PAST EVENT

For VT Seva Bay Area’s April Environmental Services event, youth volunteers had a street cleanup activity. For this activity volunteers would pick up trash, litter, and junk. The hard work from these volunteers keeps our streets clean!

PAST EVENT

VT Seva San Antonio volunteers came together for the first time after the pandemic to help keep the area that we have adopted clean.

PAST EVENT

VT Seva Cary conducted their April Monthly Meeting on April 17th, 2021. At the beginning of the meeting, the new 2021 youth board was introduced. They are: Thanuj Desu - President Rohitha Sanka - Vice President Mahathi Mallela - Secretary Nithya Janapati - Associate Secretary Sribhaavita Nekkalapudi - Communications Lead Manasvini Gudibandi - Associate Communication Lead Then, announcing about the most important volunteering opportunity of the month, Sribhaavita Nekkalapudi explained about VT Seva Cary’s ‘Research’ competition for Earth Day. For this competition, each participating volunteer was asked to choose a topic and research a specific question about the chosen topic. Manasvini Gudibandi then talked about the ‘Take Action’ Competition for Earth Day. For this competition, each participating volunteer was asked to choose a topic and take action on a question about that topic. After that, Siddharth Malireddy gave a violin performance as this month’s spotlight. He performed the national anthems of the United States and India. Following the violin performance, one of our core volunteers at VT Seva Cary and long time follower of Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji, Aravind Swamy, shared his experience on volunteering with VT Seva, and how volunteering helps many in need. Next, there was a discussion about communication and social media and how to utilize the platforms to share our activities, spread the word and inspire others about volunteering. Later volunteers were informed about the upcoming summer camp and how they can participate in the camp. Finally, volunteers concluded the session with a game of Kahoot and Mafia. Overall it was a very informative session where volunteers learned about the current and upcoming activities of VT Seva and were inspired by the spotlight and speaker series.

PAST EVENT

For one of VT Seva Bay Area’s Environmental Services events, we had our first creek cleanup! Youth volunteers went along the sides of a local milpitas creek and picked up garbage, waste, along with much more! This kept out ducks, turtles, and fish safe!

PAST EVENT

VT Seva Cary in collaboration with Carolina For The Kids successfully completed a Toy Drive. This drive was initiated by our youth volunteer Sowandarya Chivukula. She was assisted by Ishani Dasyam, Manasvi Gudibandi, Lasya Tula, Yashika Suraneni & Anish Yarlagadda. The drive ran for two weeks. Volunteers collected new toys from the homes of donors. All the toys that were collected through this drive were dropped off at UNC Children's hospital on April 9th, 2021. They will be going to the pediatric patients at the hospital. VT Seva Cary would like to thank all the donors and parents for their time & support!! Kudos to all the volunteers who participated in the toy drive!!

PAST EVENT

VT Seva North Jersey held different workshops over spring break. There was coding, chess, painting, website development, and science experiments. All proceeds from this event go towards a charitable cause. Through this fundraiser we were able to teach kids new things and also raise over $700 for a great cause.

PAST EVENT

One of VT Seva Bay Area’s April Environmental Services events was Milpitas Park Cleanup. For this event, 8 youth volunteers met up at a park to clean the playgrounds, grass, and sidewalks to keep our city clean!

PAST EVENT

VT Seva Bay Area’s Human Services branch conducted it’s monthly Sandwich Making activity on March 28. A total of 5 youth volunteers made a total of 50 sandwiches that were later delivered to a family housing shelter. Our volunteers worked hard to full stomachs of the less fortunate!

PAST EVENT

VT Seva Bay Area had its first Youth Climate Action Summit in the month of March. During these summits volunteers learned about different topics such as “Work in STEM, Save the Planet” or “Leadership Lab: Clean Solutions” and much more! As volunteers attended thes webinars they were required to take notes of the presentation and think about how they can help others with this information!

PAST EVENT

VT Seva Bay Area had its first compost gardening activity in the month of March. 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

VT Seva Cary recently conducted their March Monthly Meeting. Youth volunteers discussed about some of the programs and got to witness beautiful and artistic talent from their peers. The session started off with a big welcome to the wave of new volunteers who joined VT Seva Cary this month. These volunteers were very enthusiastic and it was joyful to see the branch grow. This welcome was followed by a beautiful guitar performance by Sowndarya Chivukula. She played the very popular piece, “Für Elise,” composed by Beethoven. After this performance, Mahathi Mallela and Rohitha Sanka talked about “Feed a School” program being conducted by VT Seva. They explained about Netra Vidyala and Tribal schools in India being run by our organization. They educated the volunteers on the different ways they could provide food for the students in these schools. If you would like to celebrate your special occasions by donating to these schools, then please visit the below link to know more about the “Feed a School” program. https://www.vtsworld.org/specialoccasion Following this discussion, Nithya Janapati presented a fascinating showcase of her talent. She presented a collection of her eye-catching art and talked to the volunteers about how important it is to have a stress-relieving hobby. Finally, the volunteers played a short game of Kahoot, and the meeting concluded with an engaging VT Seva version of Jeopardy, created by Thanuj Desu. March month’s meeting was very exciting and informative to all the youth volunteers. We can’t wait for April month’s meeting!

PAST EVENT

On March 27th, 2021, VT Seva Atlanta hosted a COVID-19 Awareness Webinar, in which Associate Professor Dr. Hans Ghayee and Cardiologist Dr. Jawahar Gazzala presented updates on the current COVID situation, variants of the virus, treatment and recovery processes, necessary travel/work precautions, and the COVID vaccines. Dr. Ghayee is an Associate Professor at the University of Florida, and works in the division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, while Dr. Gazzala is a cardiologist at Atlanta Heart Specialists in Atlanta, Georgia. With over 30 people attending, the event was well received by the attendees, as it was “informative, straightforward, and easily comprehensible.”

PAST EVENT

K-12 Students participated in the Virtual Public Speaking Contest. Based on their grade, the students spoke about how their lives have changed because of the pandemic, an influential historical figure they want to spend one day as, their thoughts on the Black Lives Matter Movement, or another major events in the past year. The participants got the opportunity to research, practice their public speaking, and share their thoughts.

PAST EVENT

VT Seva Bay Area had its monthly Letters to Seniors activity. Volunteers each wrote friendly, engaging, and positive letters to keep a senior engaged! Another great achievement this month, a grand total of 100 letters were mailed this month!

PAST EVENT

VT Seva Bay Area had its bi-monthly Health Services Webinar in March, for the second one, volunteers learned the importance of organ donation. Our volunteers had an informative session and q&a with Doctor Vineeta Kumar, MD, learning different facts about our organs!