Let us join together, with great pleasure and pride, to wish a Happy Birthday to our beloved Telugu Association of North America (TANA) as it enters its 40th year.
Exactly 39 years ago today, on May 28, 1977, at 10 am, 940 Telugu people from all across USA and Canada met together in New York City for the First ever North American Telugu Conference. The Convener for that First Conference, Dr. Guthikonda Ravindranath, delivered the welcome address, emphasizing the need for the recent immigrants in this new land to be together to identify and address the social and cultural issues they are facing, to propagate our language, culture and values to the future generations of Telugus, and to support the development our motherland.
That First North American Telugu Conference was held in a high school in New York. The local Telugu families hosted the visiting delegates in their own homes. The Annapurnas of New York fed home made food to all the delegates during the two day Conference. 110 local artists participated in the cultural programs. The Government of Andhra Pradesh sent a delegation of artists led by Sri C. Anna Rao, Chairman of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Board.
With great foresight, the assembled delegates recognized the need for all Telugus in North America to preserve and propagate Telugu heritage in this new land and to lend a helping hand to the motherland. Thus, the Telugu Association of North America (TANA), the first and the largest pan North-American ethnic Indian Association was born, with Dr. Kakarla Subbarao as the first President.
With the strong foundation laid by generations of past leadership and the generous support and volunteer spirit of our members, TANA has grown from those humble beginnings to become the largest and most well known Telugu Association in the world, renowned for its service to the cultural, social and educational needs of Telugus, both in North America and across the world.
We, the current leadership of TANA, take this occasion to reaffirm our commitment to upholding the values and ideals of the attendees of the First Telugu Conference and realize the Mission of our organization. We plan to celebrate this 40th year of our beloved organization with programs across various Telugu communities all over North America through out the year, culminating with a major celebration on the 40th anniversary. A schedule of events will be published shortly.
We thank you once again for your generous support and strong commitment for the last 39 years and request you to continue the same in years to come!
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