohan Nannapaneni responded to the request and assisted throughout the process of transporting her body to India for cremation. TEAM Square volunteers Suresh Kakarala, Rajesh Yarlagadda visited the family and provided guidance and assistance. Mohan Nannapaneni coordinated with the family, funeral home and the consulate to expedite the process. The family took care of expenses. TEAM Square is very instrumental in providing necessary assistance and the family is very much appreciative of TEAM Square’s help.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Generous Donor’s list:  

www.tana.org/webfiles/docs/TEAMSquareDonorsList.htm

Our Volunteers List:

www.tana.org/webfiles/docs/TEAMVolunteers.htm

 

TEAM Square Safety Guidelines:

http://tana.org/Safety_Guide_English.pdf

http://tana.org/Safety_Guide_Telugu.pdf

 

Interested in Joining our TEAM?

Contact:

Mohan Nannapaneni, Secretary@tana.org

Tel:(508) 612-6676