People walk for a cause, sing for a cause and donate for a cause. At Sewa International’s “Cricket for a Cause" tournament people played for a cause. Sewa International’s tournament attracted 126 players from 21 team who played cricket on August 9, 10th and 16th and raised $5500 to support "Arogya Mitra", a developmental project focusing on healthcare in India.

All matches held over two weekends at multiple locations in Nashua, New Hampshire were played in a fun environment while maintaining a competitive spirit. In the final match, the New England Warriors successfully defended a modest total of 61 runs to defeat Nashua Nukes and won the trophy.  Sewa volunteers Kalyan Vangapalli, Harish Rathi, Kishan Kulkarni, Manohar Vandrangi and Ashish Ingole took the lead in organizing this tournament.

Dr. Suresh Jain, a bio tech entrepreneur, social worker and a local community leader graced the prize distribution ceremony as the guest of honor and congratulated all the participants. He exhorted them to continue their efforts towards helping the poor and needy by participating in events like this. Abhay Belambe who was instrumental in conceptualizing and organizing the first six-a-side Cricket tournament in the New England area in 2001 gave away the trophies to the Winners, Runners-up, Best Performers, Man of the Match and Man of the Series. Ashok Patel of Jamsan Hotel Management, Inc who sponsored and participated in the tournament by fielding his own team, Waltham 6, said it he was happy to support a Sewa event two years in a row. Raju Datla one of the Sewa volunteers explained the three fold mission of Sewa International during the prize distribution ceremony and talked about the various service projects that have been undertaken by the organization.   

Arogya Mitra project was started in 1998 by Sewa Bharati, with an objective to serve the tribal and rural population in Northeast India in meeting their basic healthcare needs. This ”Health by the people”  program provides access to basic health care in seven states of Northeast India. The main drivers of this program are Arogya Mitra’s who are local village health workers. These volunteer workers are trained in triage and first level medical intervention.  Presently 4,500 Arogya Mitra serve over 1 million tribal people across 7 states in Northeast India. Over 60% of all Arogya Mitra are women.            

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