Sewa Project from Satsang and Azad Balagokulam at Cor Unum Meal Center

The cooking event at Cor Unum meal center was a great success.

First, we started on-time, ended almost 30 minutes early. Secondly, the home-made-rotis arrived to the facility by various means on-time. We got the booking for 1000 rotis by 10 volunteers. However, we ended up having 1200 rotis as few more volunteers participated without signing-up. Third, we ended up having few extra volunteers.
We followed the roaster except for rice preparation, which we did after completing all other menu items. This is due to Rajma sautéing took more time than expected. However we saved time with chopping onions and salad preparation. Few volunteers kept the sink clean all the time by continuously washing the vessels while few others kept the floor dry by mopping it periodically. Extra volunteers were used for setting up the plates with bread & butter.

While we were having full of fun inside the kitchen, this also carried to outside the kitchen, outside the building by the aroma of our food. The facility director and their regular volunteers keep peeping into kitchen and waiting to taste the food. We gave them samples of Rajma, Roti and potato to them. After tasting the food, they asked us when we are coming again. One of them even commented that this spices could be the reason for intelligence of Indians.
This meal center was started during September 2006. They have arrangements with local restaurant and Boston based food bank for donation of the food. Hopefully we should be able to participate regularly in eliminating the hunger.

At about 3:30pm, around 4 or 5 Andover high students came there to serve. We explained the menu and went out to have our lunch at the nearby Subway. We came back to the facility at about 4:45 to have some direct feedback. The people were very happy to get a new type of food, slightly spicy compared to the regular food they get every day. The director and volunteers told us they everyone is enjoying the food we made, many of them are asking for second serving. Almost everyone f them, after eating the food, came to the front desk about who made the food. I heard that many of them never even tasted any Indian food.

Good news is all were served with the food we made. Nearly 25% of Rajma, 25% of rice and lot of rotis were the leftover after feeding around 500 people, which they served it next day. Not a spoon of the food we prepared wasted.

Here are some statistics:
o We used 60 lbs of Rajma; 40 lbs of Onion; 60 lbs of potato; 30 lbs of rice and 1200 rotis.
o We provided the rice, roti and Indian spices. Rest of the items were provided by the center.
o We were twenty volunteers at the facility that includes five fulltime (10am to 4pm), many part-time volunteers.
o Plus rotis were prepared by around 12 people at their home.
o Around 3 SEWA volunteers, 14 HSS volunteers and around 6 indviduals contributed to this event.

We all left that place with the great satisfaction.

Diwali Food Drive by Abhimanyu Shakha – Schaumburg, IL

Just like last year, Abhimanyu Shakha conducted Diwali Food Drive with a renewed interest. Not only Food items but we collected cash donations from our Shakha as well as Ramayan Shakha . Which helped us buy exactly those Food items which Food Pantry was running short on.

We visited Elk Grove Food Pantry on Nov 20th and donated 2 Cart full of Food items like Cereal, Pasta, Pop Tart, Fruit Juice, Tomato Cans etc. 20 swayamsevak from our Shakha showed up at the Elk Grove Food Pantry. Nancy Clarbour, the “Lady”, from this Food Pantry was elated to see us again this year. She thanked a lot for remembering the Food Pantry and bringing essential food items on the occasion of Diwali. She talked about her visit to Hindu Temple in Hawaii and about volunteers who help her run the Food Pantry. She emphasized that if parents do volunteer work then their children will also be interested in volunteer work. Kids and parents from our Shakha were so excited to see a Food Pantry and how it works.

This year we are also adding Itasca Food Pantry to our Diwali Food Drive and planning to visit that Pantry on this Wednesday at 10:30am to donate food items.

Please visit our Shakha’s Website link (given below) for some pictures of our Diwali Food Drive.
http://chapters.hssus.org/abhimanyu

Naperville Aurora balgokulam food drive 2010

Namaste,

Naperville-Aurora balgokulam team conducted its 2nd annual food drive event as part of Diwali festivities to help support the needy in our local community. The drive started on Nov 15th and culminated this weekend with delivery of over a ton (2100 pounds) of food to ‘Loaves and Fishes’ food pantry.

Key highlights in this year’s food drive
* Participation of a good number of Naperville 204 schools (elementary/middle). Kids donated in large numbers and communications by the school district reached over 16000 families. Our Vibhag sahakaryavaha Prasadji Garkhedkar led the food drive activities with the school district.
* Participation of other Indian organizations, Science of spirtuality, Hindu Satsang, Maharashtra Mandal. Each organization had its own food collection activity as part of this food drive
* Participation of Michael’s veg market, Caputos (local fresh markets) and other indian grocery stores. To augment collection, all karyakarthas spent a few hours in front of Michael stores on one Sunday distributing flyers to visiting shoppers. This greatly helped increase the contribution by all shoppers.

On Fri, Nov 19th the entire food drive team met to sort and load the food into 7 vehicles. On Sat, Nov 20th, food was delivered to Fishes and Loaves. Reporters from Daily Herald, Tribune Local, Naperville Sun were present at the event to cover our concluding event. Additonally, Naperville local television recorded the food drive activity. Namithaji Pai from our shakha gave an excellent interview highlighting the contribution of all the volunteers and the importance of this drive to our local community.

On a concluding note, the naper-aurora balgokulam team is glad to note that their efforts over the last month will make a postive difference to families that need hep during these tough times. Look forward to doubling our collection next year again!

Attached below are links to the press articles and photos of all the events.

Photos :
http://www.hssus.org/gallery/v/MWEST/Naperville+Diwali+Food+Drive+2010/

Daily Herald News Article :
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20101120/news/711219904/

http://chapters.hssus.org/naperville/

Food Drive Collection : Tri-cities

The Food Drive is not new to the balagokulam of Tri-cities. In fact, I have been doing the same food drive ever since 1^st grade (I am now in 6^th). I learned how to accomplish this appreciated act at Oasis school.

Every year that I have done the Food Drive, I always follow the same few steps that lead to success. First, you need to gather the items needed to collect the food-bags and letters. I usually create the letters myself, however, for the past 3 years I created a fill in the blanks Google spreadsheet for balagokulam of Tri-cities. . Plus or minus this is what it says:

__(Month)__(Date)__(Year)__

Thank you for your contribution,

_____(First) ______ 　_______(Last)______

____(Signature?)_______

Then, I head over to the local Albertsons where (after introducing myself) I requested to meet the manager. When I met the manager, I introduced myself again and asked if they would loan me about 25 bags. After getting a yes, I was handed a handful of plastic bags. Triumphantly, (after thanking the manager) I went home. Once home, I printed out 25 letters (the number of homes I was going to ask) and stapled the letters onto the bag.

The next thing in the magical sequence is to deliver the bags. I went to neighbors and personally talked to them. Not only does this deliver more non- perishable items, but it also creates a good relationship with your neighbor. Sometimes when you talk to them the next food drive they might have cans for you without you going to their house!!! When I talk, I usually say something like this:

“Hello, my name is _______ and I go to _____ School. I’m doing a food drive and I was wondering if you wish to support it.”

I made sure I gave them a bag with a letter on it. I also recorded the house numbers of the homes I went to. Note: Keep in mind that the food bank has more bang for the buck than we do, hence money (cash or check) is also accepted. Now I was halfway through the food drive!

On collecting day (Halloween), I went to all the houses I gave bags to and collected the donations. The donations ranged from 0 cans-50+cans! I thanked them and asked some everyday questions like, “how are you doing?” These questions go a long way.

At the next balagokulam meeting, I asked all my peers to bring their collected cans. We took pictures and then the next day we went to the food bank. I had brought in 265 lbs.+$150 and the rest of balagokulam brought in 187 lbs.! All together, we brought in 452 lbs.+$150. The food bank really appreciated the donation. Our smiles stretched from ear to ear! However I was not done. I wrote a letter again. This time it was a Thank you letter. Plus or Minus, this is what it said:

Nov. 11,2010

Dear Neighbor, Thank you for donating to my

Food Drive. We gave 265 pounds worth of food to the food bank.

(FOOD DRIVE ’10)

Good Job!!!

We averaged 10 lbs a house.

donated!!!

I was just thinking why this food drive was a success??? Then it came to me, a great fact…
Because you generously

Thank you,

Below are pictures taken of 2010 Balagokulam of Tri-city food drive!

My name is ____(First)______ ______(Last)____. I am __ years old and I go to ______(school name)_________　School. I am participating in a Food Collection　for the Food Bank in ____(city)___. So, I would like to see if you could sponsor my Food Drive with non-perishable　items to fill the empty shelves of the food bank. If so, I will come and pick　those generous　donations on Halloween Night. Thank you for your time and, your donations are greatly appreciated.

Viknesh Kasthuri and the Tricities food bank

Sponsors:

YOU and_____________________

Dear Neighbor,

Note: If you are not available on Halloween Night, you may put your heart-felt donations on the porch.

Above: Me with my collection (265 lbs). Below: Unity is strength! (452 lbs.)

Diwali Food Drive

 Shivaji Shakha – Westchester County, NY

Deepavali 2010 Food Drive

Shivaji Shakha recently launched its first ever “Dare to Share” campaign, aimed at raising food for the hungry in Westchester County, NY. As part of this campaign, we collected boxed and canned food items for the benefit of the Food Bank for Westchester.

Food Bank for Westchester is the supply and support center for approximately 200 frontline hunger-relief agencies throughout the county. They collect, warehouse and distribute six million pounds of food a year, and provide 95% of all the food that front-line food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, child and adult day-care and residential centers, and other hunger-relief programs throughout Westchester County use to feed the hungry.

The five week long campaign was kicked off on October 3rd, 2010. We set up a collection booth at the India Center of Westchester, where we conduct our regular shakha. We created a marketing kit that included posters and sample letters of appeal. Many of our shakha members used these materials to reach out to people in their residential communities, schools, work places, etc. as an outreach activity. We also sought help of other Indian American organizations such as the India Center of Westchester and the Arya Samaj of New York to get the word out to the community. This resulted in generating a substantial amount of food! We were able to raise 737 lbs of food, well exceeding our initial target of 500 lbs.

 



On Sunday, November 7th, 2010, 20 swayamsevaks, sevikas, kishors, and balas delivered the collected food to the Food Bank for Westchester. We met with Nancy Lyons, the volunteer coordinator, and gave her a brief overview of the Deepavali festival. We also distributed cards to staff volunteers at the Food Bank. Nancy gave us a tour of the facility after our collection was weighed in.

After the sewa session, we headed back to the India Center to enjoy delicious Deepavali treats and participate in shakha.

 

 

         

We did an hour long sewa session which included screening collected items, sorting, and packing food for immediate delivery to shelters and soup kitchens in need.



Diwali Food Donation Drive 2010

Namaste

 

Wanted to share with you details of the Food drive we did here this week. We stay in an apartment complex where majority of people are desis’. Bala swayamsevaks / sevikas kept plastic bags with brochure (see attachment) in front of each of the doors and yesterday we collected them.

We got an excellent response from the people and especially from volunteers. Approx. 50 people donated whole heartedly. The pictures speak for itself about the items collected. We had also requested for contributions from our friends around Pittsburgh and allied organizations like Art of Living. Fliers have been given in Hindu Jain Temple as well ( Sevaks’ will bring contributions this Sunday).

The Balagokulam kids were very very enthusiastic. In fact there was a race in collecting the bags amongst volunteers. A big OOOmmmm to all those who contributed, volunteered and wished well for the activity. In my opinion, the exercise was less about feeding hungry and more about feeding our own soul through the kind activity.

Hari Om,
Shriram Kelkar | 717-215-7006
Happiness keeps you sweet, Trials keep you strong, Sorrow keeps you human, Failure keeps you humble, Success keeps you Glowing, but only God keeps you Going !

Sewa Project by HSS for Irvine city’s nature center

Hindu Swayam Sevak Sangh (HSS), Irvine chapter, conducted a sewa project to help the Turtle Rock Nature Center of Irvine on October 9, 2010. This project mainly involved some cleaning activities in the 5 acre nature preserve during their Second Saturday volunteering services.

The Turtle Rock Nature Center is located at the base of the San Joaquin Hills in Irvine, and serves as a community resource for environmental interest and concern. The five-acre nature preserve is both a home for wildlife and an outdoor classroom where visitors and program participants learn to protect our natural environment. To know more about City of Irvine volunteering services, please visit, http://www.ci.irvine.ca.us/cityhall/cs/openspace/volunteer_opportunities.asp

Our Swayamsevaks  were involved in the tasks such as pruning the plants/shrubs, maintaining trails, setting up the  “Path of Life” Maze , picking up the  fallen tree limbs  and other parts of the trees , removing weeds , etc. Everyone enjoyed doing these activities. We had 19 volunteers which included 11 adults and 8 children. They are Pravin ji, Monica ji, Padma Varanasi ji, Padma ji, Madhava ji, Uma ji, Venu ji, Sunita ji, Dharmash ji, Ruchi ji, Aswin ji, Druv, Gnamitha, Anisha, Mansi, Tanvi, Arian, Sanaya, and Pranati.

Amy Litton, Resource naturalist at Turtle Rock Nature Center and other staff members were very impressed with the work ethic and the amount of work accomplished by the swayamsevaks.

This event was very fun filled and everyone enjoyed being part of it. HSS –Irvine, Good Job! Looking forward to doing more projects like this in the near future.

More photos can be seen here.

Habitat for Humanity

Seva at Habitat for Humanity
Southern California Sewa Activities
Pasadena Durga Shaka

 

 

 

www.hssus.org/gallery/v/WCOAST/SouthernCalifornia/Pasadena_Durga_Shaka_Seva_at_Habitate_for_Humanity/

“Adopt A Highway”

The Lake County Balagokulam shakha conducted “Adopt a Highway” Nagar seva mission on Sunday September 19, 2010. A total of 14 dedicated volunteers (7 adult sevaks, 4 adults sevikas, 2 Kishore sevaks, and 1 kishoree sevika) took on total of two and one half mile stretch of the Aptaikisick Road from Route 83 to Prairie Road in Buffalo Grove , IL . The Lake County shakha members made the commitment to serve the community by partnering with the Illinois Department of Transportation to keep the roadside clean. This commitment is prominently displayed by the “Adopt-a-Highway Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh – HSS Balagokulam” roadside sign. The Shakha has committed to volunteer to keep the road-side area clean for the next two years and with the option to renew the agreement. “We all need to contribute in community service in the country we are living in. I felt very good by doing community service.” Rakesh ji Mishra, Kenosha , WI said proudly. The volunteers arrived promptly at 10:30am for the seva project at intersection of Buffalo Grove Road and Aptakisic Road . The age ranged from the youngest volunteer of 12 years old to the eldest members at the age of 77. The young, not-so-young and the senior members were bending, picking and carrying trash for three continuous hours. Chittranjan ji and Mayura ji Desai senior member also actively participated and encouraged everyone to be excellent role models as Hindu community and something that we all can strive for. When it comes to community service, there is no age barrier. It provides the opportunity to serve our community and meet people. “I liked volunteering and bonding with HSS volunteers.” Dr. Jaydeep ji Kulkarni, Vernon Hills, IL. A brief safety talk included the do’s and don’ts of highway clean-up along with the proper lifting techniques was conducted. The group divided into two teams; one group headed West bound from Buffalo Grove Road , the other East bound. Everyone donned on gloves and safety vests. Bright orange garbage bags completed the “clean-up” look. The road-side looked fairly clean when driving but as the volunteers set off to collect the trash, total of 13 large orange garbage bags were filled with paper, bottles and other trash. After three hours of hard work, some of the members gathered to take a final picture in front of the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh – HSS Balagokulam sign. In short, 14 volunteers, 13 garbage bags and 3 hours of bending, picking and carrying trash. Anand ji Upadhye of Mundelein, IL sums it the best, “I felt excellent doing selfless work.” Thanks to all the volunteers for their valuable time and efforts. We have notified the Lake County Department of Transportation on completion, next clean up due around April-2011. Photo courtesy of Nirmesh ji Patel, see link below for photos http://www.hssus.org/gallery/v/MWEST/LCHwyCleanup/

Suswagatham 2010

Suswagatam 2010

San Jose State

University

  Sairam Thyagarajan

In sharp contrast to many universities, SJSU does not have a “known” organized tradition of seniors helping new incoming students by providing pickup and temporary accommodation. Hindu YUVA, in an attempt to fill this void began Suswagatam with an objective to help new students and thus develop this culture. The following are the different facets of Suswagatam 2010:

• Provide airport pickup 
• Provide temporary accommodation
• Help complete university formalities
• Help with course registration
• Familiarization with campus and surrounding areas
• Helping find roommates and permanent accommodation

The tasks were divided among the 9 “YUVAs”. The main teams were the 

• Communication and Co-ordination team
• Accommodation team
• Web team

The web team began the formalities by publicizing Suswagatam 2010 on the web through different social networking sites and other student groups. Posters about the service were also sent to various consultancies in India so that they can direct students. The Web team relentlessly carried out the task of helping students know about Suswagatam’10. The Communication and Coordination team, the most important of all, created various forms to help students register and began the gargantuan task of continuously emailing and responding to anxious students. The Accommodation team prepared forms related to accommodation for karyakartas and senior students.

A total of 68 students had registered with us. Once students began to pour in, the karyakarthas whizzed to and from the airport in an untiring fashion. The local families took great care of them and some of the students even attended the Sunday shakha as well. At the university, the student karyakartas helped the students complete all formalities and familiarized them with the university and student life. The students constantly were in touch with the team to get guidance on rooms, roomies, etc. 

The Suswagatam 2010 event concluded with an informal event to provide a plank for students to interact with peers, seniors and professors. Around 65 students participated in the event. Professors also took part and guided students. The students had great fun with team games and most importantly delicious food cooked by karyakarthas themselves! 

On a concluding note, there was a lot of lessons learnt from this exercise. Most importantly, it was one of those rare times where the whole team took their relationships to the next level working shoulder to shoulder with each other, making up for each other’s deficiencies. Once again, the whole event would not have been such a great success without the Bay Area karyakarthas and their families who were the spine of the team. A classic case of the grahasthas helping the brahmacharis!

 Jignesh Borisa
Graduate Student
San Jose State University