‘Bridgeable’ is a unique venture started in 2013 by a trio of visionaries- Ramya Nageswaran, Shobha Punukollu and Damyanti Shahani, in Singapore to create awareness and engagement for causes and organizations within and outside of the country. The organization aims to connect philanthropic Singaporeans with charities across Singapore and India through innovatively thought out events, and Wildlife SOS was immensely honored to have been picked by the organization for one such program.
Over the course of the two day event, held at the luxurious Blue Bali restaurant nestled amidst the greenery of the NUS campus in Singapore, one hundred works of art were displayed along the walls of a room in which the co-founders of Wildlife SOS- Kartick Satyanarayan and Geeta Seshamani- spoke to and interacted with Singaporeans and spread Wildlife SOS’ message to over 500 people who attended the event. Many of the attendees had never heard of Wildlife SOS and were awed by the co-founder’s passion and their amazing stories of work in the area of animal welfare. Those who knew of the organization were surprised to hear about the extensive work being carried out besides the famous projects involving the rehabilitation of dancing bears and working elephants in India, as not too many knew of Wildlife SOS’ work with leopards, Asiatic black bears, rescue helplines, conflict mitigation and so on. The story of Wildlife SOS was an inspiration to everyone in attendance, evidenced by the kind words of Bridgeable co-founder, Ms. Shoba Punukollu- “WSOS staggers me with the ambition of their vision and the audacity of their dreams. I wanted a piece of that! As did many Singaporeans.”
Surrounded by vibrant wildlife art and photography donated by people of all ages, the team from Bridgeable even organized a wildlife quiz for the enthusiastic attendees with exciting prizes from Wildlife SOS’ colourful selection of merchandise.
The event was organized with the help of long term Wildlife SOS supporter, artist Alpana Ahuja and volunteers, and it was heartwarming to see their excitement and dedication as well as that of the young participants. It certainly assured us that Bridgeable has managed to do exactly what it had set out to do, build bridges between charities with important causes and people with willing hearts.
