PAST EVENT

YB members had the opportunity to help out at the Sri Balaji Temple of Great Lakes again on 7/1/22. This time we helped moving bricks from prayer hall to outside, clean them and bringing back to prayer hall. Packed Kumkum packets for distribution. Removed weeds / grass from backside parking lot and other areas. Helped assembling gasoline power wash. Since the the priests are getting ready for the temple's anniversary celebration lots of things have to be done.

PAST EVENT

As a part of Environmental Sustainability effort and Climate Change Action , Volunteers took apart if the Green Initiative by taking shorter showers, conserving energy, etc. one volunteer wrote “During the green initiative activity, I take measures to reduce my carbon footprint and save as much of our resources as possible. Some ways I do this is by using natural light instead of turning on the lights in my room when daylight is still there, using the bus to go to and from school everyday rather than using personal transportation, and buying locally sourced food from stores such as Lucky's and Safeway rather than other food. Although these measures taken are small, they eventually add up in the long-term and end up reducing the amount of waste I produce in regards to the resources I have access to. I find these actions really important for our environment and our future so I do them gladly.”

PAST EVENT

VTSEVA Youth volunteers cleaned local streets and parks of trash or litter, working to keep our cities clean! Before Covid, volunteers used to go together and adopt a street. Now guidelines have changed to minimize the spread of COVID-19. It is now an individual activity. Each member provides a date and time they plan to do the activity. Then after they finish their trash picking they collect the following information. Time, date, location of the activity, how much distance they covered and names of the streets/how much trash was collected

PAST EVENT

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), organic waste makes up more than 28% of landfills. Unfortunately, landfills lack the necessary conditions for ample decomposition. Rather than adding to landfills, composting is a much better solution. By composting we are able to reduce the amount of waste that ends up at landfills, and instead, we let the nutrients return back to Earth so it can be recycled naturally. This event focuses on having volunteers make compost in their own gardens. Volunteers will take pictures each weekend on how the compost is coming along.

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 Youths aspired to emulate these immortal words of Hellen Keller through our Mask Making project for the Special Needs Kids of the Laurel Heights Hospital. Our VT youths went to work after hearing CDC Delta variant guidelines to protect the lives of special need kids by stitching additional 1000 masks which we presented to them on June 30th, 2022. From January 1st till June 30th, 2022, VT Seva Atlanta Youths have stitched 5000 masks and donated these masks to their friends of the Laurel Heights Hospital. They also made ‘Thank You” cards for the Doctors and office staff and ‘Appreciation Cards’ for the jewels of the Laurel Heights Hospital. Whether Covid or no Covid, Laurel Heights Doctors are always there as front-line heroes to serve our community, thus VT Seva youths want to acknowledge their services with hand-made thank you cards. They made cards for the Laurel Heights jewels to bring smiles on their faces and convey our love and appreciation for their never giving up attitude in spite of their physical challenges. Mr. Corey Jackson, CEO of the Laurel Heights acknowledged 13 VT Seva youths with a ‘Certificate of Appreciation’ for their selfless service for the community. Dr. Smitha Batulla and Sonya Rice, the Marketing Director of Laurel Heights highly appreciated the consistency that VT youths have exhibited in making and delivering masks for the Special Needs kids. They said that many charitable organizations come and do some service for the Laurel Heights, but they have not seen any organization like VT Seva which are continuously supporting the cause since 2020 with their noble service actions. Mr. Corey Jackson awarded a ‘Digital Journal’ to Siri Arkatala for making 816 masks, highest among the VT youths. Dr. Madhu Nemani thanked Mr. Corey Jackson for providing this service opportunity to our VT youths and highlighted on strengthening this partnership and collaboration between VT Seva and Laurel Heights in future. For some actions, you don’t have the rights words to describe, our Mask Making project is one of those projects which is indescribable, very powerful, and highly impactful which connects VT Seva youths with Laurel Heights children heart-to-heart.

PAST EVENT

Health Services webinars are hosted in order to educate participants on nutrition, diseases, and health. This will be done by having guest speakers talk about their expertise of a certain health subject or by having a fitness session to keep everyone's body healthy.

PAST EVENT

Our youth volunteers, Pranav Sandadi and Anoushka Manica, performed musical pieces for residents at Fieldstone Memory Care Center in Issaquah. The music of Chopin/Mozart on Piana and Carnatic pieces on Veena brough smiles to all the residents there.

PAST EVENT

As part of our commitment to local communities, VTSEVA Seattle youth participated in an adopt-a-road event in Sammamish. We cleaned the roads and picked up recyclable items and trash as part of this effort.

PAST EVENT

𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝟯𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁- 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗔 𝗖𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝟯𝟯 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝟯 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘁𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝟵𝟯 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀!! 𝗪𝗲 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿!! 🎊 And this year's winning team is 𝗦𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘄 𝗙𝗖 The runners-up were 𝗗𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗙𝗮𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗨𝘁𝗱. All the teams were so amazing and competitive, at the same time displayed great friendly sportsmanship all throughout!! All in all it was a fun-filled, super charged event with huge turnout to support the noble cause of raising funds for the Nethra Vidyalaya & Tribal School children. Thank you to all participants🙏🙏

PAST EVENT

On June 25th, VT Seva New Jersey had the following volunteers assist at the Franklin Food Bank Sahasra Pabba Haasini Shradda Achanta Sumati Gurram Shrihan Kodati They helped with the food sorting and packing at the food bank. Doel the supervisor appreciated your efforts. Nice job team

PAST EVENT

Prajna Austin and VTSeva Austin are serving lunches every month at the Ronald McDonald House to families of patients undergoing treatment at Dell Children’s and other hospitals in the Austin area. This is a monthly event that has been taking place since November 2021. While Prajna Children (ages 5-11) donate the materials, the VTSeva youth (ages 12+) make PB&J sandwiches and pack them into bags along with fruits, chips, granola bars, desserts, and water bottles. 50 Lunches are provided every month with this initiative. All this is done with gratitude, love, and care for the community.

PAST EVENT

VT Seva Detroit Youth Board Members had a blessed opportunity to clean the Balaji Temple Garden. Our youth volunteers cleaned the garden by raking and removing the dry leaves, trimmed the bushes, powerwashed the windows, cleaned the landscape, removed the wood debris, pulled the weeds and dead anuual, removed dead growth from perennials, cleaned the plants and much more to make the garden looks better. It was a gratifying experience to see the clean garden. While most of our volunteers were cleaning the garden, two of our adult volunteers helped inside the temple by sorting and ironing the god's wardrobe. Overall it was really a fulfilling experience for all of our volunteers.

PAST EVENT

VTSEVA Seattle youth volunteers participated in community engagement by volunteering at Downtown Emergency Services Center (DESC). Volunteers helped unload and sort through donations for homeless shelters in Seattle downtown. All these items help DESC setup new homes for people in need within our communities.

PAST EVENT

Project Lead and Article written by: Harish Jaisankar Our Youth Board members and parents visited the Manoogian Manor seniors 2nd time in a row this summer. Our volunteers served juice to the seniors. Srivasta also entertained everyone by playing music in his guitar. It was a great evening spent with the seniors and the bonfire A huge thank you to all the youth and adult volunteers for spending time with the seniors. Youth Volunteers: Harish, Hajanthan, Varshan, Poorani, Vahini, Srivatsa & Sriram Adult Volunteers: Komathy, Veena and Priya

PAST EVENT

Summer tennis camp for kids is a 4 week or 8 week program where youth volunteers teach playing tennis from basic to advanced levels while making it fun