PAST EVENT

Our Youth Board members and parents continue visiting the Manoogian Manor Seniors during their monthly bonfire. The seniors were so happy to see our group again! Our volunteers served lemonade, sweet tea and cookies. They had good time talking with the seniors and entertained them by singing song and playing music instruments.

PAST EVENT

VT Seva Atlanta volunteers visited Nethra Vidyalaya in Vizak, India on July 18th, 2022 and interacted with the students and staff members of the school. It was an amazing feeling to meet Nethra students and learned about their daily schedule, curriculum, and co-curricular activities. They have won many awards at National chess, cricket, races, and other sports. In addition, they are also champions in fine arts – music, cultural, handicrafts, and are learning self-reliant skills like thread bangles, glass paining etc. They have the vision far superior then many of the us have with 2 physical eyes. Not only Nethra students are amazing, but also Nethra school teachers. Their selfless service is exemplary and very inspiring. Madhuri ji gave us the tour of the whole school and it was amazing to see how independent and self-reliant Nethra students are. For this special event, VT Seva Atlanta youths stitched 500 masks for the Nethra jewels and teachers. They also made 150 loving-caring cards for them to motivate them and also appreciate their accomplishments. His Holiness Sri Devanatha Jeeyar Swamiji (disciple of HH Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji) gave blessings to the Atlanta VT Seva and Jet Team. He was very happy to see Atlanta VT Seva Newsletter and the projects that we did in year 2021 and 2022. It was very rewarding and humbling experience for all the VT Seva volunteers. It’s a very special and memorable trip for all the volunteers and we look forward to visit Nethra school and Nethra jewels in the future.

PAST EVENT

Tule Ponds at Tyson Lagoon is a "Wetland in the City." This innovative area is used for flood control but also as a wildlife sanctuary for the many species that live in an urban environment. Since the land is 17 acres it is being restored to the flora of a San Francisco Bay area of at least 1 million years old. Native trees, shrubs, and flowers are being introduced which then bring some of the native fauna. Volunteers at Tule Ponds participate in many activities such as native plant installation (planting trees, shrubs or wildflowers), non-native plant removal, trash removal from ponds and trails, spreading mulch and chips around plants and on trails and much more!

PAST EVENT

On July 17, VT Seva volunteers had an excellent opportunity to participate in the weekly Kids Vikas program at Sri Ashtalakshmi Temple benefitting Kids’ Meals. 272 meals were packed by an efficient crew of adult and youth volunteers. We look forward to participating in the weeks to come!

PAST EVENT

RAFT’s mission is to help educators transform a child’s learning experience through hands-on education to one that inspires the joy and discovery of learning. It's vision is to inspire the next generation of innovators, by providing educators with stem based resources. Volunteers will help sort and package materials for use by teachers for hands on teaching purposes. By volunteering with RAFT, organization skills, communication skills, and social skills are gained.

PAST EVENT

Atlanta VT Seva had its 2nd Adopt-A-Road Cleanup at Old Atlanta Road on July 17th, 2022. With impressive dedication, around 30 participants came and cleaned up trash throughout the morning. It was an eye-opening experience for everyone, and it showed how much effort was needed to keep our planet clean. Srinivas Kukkadapu and her daughter led students from Lambert High School to participate in the cleanup. Adults and children alike bonded over the experience as they worked together to ensure the road was clean. By the end of the cleanup, the Atlanta VT Seva team had picked up four full bags of trash. Overall, the Adopt-A-Road Cleanup was an amazing experience that truly strengthened our bond with the environment and our fellow volunteers.

PAST EVENT

In the month of July, 17 of VT Seva youth board volunteers took part in the Brilliant Detroit Story Reading Book project. Brilliant Detroit is an organization that helps out underprivileged children in the Metro Detroit area in many ways. We had a total of 59 videos submitted and these videos will be put in a YouTube playlist where underprivileged children in the Metro Detroit area can access them to sharpen up their reading skills over the summer.

PAST EVENT

On July 10th, a team of 25 plus VT Seva Atlanta youths and adults volunteered at Meals By Grace, a food ministry that sorts, packs and delivers food to the needy in Forsyth County in northern suburbs of Atlanta. The volunteers worked on Produce, Breads and Load teams. As part of Produce team, they sorted produce, cut fruit and loaded 59 boxes with variety of fresh produce such as salad mixes, vegetables such as onions, potatoes, squash, fruits such as bananas, strawberries, and herbs. The bread team loaded bags with different kinds of bread, dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls and other desserts.The load team helped unload the pantry truck and then load the boxes in cars for delivery to the families. Our group delivered food to the needy families at the end of service. It’s a gratifying experience for all youth and adult volunteers🙏

PAST EVENT

On July 10th, a team of 25 plus VT Seva Atlanta youths and adults volunteered at Meals By Grace, a food ministry that sorts, packs and delivers food to the needy in Forsyth County in northern suburbs of Atlanta. The volunteers worked on Produce, Breads and Load teams. As part of Produce team, they sorted produce, cut fruit and loaded 59 boxes with variety of fresh produce such as salad mixes, vegetables such as onions, potatoes, squash, fruits such as bananas, strawberries, and herbs. The bread team loaded bags with different kinds of bread, dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls and other desserts.The load team helped unload the pantry truck and then load the boxes in cars for delivery to the families. Our group delivered food to the needy families at the end of service. It’s a gratifying experience for all youth and adult volunteers🙏

PAST EVENT

The Capuchin Soup Kitchen’s Earthworks Urban Farm is a large certified organic farm where the majority of their produce goes into meals at the soup kitchen who serve food to many homeless people in the Detroit community. VT Seva team helped there by removing the weeds, cleaning the landscapes, removing scapes, Sifting the compost pile and turning it into dirt. To sift the compost means to dig up solid and pass it thru metal weave to separate the wanted and unwanted materials. The Compost was further used in gardens, nurseries etc.

PAST EVENT

On July 9, 2022, with an overwhelming response from our VT Seva team, we volunteered at the Houston Food Bank. It was a great atmosphere, and we are always grateful for the opportunity to serve! Our supervisor at the Houston Food Bank provided a summary of the morning’s work – 15 pallets of donated food were reviewed for expiry, sanitized and prepared. This equals 8,661 pounds of food or 7,217 meals! Some of the important takeaways we noted from this experience were education for our youth volunteers on food expiry information, how donated food and personal care items are sourced, and how the need of hunger is met effectively by the Houston Food Bank. Thanking all our volunteers once again!

PAST EVENT

VT Seva Detroit once again got this wonderful oppourtunity to help them this year in their gardening efforts. We helped Bobby and her associate Herb Norgrove in clearing out all the weeds, made a smooth ground for planting, and till the ground using Rototiller. It was such a great enriching experience for all the youth and adult volunteers to learn about using different garden tools and about gardening basics as well. All in all, we had a great time outdoors helping the community and also getting inspired by seeing how some of the elderly people who came there and volunteered as well giving back to the community.

PAST EVENT

On July 6th VTSeva Austin youth had an opportunity to meet and greet the police officers with an appreciation lunch to the entire team of 50- RRPD from VTSeva

PAST EVENT

It’s that time of year again when kids enjoy summertime and learn a new skill. Most successful people are those who are best in learning new skills. Teaching kids’ crafts improves dexterity, problem solving and creativity – and preserves these traditions for the next generation. It’s summertime and it won’t be long until school starts again, and those good days are around the corner. It won’t be long until VT Seva Atlanta youths start another summer initiative – Knitting & Crocheting classes for girls and boys. It’s fun, hands-on learning which you don’t wanna miss… There is one time registration fee of $60 for both classes / $40 for one class.

PAST EVENT

Seattle youth volunteers participated in Seedlings for Education project by raising and selling plants within the community in the months of May and June. Youth members raised Jasmine, Rose, Tomato, Beans, and Chukka koora plants. All these plants were sold at various events such as Annual Prajna Day, Veda temple, and local neighborhood stalls. As part of this effort, team raised $1550 towards education pillar of VTSEVA.