Valencia 16-year-old Sanjali Nautiyal was born in India, where she grew up seeing children begging on the streets.
She moved to the United States in 2022 and now serves as president of the newly formed Los Angeles youth chapter of Child Rights and You (CRY). On Saturday evening, the chapter hosted its first event — an awareness run at West Creek Park in Valencia.
The image of those children in India begging for money has never left Nautiyal. It’s why she’s taken action.
“I think witnessing that — that personal experience — and then coming here and seeing that there are no kids on the street, that’s a big difference,” she said in an interview during the event. “That’s my personal reason for doing this — to raise awareness about this in the Santa Clarita Valley.”
Although the youth chapter is still in its infancy, Nautiyal has been volunteering with CRY since 2023. About 60 people attended Saturday’s event, which included a walk, games and other activities. Attendees could also visit interactive booths to learn about CRY’s mission and meet members of the organization’s team, including Varnica Singh, co-lead of CRY America’s Los Angeles chapter.
Singh has been doing CRY America events in the Santa Clarita Valley for the past eight years. She was very excited about the new youth chapter.
“We are kind of like advisors to them, but we also help in executing,” she said. “This walk is just one of the events.”
Singh spoke to volunteers at the run about the importance of CRY America, what the organization does and how they bring awareness to others about what they do.
CRY America is a nonprofit organization working to secure every child’s right to education, health care and protection from abuse and exploitation. Singh said that the youth chapter aims to raise awareness through community events and encourage privileged youth to support those in need through volunteering, donations or advocacy.
“We feel that not every kid is privileged or has the basic rights,” Singh said. “There are communities in America, and then there are lot of kids in developing countries like India, where kids don’t have basic rights to nutrition. They are deprived of health services. They are into child labor. They are into child trafficking. So, there are projects at the grassroot level in America and in India, and all the funds go there.”
Andy Das, co-lead of the Los Angeles chapter of CRY America, spoke about how, as a child, he watched his parents make a difference in the world through social work, despite the challenges they faced.
“That’s what inspired me,” he said. “That’s our basic, fundamental ideology. How can we make an impact? This CRY chapter — the youth chapter — is going to bring more young (people) to join this fierce propaganda that we have to just make better futures for the kids. And that’s what is needed.”
The youth chapter is just getting started, Singh said, adding that she believes it’ll gradually gain steam. She looks forward to all that Nautiyal and the local youth do for the CRY cause.
For more information about CRY America, go to cryamerica.org
