Tarangini - Energetic Dallas youngsters volunteer music and dance talents for a noble cause

Holiday Food Drive

We have successfully completed our 2nd holiday food drive in the Dallas area. Though it was on a short notice, we were still able to collect sizable amount of food donations at various locations in the Dallas Fort Worth area.

Youngsters were actively involved in promoting the food drive in their neighborhoods and were ably supported by their parents with good encouragement. The collected items were delivered to Safe Haven Homeless Shelter in Dallas Downtown. We donated food to the same shelter last year.

As it was a busy sports weekend for most of the youngsters, all of them could not make it to the Homeless Shelter in person for the delivery. We sincerely hope to continue the tradition of annual food drive and would like to thank all the enthusiastic youngsters, Prajna students and JetDFW volunteers for their strong support and active involvement.

Bone Marrow Drive

VT Seva coordinated Bone Marrow Drive at the Srinivasa Kalyanam (organized by JET DFW) venue - Coppell Middle School North. It was organized by friends of Vinod. Around 85 people volunteered for Bone Marrow donation.

Volunteering Dance Talents for Haiti Relief

VT Seva Dallas Volunteers performed at International Folk festival to support Haiti Relief efforts of Mudra Foundation.

Clean it And Green It

VT Seva Dallas organized Earth Day (April 24th) by engaging youngsters and also adopted a street. VT Seva Dallas partnered with the City of Frisco’s “Clean It and Green It“ project as part of Earth Day. VT Seva volunteers have been asked to clean the First street from Main St. to N. County Rd in Frisco.As part of our cleaning efforts, they collected lot of stuff such as tires, foam, plastic, bottles, cans, paper etc...that were handed over to the City of Frisco to appropriately recycle or/and dispose. Youngsters enthusiasm and energy (for making our Earth a better place to live in)/ to restore and care for the places where we live, work, and play; for this and future generations is an inspiration to the community.

Please click here for photos from the event.

Tarangini - Energetic Dallas youngsters volunteer music and dance talents for a noble cause

TARANGINI, an entertainment event was organized by the Dallas branch on 9th Jan 2010 at The Plaza theater in the city of Garland. The purpose of the event was to spread awareness about the various activities VT Seva is invoved in and bring happiness and love to the local community using dance and music. This special event was celebrated to make a positive difference in the lives of the underprivileged with the spirit of youth volunteerism. It succeeded in capturing magical moments, creating happy memories and surrounding the attendees with laughter and friendship.

About 400 people attended the event and the venue was packed with the youngsters. As the mission of VT Seva is to provide a platform for enthusiastic YOUTH to VOLUNTEER and make a positive difference in the lives of underprivileged, the Dallas VT Seva team engaged about 130 youngsters to exhibit their dance talent and few very good local singers to lend their voices.

Mr. Krishna, the Secretary, VT Seva presented the vision of the organization and brief information about the projects that are undertaken by VT Seva. He encouraged youngsters to volunteer and support VT Seva causes just like the way they supported the Tarangini event. Ms. Malathi, VT Seva Branch Director conveyed vote of thanks to Emcee- Ms. Monicca Sharma, Dances - Kuchipudi Kalakshethra, Nryuthya Shakthi Dance Academy, Dallas Kids Group, PRAJNA students, Singers - Mr. Sashi, Mr. Samba, Ms. Vishala, Ms. Satya for volunteering their time and talents for the noble cause. All the proceeds from the event will be utilized to support the VT Seva projects

Please click here for photos from the event.

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

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.

Learn with fun and volunteer together for service

Inspired by VT Seva founder Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji’s call “volunteer together for service” during VT Seva awareness event in Dallas on June 8th 2009, Ms. Sumana Garlapati & Ms. Manjula Muppidi have come forward to volunteer their time and talents for serving the children. They conducted a 2 month "Learn with Fun" summer camp for children and planned on contributing 70% of its proceeds to VT Seva services. The summer camp was aimed at engaging Dallas children & youngsters in learning various things with creative ideas & fun filled activities. read more

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.

Earth Day 2009

• 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

• The youngsters prepared awareness charts about the importance of "Reduce", "Reuse" and "Recycle" and conveyed the message in their own words, drawings and paintings. These charts were displayed at the VTSeva exhibition booth.
• After actively participating and presenting at Oak Cliff earth day event last year, we continued the spirit of Earth day through out the year. It involved simple tasks such as keeping a track of our daily activities and logging them whether they are earth friendly. It also involved promoting awareness by discussing the same with friends and family. We also distributed GREEN bags in our city to encourage others to reduce the usage of plastic by reusing the distributed GREEN bags for grocery shopping.
• Encouraged and educated volunteers to donate blood as part of Red Cross Blood Drive at the place of event.
• The volunteers have raised funds by applying "mehindi" (environment friendly color) to the visitors of the booth. The visitors were educated about the VTSeva service activities by the volunteers while drawing beautiful designs on their hands.

Promoting Enviroment Friendly Living

The DFW VT Seva youth raised environmental awareness in the months of September and October 2008 by distributing GREEN bags to friends and family for reducing the usage of plastic. Little actions like these with a big heart will make our mother Earth a better place to live in.

These youngsters are practicing and encouraging everyone to carry these Green bags for grocery shopping to reduce the usage of plastic. They maintained an log book to keep track of their daily activities putting Earth friendly living in practice.

Earth Day 2008 Celebration

The DFW VT Seva volunteers joined hands with Oak Cliff Earth Day organizers and participated in the event on April 20, 2008. VT Seva set up a booth to promote awareness about environment protection and the service activities of VT Seva in general. The booth exhibited paintings, drawings and charts related to earth day created by young volunteers. The booth also had information about VT Seva activites.

The City of Dallas Mayor Mr. Tom Leppert graced the event and personally visited our booth.

The Oak Cliff Earth Day organizers had given VT Seva volunteers us an opportunity to share our message with the general public, and our youngsters shared

namasthe: priyadaththa:yai thubhyam de:vi ! vasundhare: ! |
thvam ma:tha: sarva bhu:tha:na:m pa:da sparsam kshamasva me: ||

Cancer Day - Awareness Walk

On the occasion of Cancer day, VT Seva Dallas chapter organized a Cancer awareness walk in Mary Heads Carter Park, Carrollton, TX. More than 75 people enthusiastically participated in the walk.

Dr Sridevi Juvvadi, an Oncologist from DFW area, delivered a speech and educated the audience about the most prevalent cancer types and ways to prevent them. Literature published by American Cancer Society has been distirbuted to all the participants.

Channel 11 ( KTVT CBS TV affiliate) covered the event and broadcasted the coverage in the evening news that day.

Please click here for photos from the event.