VT Seva Bay Area volunteers organize Cancer Walkathon

Thanksgiving Holidays - VT Seva serves Homeless Shelter in Dallas

The VT Seva Dallas Fort Worth chapter conducted a canned food drive and care package drive for the Thanksgiving holidays. The items are given to the patrons at Safe Haven Shelter home in Dallas downtown. The VT Seva volunteers encouraged one and all to come forward with donations of non-perishable food items and hygiene products. Many people have come forward to join the noble cause. The items were delivered to the Safe Haven on Nov 25th 2009.

Ms. Regina Jefferson, the head of the Safe Haven organization received VT Seva volunteers at the shelter home and expressed her gratitude. She personally gave a tour of their premises to the VT Seva volunteers explaining the activities in detail. The volunteers had a great opportunity to interact with the patrons. The enthusiastic participation of youngsters by driving to the shelter home along with their families to personally hand over the items deserves special praise.

VT Seva collected and provided the following items (not limited) to Safe Haven on the eve of Thanksgiving holidays -

• Canned food items: Green Beans, Sweet potatoes, Corn, Potatoes, Cranberries, Mashed potatoes, Pumpkins, Yams, Stuffing, Soup cans
• Breakfast bars
• Fruits
• Care Packages
• Anti Bacterial lotion(s), Wet wipes
• Toiletries, Chap sticks
• Socks, Blankets
• Feminine hygiene products

FREE H1N1 FLU VIRUS SHOTS IN NEW JERSEY

On Nov 14th 2009, VT Seva, New Jersey Chapter organized a free health fair. Over 150 people took advantage of the camp. Dr. Saritha Regupati, VT SEVA NJ co-director provided free H1N1 Flu Virus Shots to over 50 people belonging to the following high priority groups –

• Pregnant Women.
• Household contacts and care givers for children younger than 6 months.
• Persons under 24 years of age.
• Persons between the ages of 24 and 65.

Youngsters response to AP Floods

In reponse to the worst floods(during the first week of October, 2009) to ever hit Andhra Pradesh India, in the last 100 years, VT Seva youngsters have set up awareness booths in Dallas, New Jersey and Washington DC to support the flood victims. The purpose is to raise awareness about the impact of this devastating natural calamity and VT Seva India's efforts in providing relief to the victims. Click here for pictures.

VT Seva in India is supplying food packs to the flood victims. Survival Kits have been distributed to the people in need in Mahaboobnagar District, Andhra Pradesh. Each kit contains a bucket, steel water pot, 4 steel plates, 4 steel tumblers, 4 serving spoons, 11 Pounds Rice, Pulses pack, tamarind pack, Salt, Oil packet, candles, matchboxes etc. VT Seva volunteers have already distributed about 1000 kits to the flood victims irrespective of caste, race, religion.

VT Seva's response to natural calamities in the past:

• 1997 Konaseema floods (Andhra Pradesh)
  Built 83 community centers and provided free medical services.
  
• 2001 Gujarat Earth quake.
  Built hundreds of houses to provide shelter to thousands of affected. VT Seva also built 86 houses with all facilities for the earthquake victims in Vallabhapur.
• 2001 Tsunami (Tamilnadu & Andhra Pradesh)
  
  • Built school for the Fishermen at Katarivaripalem, Prakasam District, Andhra Pradesh on the coast of Bay of Bengal. This school also serves as the cyclone relief center for the nearby villages.
  There are 108 students attending the school.Free food and study material is provided for these children.
  • A colony (neighborhood) of 50 houses was built in the coastal areas of Pumpuhar in Tamilnadu -a village that was severely damaged by Tsunami.

Graduation ceremony of the 1st batch of visually challenged Students at JIVA Campus, Sri Ramanagar, India

Netravidyalaya Junior College, Sriramanagar, a pioneering Institution, first of its kind in the world, made a humble beginning in India, in the field of educating Blind Students. In March 2008, High School (10+2) Students gave their final Board exams along with regular students, for the first time, using laptops. They finished their 2nd year and appeared for the Board examinations in March 2009. All the exams were conducted under the direct supervision and monitoring of the State Govt. education dept. All the 25 students came out successful with 12 of them securing above first class marks.

On Aug 9th 2009, marking this Historic occasion, marks memos and certificate of special recognition were given away to all the successful students by Smt. Dr. Vinatha, VT SEVA USA founder member and Advisor. She said that this is a great opportunity to serve the cause of the visually challenged. State Govt. Intermediate Board Secretary Sriman G.Balaramaiah sent his message congratulating the students for this great achievement. He wished great success and higher achievements to the students. Intermediate Board Joint Secretary Sriman Lakshmaiah commended the college staff and VT Seva member for their efforts in moulding these students. Special Officer from the Dept. of Education Sriman Chandraiah in his address stated that this is a record which has to take its important place in the "Guinness Book" of World records.

Sri Chinnajeeyar Swamiji presented Braille Watches to all the successful students along with the certificates. These watches were sponsored by Sriman Agarwal Hyderabad. Sri Swamiji while honouring all the Supporters, management and the staff, made a special mention of Smt. Pushpamma & Smt.Srimathamma who cook and serve delicious food to all the students of the college with great care and love.

Two young volunteers, Akhil Chandra and Bharani Pusukur studying 10th grade (14 Yrs age) in New Jersey USA , spent their summer volunteering in the Netra Vidyalaya. They received mementos and certificates from Sri Chinnajeeyar Swamiji.

Enthusiastic young volunteers from USA participate in VTSeva projects in India

The CEO of VT Seva Sri Chinnajeeyar swamiji, during his latest trip to the US, has spent a lot of time with young volunteers in the US, telling then about the various activities that are undertaken by VT Seva in the US. Inspiried by this, many young volunteers have decided to spend their summer in India at vairous VT Seva locations and to serve many underprivileged children. They spent lot of time with these children exchanging knowledge and understanding the the various teaching techniques used to the children remote tribal area and visually challenged children.

VT Seva volunteers, Akhil Chandra and Bharani Pusukur, 10th grade students in New Jersey USA, spend their time in Netravidyala Sriramnagar extending their services.

VT Seva volunteers, Sukumar (8th grade) and Devaki (9th grade) came from San Francisco, California to spend their vacation in serving the causes of VTSEVA. They travelled all the way to the Jeeyar Gurukulam School for Tribals in Allampalli of Adilabad District on 27th July 09. They were excited to render their service to the deserving children. A detailed report can found here. Click here ...

VT Seva Awareness Event in Dallas

More than 400 people gathered at Coppell Middle School East and provided their heartfelt support to the VT Seva's cause of engaging youth to serve the underprivileged. The program started with Prajna student meet followed by classical dance.

Mr. Harikishan Eppanapally, president of VT Seva Organization, presented the mission, vision and various service activities conducted by VT Seva to the audience. He highlighted the main focus areas of "Educating the Blind", "Educating and empowering the Tribals", "Health Awareness (Cancer Awareness) in rural areas", and "Environmental Protection."'

Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji inspired the audience about the meaning of "service" with good analogies. He motivated the youth to volunteer their time, talents and support the underprivileged by cutting down on their luxuries. Youngsters Pavanya Manthena and Anand Jayanthi have shared their thoughts in response. More youngsters have joined them on the dias to launch VT Seva Dallas local chapter to carry on the mission. Mr. Dayakar Puskur, a prominent leader has pledged his support to the organization. Mr. Prasad Thotakura, TANA President Elect and Mr. Sudarshan Acharya, Lead India 2020 Founder have attended the event. Srimathi Sumana Garlapati & Srimathi Manjula Muppidi have come forward to conduct a "learn with fun" summer camp and contribute 70% of its proceeds to VT Seva services. The program concluded with Sri Krishna Vennamaneni, the VT Seva secretary encouraging the youngsters to visit the projects run by VT Seva (Blind college and schools, Tribal Schools, Cancer Awareness Activities, Environmental protection) and take part in them to have a first hand experience of how the organization is serving the underprivileged.

The event was a grand success and we would like to thank all the volunteers, participants, patrons and above all, our YOUTH for their spirit and service.

Cancer Detection report from VTSeva Centre Bangalore, India

VT Seva, Bangalore chapter has conducted it's first medical camp for Cancer awareness successfully. A team of five doctors including 2 oncologists (one from KIDWAI and one from Bangalore Institute of Oncology), 2 gynecologists and 1 general physician have kindly provided their services. About 33 volunteers participated in this camp.

817 people have been surveyed in 3 vollages and 173 of them have been selected for further testing in the Medical Camp.

The volunteers gathered at 9:00 AM at the venue - Doddakannahalli School . Vivekananda Seva Samithi had arranged for four inspection rooms (with beds, curtains, wash basins etc) and one room for the physician. Token system and sorted list of MC (Medical Camp) cases were organized by the volunteers. Several people from neighboring villages also participated and benefited from the camp.

Medicines were arranged and distributed free of cost.

Some of the villagers, who were found to have certain important symptoms, during the survey, did not turn up. For the sake of such people who did not come to camp, 3 vehicles were sent into the villages to bring them. With the help of VSS volunteers, several of them were counseled and brought to the camp.

In total, about 117 villagers came forward with their problems and the doctors patiently examined them. Pap smear test was conducted for ten patients and the slides will be sent to KIDWAI Hospital for further examination. Few women were found to be high suspects for breast cancer. Such people will be sent to KIDWAI for further tests. A detailed list of problematic cases will be published after receiving the test results.

During the following next week, the serious MC cases, who did not make it to the camp were also counseled once again and were sent to KIDWAI for tests.

VSS volunteers had made arrangements for food. All volunteers took lunch. This was followed by a vote of thanks to the doctors for their dedicated service.

VTSeva volunteers had a quick discussion on the ‘Learnings from this event’ and the precautions to be taken for the future medical camps. The camp came to an end at about 2:30pm.

Earth Day Observed in various VTSeva around the world

Earth day awareness events have been organized by various VTSeva centres around the world with the purpose of spreading awareness about conserving our natural resources, recycling and to lead an earth friendly life style. Details from a few of the US chapters have been listen here.

In phoenix, Log books have been distributed to all participants which shows a set of actions to be followed to reduce "carbon footprint" and improve on the items upon inspection regularly.Children of different ages actively participated in the drawing competition. "Environmental Awareness" was the topic given to children . Children below 5 years participated in colouring pictures and above 5 years used their creativity and drawn very good pictures on Environmental awareness. Quiz competition was conducted for adults. Participants conveyed their views on environmental protection in the table topic discussion.

In Dallas, the DFW VT Seva youth volunteers joined hands with Oak Cliff Earth Day organizers and participated in the event on April 20. A stall has been put up to promote awareness of the environment protection and the service activities of our organization in general.
- Exhibited Environmental Awareness charts with drawings and paintings
- Practiced and shared the essence of Environmental friendly life. Youngsters have maintained log books and shared them along with message to the global audience
- Participated in Red Cross Blood Drive
- Raised funds for promoting environment friendly living in local community
- Raised awareness about service activities of VTSeva

In Newjersey, VTSeva volunteers performed the cleanup activity in Plainsboro Preserve. The park authorities gave us a 3-mile track for cleaning. The task includes the raking of leaves to clear the path, setting the logs in some areas to mark the path, cleanup the tree trunks, and pickup any garbage along the way. More than 60 volunteers participated in this event

In Houston, The VTSeva volunteers have conducted awareness programmes and planted trees.

In California, VTSeva volunteers setup a booth as part of the Green, Local & Organic Vendor Fair organized by Whole Foods Market. There were around 20 booths belonging to various food companies and a few organizations presenting environmental ideas related to Solar Energy, Tree plantation, Compost making etc. More than 100 visitors attended the booth with Everyday Earth day theme and around 60 of them enthusiastically participated in the Earth day Quiz. Winners walked away with a plant or an energy efficient light bulb. People liked earth day cartoons, PG&E book-lets, the information related to the environment and of course, the nuts and dry fruits.