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Home » Sewa In News » Newsletter
Newsletter June 2013
Namaste,
Please find the June 2013 issue of Sewa News the newsletter of Sewa International. We have tried to give an overview of thehappenings in the last few months and hope you enjoy reading it. Please feel free to forward to interested volunteers, friends andacquaintances.
June 2013
Editor's note
Dear Readers,This monthly newsletter focuses on our projects and activities in the USand across the globe.
Oklahoma Tornado Relief Appeal
One of the most horrific storms and disasters struck Moore, Oklahomawhen almost a 2mile wide and 17 mile long tornado flattened everythingin its path, inflicting heavy damage all around. Schools, hospitals,theaters, houses, farms, barns – anything and everything that came in itspath, was reduced to rubbles. Entire neighborhoods/communities havebeen devastated and are in dire need of immediate succor.
Picture courtesy: oregonlive.com
With over 24 dead and the death toll climbing, search and rescue workcontinues. Hundreds of families have been rendered homeless and needfood, shelter, other supplies and most importantly a supportive shoulderto lean on so that they can rebuild their lives.
In this moment of unspoken tragedy and human suffering, Sewa USArequests you to open your hearts and wallets for the suffering people. Werequest you to keep the affected citizens in your thoughts and prayers.
Upcoming Event: Laser show on Swami Vivekananda
Sewa International is organizing the 2013Annual Fund raiser event “A Laser show onSwami Vivekananda” by renowned LaseristManick Sorcar, two time winner of ILDA ArtisticAward, recognized as the Oscar of the Laserindustry.
Ramakrishna Missionaries found it "spellbounding", "overwhelming experience","praiseworthy", and "a marvelous show".
The Times of India wrote: "The life of SwamiVivekananda came alive through a firstofitskind documentary made in laser by USbasedartist Manick Sorcar on the philosophersaint's150th birth anniversary".
The show is scheduled to be performed attwenty US cities starting Aug 24, 2013. Pleasecontact your respective chapter coordinators forfurther details and updates.
Sewa Houston Chapter starts Family ServicesProgram
Click here for more information
Contributions in the USA
Hurricane Sandy relief The New Jersey Sewa team acted promptly to provide relief tocommunities affected by Hurricane Sandy. This project was carried out incoordination with HSS and all the contributions were donated to NJCommunity Food Bank in Hillside, NJ. More than 20 boxes of food and 3040 bags of clothes were packed at the end of the food drive. The foodboxes were delivered to the Food Bank in Hillside, NJ. The clothing will bedonated to local communities in NJ area.
Diwali Food Drive
Bay Area chapter organized “Diwali Food Drive” from October 29 till MidNovember with the help of Second Harvest Food Bank. Volunteersobtained empty barrels for food collection from Second Harvest FoodBank, and placed them strategically at temples as well as local Indiangrocery stores. Weekly trips were made to monitor the collection at all theseven locations. By the end of the Diwali Food Drive Sewa had collectedfood worth 250 lbs. It was timely for Thanksgiving feast and holidaymeals for those in need.
High School Sewa Volunteer awarded “Girl Scouts Gold Award”
Apurva Kasam, Treasurer of Sewa Club at Northview High School in JohnsCreek, GA has been awarded Girl Scouts Gold Award, the highest honor,for her services to Bhutanese refugees.
Apurva organized regular Yoga classes at Bhutanese Mandir to cope withstress and to maintain good health. Bhutanese were excited with theopportunity to learn and practice yoga in the workshops led by PatanjaliYog Peet teachers. Ms.Roma, a Bhutanese leader, was trained to conductregular Yoga classes in the Bhutanese Mandir. Apurva provided yoga matsfor their weekly classes. She organized a workshop of the 7 Habits ofHighly Effective People. These habits and the tips taught will be helpful forthem in their personal and professional lives. She set up a mini libraryconsisting of a few book shelves and about 250 books. The bookscollected include religious, spiritual and several other nonfiction subjects.It also included a whole series of encyclopedias. She also arrangedmusical instruments for their weekly Bhajans in the Bhutanese culturalcenter. The instruments which were brought from India include aHarmonium, several Manjiras (finger cymbals) and Khanjaris(tambourines).
The temple committee members and several community membersexpressed their happiness and thanked Apurva for choosing to help them.
Sewa International Annual National Conference, Cleveland
On the occasion of its 10th anniversary, the Sewa International NationalConference was held at ClevelandOH. The national team met on May10th with Sewa Directors and Advisors. The chapter representatives
The "Family Services" program is an initiative tocreate an extended family in order to supportand empower our community members. This is ahand extended to the Indian Community withthe help of our community members anddedicated volunteers (i.e. volunteers and variousreligious and service organizations) in their timeof need.
Bhutanese students win Millennium GatesFoundation Award
Sewa International Lakshya scholarshiprecipients, Shiva Acharya and Jamuna Kadariya,have won the Gates Millennium Scholarship. Thiswill cover their education in any US institution oftheir choosing upto the highest degree they wishto achieve. This is the result of the work of ourDallas chapter SAT team Srikanth Bongu,Varsha Gupta, Prashant Patel, Bhaavika Patel,Kishore Jaisingh, Nikhil Jaisingh, Amogh Singh,Ashwin Ramesh, Rishabh Bapna andmanagement team Purna ji, Mukul Saran andYaji Jayanti.
Chapter Updates
Denver.
Sewa International as part of its ongoingendeavor to help local communities haspartnered with Internal Revenue Service(IRS) to setup a Volunteer Income TaxAssistance (VITA) site at Aurora, CO. Thepurpose of this VITA site is to help prepare taxreturns, at no cost, for lowtomoderate incometax payers who meet the criteria set by the IRS.The site was launched on Feb 04, 2012 at MartinLuther king Jr Public Library, in Aurora CO. ThisVITA site has been successfully run for 2 yearsby the dedicated IRS certified volunteers fromSewa International Denver chapter. Sewa VITAvolunteers successfully filed 50 tax returns lastyear (2012) and 111 returns this year (2013).Majority of the tax payers are from Bhutaneserefugee community living in Aurora and Denvermetro area. This is an ongoing program and willcontinue to function in the future. The closingevent for 2013 tax season was celebrated bySewa on 4/20/2013 in Martin Luther King Jrlibrary, Aurora CO.
Boston.
joined the conference on May 11th and May 12th.
Shri. Girish Mehtaji of Boston, who has recently joined the Board ofAdvisors, attended the conference and made a good presentation onFamily Services. Shri Shyam Parandeji, the International Sewa Coordinator, was present in the conference fulltime and guided thediscussions. Thirty participants representing ten chapters participated inthe conference and another 10 local karyakartas attended one or moresessions. Nearly 50% of the conference participants were first timeattendees. Shri Kishor Mogheji (visiting US from Mumbai) visited theconference with his family and attended one session and sharedinformation about Sewa Sahyog and Samtol project (Mumbai, India), oneof the 20 star projects supported by Sewa International.
Shri Rammohan Krishnanji from Atlanta has accepted the role of ‘Directorof Communication’. Sreenathji presented the national report of 2012,while the chapters presented their respective reports.
Other updates: Linda Voith from Upstate NY Goshala presentedinformation about her project and Ramesh Shahji of Cleveland sharedinformation about Medical Yatra. Ramananji from Cleveland shareddetails of how his wife Jayanti Ramananji is volunteering at Sewa InAction project in Bangalore for last few months. Manju Rastogiji of AkronOhio shared products made by Bhutanese women as part of their localproject.
The 2012 printed Annual Report was released and all the marketingmaterial for Laser Light show were on display and was shared withparticipants. Being the 10th anniversary of Sewa International, a specialcultural event was arranged by local chapter on the evening of May 11thwhere local artists presented various performances based on theme ofSewa.
The 2014 National Conference will be hosted by Atlanta Chapter and
scheduled for 24th & 25th May 2014 (Memorial weekend)
Boston chapter of Sewa International celebratedHoli along with Bhutanese bandhus in CentralMassachusetts on April 7th, 2013. About 140people got together at the St. Frances XavierCabrini Church in West Springfield, MA tocelebrate the Hindu festival of colors, Holi. Morethan 100 hundred of them were Hindus ofBhutanese origin living in WesternMassachusetts and several others from Lynn,Massachusetts. One of the objectives of theevent was to bring together the community inthe area. This way, all those trying to buildingtheir life once more can come together and feela sense of community and belonging.
Important links
Sewa International Bharat
Sewa International UK
Youth for Seva
Sponsor A Child (Vidya Chetana)
Annual Reports
2012 Annual Report
Inspirational video Share my Dabba
Click here to watch
“Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy tothink so. If there is sin, this is the only sin; to say that you are weak, or others areweak."
‐ Swami Vivekananda
About us: Sewa International USA is a Hindu faith based nonprofit charity registered under the Internal Revenue Code 501(c)
(3). Mission of Sewa is to serve humanity in distress, aid local communities, and promote volunteerism. Sewa volunteers across
38 chapters in 22 states performed more than 100,000 hours of community work in 2012.
Sewa runs disaster relief/rehabilitation projects (Hurricane Katrina (2005), Super Storm Sandy (2012), Maharashtra Drought
(2013), development projects in India, Sri Lanka, Peru, Guyana, and Kenya. In the US, community service projects include
Bhutanese Refugee Empowerment, Family Services, Adoptahighway, Habitat for Humanity, and Diwali Food Drive among
others. Yuwa for Sewa summer internships for youth, and, Get Inspired summer internships for high school and college students
promote volunteerism among youth.
Questions or comments? Email us at [email protected]
Sewa International, P.O.Box 820867, Houston, TX 772820867 Tel: (708) USA SEWA, (7088727392 ) | [email protected] | www.sewausa.org
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