PAST EVENT

In the words of John F. Kennedy, "As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest form of appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." Atlanta children and adults strived to put gratitude in action by participating in ‘Random Act of Kindness’ project. The purpose of this project is to promote Kindness until it’s a habit for all. Around 20 VT youth participated in this project and exhibited various acts of kindness.

PAST EVENT

In the words of Helen Keller, ‘The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart’. Our VT Seva children have touched the hearts of Special needs kids of Laurel Heights Hospital. Shout out to VT Seva Atlanta children for donating 10,000 masks to the Special Need Kids of the Laurel Heights Hospital. Mr. Patrick, the current CEO, Corry, the interim CEO and Dr. Smitha Battula are very thankful to all the VT Seva children and their parents for their outstanding service. In Corry’s words “Masks came right on time for our organization”. Our VT Seva children has touched the lives of special need kids and all the Laurel Heights Doctors and staff members. VT Seva enjoys the partnership with Laurel Heights hospital. We will continue to strengthen in future. Atlanta VT Seva Youth Rocks ✌️✌️✌️

PAST EVENT

Salvation Army Angel Tree Program at Farmington Hills provides new clothes and new toys to more than 1 million children in need through their Angel Tree Program. Walmart and The Salvation Army are joining to help millions of children. Once the gifts are received, The Salvation Army will distribute them to families in need for Christmas morning. To make that happen , they were in need of lots of volunteers to help them accomplish their huge tasks. We took those Wishlist that was being sent by many children who are in need of gifts for this Christmas, each of those were categorized into different age, gender. We sorted & organized those gifts into respective age categories and then finally packed them into those big red bags from Salvation army. More than 150 families are registered with Salvation Army Farmington Hills who are under the poverty line and in need of big support.

PAST EVENT

2021 The season of giving and what better way to serve our community than to give smiles. Collected a lot of items and then distributed them to the needy.

PAST EVENT

VT Seva Youth Board conducted their Eye Glass Drive as part of their November month Project. Thanks to Youth Board Member Rishi Proposing this idea. 22 youth board members collected 72 prescription eye glass Eye glassess were donated at Northville Eyeglass World. Lions club partner with Eyeglass world in collecting them. Used eyeglasses that are collected by Lions and other volunteers are recycled at one of ten Lions Eyeglass Recycling Centers throughout the world. The used eyeglasses are cleaned, repaired and classified by prescription. The eyeglasses are then distributed to those in need by Lion volunteers and other organizations hosting optical missions in developing countries

PAST EVENT

In the words of Hellen Keller, “There is no better way to thank God for your sight than by giving a helping hand to someone in the dark.” The Atlanta VT Seva team aspired to emulate these immortal words of Hellen Keller through our Subha annual event. The word Subha represents the first ray of light in the horizon, the light that slowly transforms even the darkest of nights into a bright, beautiful sunrise. It symbolizes hope, light, and happiness even in the most obscure and difficult times. The Atlanta team aimed to spread this light into the lives of the special-needs children of Laurel Heights Hospital in Atlanta and the visually challenged children of Nethra Vidyalaya in India, with our Subha program. The Annual event was organized on Dec 4th, 2021 in which Atlanta youth presented a cultural program comprising of a Subha skit, instrumental compositions, Indian classical songs, and a variety of Indian classical dances, such as Kuchipudi, Bhangara, and Bollywood. The program commenced with the Chief Guest, Corey Jackson from Laurel Heights hospital, lighting an auspicious lamp and Naimisha Kodali, the emcee, reciting a prayer. This was followed by the American and Indian National Anthems sung by VT Seva youth and a welcome speech from Naimisha. After this, the Atlanta VT Seva Director, Dr. Madhu Nemani thanked Swami ji for the Subha blessings and welcomed the chief guest, Jet & Prajna coordinators, other esteemed members (Dr. Smitha Batulla and Sonia Rice from Laurel Heights, Nazeera Da, and City Council member Dilip Tunki), and all the kindhearted volunteers. She addressed the significance of Subha and how it will impact the lives of the Blind/Visually Challenged kids of Nethra Vidyalaya. Subsequently, VT Seva Mission and Vision was presented, which was followed by a classical song and 3 instrumental songs performed by the VT Seva youth. Next, the Atlanta Branch VT Seva 2021 initiatives were presented, highlighting the April Cool environmental project, the mask making project for Laurel Heights Hospital in which over 10,000 masks were made, a summer camp in which VT youth were the tutors and raised money for the covid relief fund, healthcare webinars, participation in the American Heart Walk, Halloween candy drive for US troops, the creation of VT Seva Lambert school club, and many more projects/activities. This was followed by a Subha skit presented by the Lambert VT Seva youth. In this skit, they demonstrated how their mask-making project has impacted the lives of special-needs kids at the Atlanta Laurel Heights Hospital and how their efforts helped in raising $2000 to support the education of the visually challenged kids in India. Afterwards, there was a thrilling Bhangra dance performance by Kishan’s Bhangra group, followed by a Bollywood dance on “Taare Zameen Par '' by Shiv’s Dance Institute. Next, Revathi Dance School fused both Indian and Spanish styles and performed kuchipudi on the famous hit, “Despacito.” This was followed by a solo bharatanatyam dance by a VT youth. Next, the VT Seva Director recognized all the contributions from the supporters and sponsors. She appreciated the Gold sponsorship by the Laurel Heights and presented a memento to the Chief guest, Corey Jackson, Dr. Smitha Batulla, and Sonia Rice. She also recognized the Silver sponsors: Somireddy Law Group, SLR Mortgage, AHP Real Estate Ventures, and Prism IT, with mementos for their generous support. Mr. Corey recognized all the children who have stitched the masks for the Special Needs Kids of Laurel Heights by providing them a certificate. Later, all cultural participants were also acknowledged by Dr. Madhu for their excellent cultural performance and outstanding contribution. Afterwards, 3 amazing classical Indian dance performances were presented by Atlanta youth. Last but not the least, Dr. Madhu appreciated the hard work of all the Atlanta team members consisting of decoration team, tech support, food team, backstage, registration, cleanup, cultural, and all the selfless Seva volunteers. Overall, this function was quite literally an illuminating experience! The delightful dances, the meaningful messages, and the soulful songs together created an unforgettable afternoon. It was so heartwarming to see all the support, not only from the performers, but from the entire community! The Atlanta VT Seva team thanks everyone who supported their cause from the bottom of their heart. In the words of Dutch philosopher Desiderius Erasmus: “Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.” The empathetic and sincere efforts of the Atlanta VT Seva team will illuminate the lives of the special needs/visually challenged kids and spread the joy of Subha in years to come!

PAST EVENT

In the words of Helen Keller, ‘The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart’. Our VT Seva children have touched the hearts of Special needs kids of Laurel Heights Hospital. Shout out to VT Seva Atlanta children for donating 10,000 masks to the Special Need Kids of the Laurel Heights Hospital. Mr. Patrick, the current CEO, Corry, the interim CEO and Dr. Smitha Battula are very thankful to all the VT Seva children and their parents for their outstanding service. In Corry’s words “Masks came right on time for our organization”. Our VT Seva children has touched the lives of special need kids and all the Laurel Heights Doctors and staff members. VT Seva enjoys the partnership with Laurel Heights hospital. We will continue to strengthen in future. Atlanta VT Seva Youth Rocks ✌️✌️✌️

PAST EVENT

VT Seva Bay Area had its monthly compost gardening activity during the month of November. Our volunteers composted things like apple cores, Lettuce, Cardboard, paper bags and much more! Towards the end of the month volunteers sent pictures of how their compost had been going, through this, volunteers also learned the environmental benefit and impact of composting!

PAST EVENT

For one of VT Seva Bay Area’s Environmental Services events in November, we had our first green initiative activity! Youth volunteers are encouraged to partake in conservative measures through “Reuse, Reduce and Recycle”. For example, youth volunteers can conserve by cutting down their showers, planting drought-resistant trees, not overusing lights, walk/bike as much as possible, and recycling their materials!

PAST EVENT

It’s the holiday season, and VT Seva Bay Area is hosting a food drive! Youth volunteers are collecting goods, such as soup cans, grain cereals, canned beans, pasta, and much more!

PAST EVENT

VT Seva Bay Area had its monthly Letters to Seniors activity in November. Our youth volunteers wrote interesting and captivating letters to please a friendly senior! The letters later got mailed to citizens in Ohio to read and enjoy!

PAST EVENT

VT Seva Youth Board conducted their Eye Glass Drive as part of their November month Project. Thanks to Youth Board Member Rishi Proposing this idea. 22 youth board members collected 72 prescription eye glass Eye glassess were donated at Northville Eyeglass World. Lions club partner with Eyeglass world in collecting them. Used eyeglasses that are collected by Lions and other volunteers are recycled at one of ten Lions Eyeglass Recycling Centers throughout the world. The used eyeglasses are cleaned, repaired and classified by prescription. The eyeglasses are then distributed to those in need by Lion volunteers and other organizations hosting optical missions in developing countries

PAST EVENT

For VT - Seva Bay Area’s sandwich making activity of November youth volunteers packed PBJ and Veggie sandwiches for a family housing center in San Jose! The families received a nutritious meal thanks to our youth volunteers!

PAST EVENT

7 youth volunteers from Austin VTSeva have collected 150lbs of Halloween chocolates from their communities of which 50% were donated to Operation Gratitude for honouring our military, veterans and first responders. Rest are donated to the homeless and Ronald McDonald home charity as goodies packs in their lunch packs

PAST EVENT

Partnered with Northwest Harvest to do a canned food drive in Seattle area. We raised 630 pounds of canned food as of 11/24. Event will continue till 11/30.