Vibha Conference in Twin Cities June 4th-6th

Present at the Twin Cities Minnesota Conference, in person, from Milwaukee: Mukta, Leena, Aparna, Marie, and Soumya. Present Via Web: Vishal, Parag, and Meenal.

Overall, the Vibha Conference was amazing and very inspirational. Every volunteer from all chapters are encourage to attend. Vibha Conferences are usually held the weekend after Memorial weekend at various action centers in US annually. Food and accomodations are provided for the duration of the stay. Event location is sent out as conference is planned and underway.

From personal experience of being there first time, It was worth it and very inspiring. It was an amazing three days spent amongst fellow volunteers from other action centers and Vibha head organizers. MN Volunteers were so hospitable and event was superb and well organized. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, refreshments, snacks, and such were provided throughout the stay for the conference.

Day 1 (Friday, June 4th Evening Social)

- Friday evening social was at a fellow volunteers home, Lakshmi's & Venkat's Residence, where dinner and refreshments was provided. There fellow volunteers from various chapters mingled and got a chance to meet one another. It was purely laid back and a meet and greet.

Day2 (Saturday June 5th)

-Welcome Address and Introductions – Ashish Rastogi, Director – Volunteer Relations
-Vibha – Minnesota: Successes, Strategies, and Challenges - Lakshmi Rajaram and Ramprasad Vijayagopal, Action Center Coordinators, Vibha Minnesota
-Booth Cup Announcement - Ashish Rastogi, Director- Volunteer Relations -
HOUSTON WINNERS (NEXT YEAR ITS OURS!!! :P)
-Speaker Introduction - Ron Victor, President, Vibha
-Keynote Address – Madhu Sridhar,President and CEO, Akshaya Patra Foundation, USA, “Nutrition as a foundation for Education – Feeding 1.2 million children everyday”
-Guest Address – Elizabeth Sweeney, President, Children’s Heartlink
-Thank You Address – Rajesh Haridas, Chief Operating Officer , Vibha
-Five Year Plan/Adopt-A-Project – Rajesh Haridas, Chief Operating Officer, Vibha
-Directors’ Talk and Prep for Breakout Session
-Breakout Session 1 –
(Fundraising Events, Programs, Marketing, Volunteer Relations, Projects)

After the conference for the day, we were all invited for a tour of the Twin Cities where Venkat, Volunteer from MN, took us to a beautiful sculpture garden and the Guthrie Theater to see the views of the wonderful city. Followed by TONS of Photo Ops at the two locations... we were invited to another fellow volunteers home for dinner and another social where there was TONS of food and refreshments.

Day 3 (Sunday, June 6th)

-Scaling Action Centers – Ron Victor, President, Vibha
-Website Presentation – Balaji Rajam, Director – Marketing, Vibha
-Breakout Team 1 Presentation
-Breakout Team 2 Presentation
-Breakout Team 3 Presentation
-Video from DSS, Pune
-Breakout Team 4 Presentation
-Breakout Team 5 Presentation
-Closing Remarks – Ron and Rajesh

The weekend was filled jam packed with tons of information, socializing, collaboration, ideas, fun, and FOOOOOD!!! Vibha really came together from all centers and really poured their hearts out in the break out sessions. We collaborated on some really awesome and great plans for Vibha in the next 5 years and its future.

A highlight - Total of 6 new Vibha Chapters in India. For those of you that didn't know... Vibha was before hand a US Volunteer base nonprofit, so for that fact that there are action centers in India now, that is great news. They are reaching out to the projects in person and working with them. There is an expecatation that there will be more chapters opening up.

Please come to this weekends Volunteers meeting for a full load of what we've gained from the conference. Its very exciting to share with all of you. Please join us so we can implement and share with you all that we have planned on a local and national level. News, highlights, and facts on all scales national and local on ideas. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Mukta - Volunteer Relations, or any Vibha Milwaukee Volunteer. COME AND BE INSPIRED!!!

UWM - UNION
When: Saturday June 12, 2:00pm
Where: UWM Union - 2200 E Kenwood Blvd Room 240, Milwaukee, WI 53211