The world we live in is nothing short of a miracle. It is home to unparalleled beauty and wonders so marvelous they seem almost preposterous, for no man-made artifact can rival the bewitching allure of even the simplest forests. Each design, from the delicate etchings of leaves to the concentric circles of tree trunks to the twinkling glow of a rainbow, is remarkable, a paragon of beauty. It is now our responsibility to keep it beautiful and clean. The Atlanta VT Seva team has been cleaning Old Atlanta Rd since April 2022, and on Jan 25th, 2023, VT Seva Atlanta has been given the title on Old Atlanta Rd. We are very excited and we will keep the city clean for ourselves and for the future generations.

With an intent to help those in need, 20 of our VT Seva volunteers, both teen and adult, participated in a program called “Meals by Grace” on January 22. Meals by Grace is a no-cost program designed to help children and families in need. The volunteers worked to sort, pack, and deliver food to families in Forsyth county. Those who were a part of the “Breads” team loaded bags with various types of bread, such as cinnamon rolls and sandwiches. The “Produce” team sorted and cut fresh fruits and vegetables and packed boxes full of them. Finally, the “Load” team put frozen meat in boxes and helped stack all of the boxes and bags into cars for delivery. Our volunteers were directly involved in helping more than 68 families in our own community, from packing to delivering. VT Seva is thankful that we were able to be a part of this gratifying experience and service those experiencing food insecurity. We will continue to aid those around us with a caring heart and open mind.

Atlanta VT Seva youths have set up a VT Booth at the Sankranthi event on Jan 21, 2023 to spread the word out. We had great participation at the booth where we distributed 2023 VT Seva calendars, VT brochures, hand-made cloth bags made by Atlanta youths to all attendees. More than 40 participants joined our VT Seva group and showed keen interest in volunteering. VT Seva calendar is a great personal planner and a good gift to our friends and family members to engage their kids in VT Seva volunteer activities. It’s a unique creation of Atlanta youths and nowhere in any US VT Seva branch they have this unparalleled and creative calendar.

Youths from VT Seva Northview High School took part in the Lights of Hope project, putting and removing Deepavali lights and Christmas lights for the Johns Creek Station community, raising $1100 for "Nethra Vidyalaya" students. VT Seva Northview youths, under the direction of the youth club President, Adithya Karthik Upadhyayula, are leading this kid-to-kid initiative.

VT Seva Atlanta youths participated on January 14, 2023 in transforming plastic bags into mats for the homeless people in Atlanta. Our volunteers and parents participated so actively in this workshop and learnt the steps needed to prepare these mats. The youth collected plastic bags from their homes and neighborhood & learned to make plastic yarn. This is a wonderful service project that can benefit the needy by reusing the plastic bags and turning them into mats. We are once again as VT Seva volunteers reiterating the fact that we should Reuse, Recycle, and Reduce the plastic bags consumption in our daily lives. This project will run from Jan 1st till May 31st 2023. It’s a great eco- friendly initiative by Atlanta youths and adults. We had more than 40 volunteers participate in the event and truly enjoyed this activity.

Lambert VT Seva Youths have dedicated their Jan & Feb months for the service of Seniors of Benton House Senior Living Center to cheer them up & build companionship bonds with them. They will help in setting up their daily activities, play bingo games, do puzzles, sing songs, and listen to their stories and experiences. Great start of 2023 by Lambert Atlanta youths!

Yoga is defined as a practice of physical, mental, and spiritual well-being that originated in ancient India. The word yoga has come from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning “to unite”. The practice aims to create a union between body, mind, and soul as well as between the individual self and universal consciousness. This yoga session conducted by VT Seva is very informative and hands-on session. More than 30 children and adults participated in this session. Swamy Vendra, our Certified Yoga instructor, taught us many different yoga techniques and illustrated the benefits of yogasanas. For example, some of these yoga poses help boost mental focus and physical health. For high schoolers, staying in focus is the biggest priority because it helps increase productivity in studies. Some other yoga techniques taught by him had physical benefits like improving physical balance, strength, and improving stamina. Swamy Vendra illustrated some of these yoga poses that could even boost height and help build muscle, which are liked by all. Overall, all attendees felt that this VT Seva yoga session taught by Swamy Vendra is a big success and we look forward to many more self-improvement sessions from VT Seva in the future.

We celebrated New Year’s day by making flowers and sharing flowers & happiness with all. It’s a great craft activity in which Atlanta VT Seva youths learned how to make paper flowers and beautiful creative cards with the flower on it to share it with our loved ones. We had experienced artists, Adesh Srivastava showed us how to make paper flowers, and Manu Satsangi demonstrated how to make a New Years card using the paper flowers. In the end, all the youth shared their New Years cards with each other. More than 30 children participated in this session and it was a great start to the year 2023. Whether it’s spring, autumn, summer, or winter, there are flowers in every season and for every person. Atlanta VT Seva youths made colorful flowers and shared flowers and blessings with others on this New Year’s Day!

According to Helen Keller, “The unselfish effort to bring cheer to others will be the beginning of a happier life for ourselves.” VT Seva Atlanta emulates the example of Helen Keller and cheerfully packed goodie bags and made Happy Holiday cards to spread Holiday cheers to the underserved children of Georgia through our 'Blessings in the Backpack' program on December 17th, 2022. Atlanta VT Seva Youth was able to spread much holiday cheer this season for these kids and spread smiles to the youth volunteers as well.

VT Seva Alliance Academy Youth Club members made ‘Thank You’ cards and gave small gifts to the custodial and kitchen staff members of Alliance today to appreciate their sincere efforts in keeping the school clean and providing healthy lunch. This initiative is from Kate Chirapornsuk, the Secretary of the club. This club promotes diversity & inclusion and many Americans are youth members of this club. It’s a gratifying experience for all the club members of Alliance Academy For Innovation on December 15th, 2022.

With Swamiji blessings, SUBHA 2nd annual event was a success in terms of maximum youth participation, richness in the cultural program, funds raised for the Nethra Jewels, and promoting diversity and inclusion. We are able to accomplish our goal of raising funds for approximately 125 Nethra kids with your immense Grace and generous support of our donors. The SUBHA annual event was organized on Dec 3rd, 2022, in which Atlanta youths presented a cultural program consisting of melodious songs, magnificent dances, and meaningful messages. Our Chief Guests were Sargent Seamore from Johns Creek Police Department, Dana Reynolds and Donaldson from Laurel Heights Hospital Business Development Team, and Dr. Praveen Gudipati from Cumming Dental. The program commenced by lighting an auspicious lamp and prayer recitation. Next, were the American and Indian National Anthems by our youths. Subsequently, was a welcome speech by Madhu Nemani. Thereafter, was a stellar presentation ‘Alone we can’t Together we CAN’ by Hithesh Gazzalaji and Anuradha Gazzalaji in which they presented the highlights of Atlanta’s year-round volunteer works. Next, was an Indian Kucchipudi dance by Prajna children which was followed by ‘Unity in Diversity’ our star performance in which 5 VT Seva Youth Club members participated - Lambert high school, Denmark high school, Northview high school, Alliance academy, and Alpharetta high school. They exhibited the real unity in diversity by portraying a beautiful action song on ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’. Thereafter Atlanta youths presented Bollywood dances, Indian classical songs, and Instrumental music performances which created an aura of celebration and commemoration for all. Afterwards, our Chief guests rendered their inspirational speeches in which they highly praised the exemplary volunteer works that our VT Seva youths have done this year, their selfless service, its positive impact on the Atlanta community, donations raised, and stellar cultural program. Later, momentous were given to the Chief guests, sponsors, VT Seva children, and volunteers. In the end, VT Seva Director appreciated the hard work, dedication, and selfless service of the entire Atlanta team. She also sincerely thanked all the donors for their generous contributions for the noble cause. Overall, Subha 2022 was a very rewarding and gratifying experience for us. The delightful dances, the meaningful messages, and the soulful songs together created a memorable and treasured afternoon for all.

VT Seva Denmark Youth Club made special ‘Thank You’ cards for the Thomas Eye group staff members from November 20 - 28, 2022. They delivered these cards on November 28th. All Doctors and staff members were incredibly happy and grateful to see loving-caring cards by our VT youths. Our youths have created an everlasting impression on them and they took VT Seva website address to see how they can support this volunteer organization in future.

VT Seva Atlanta adopted another street - Brannon Rd in Cumming, GA on November 13, 2022. More than 30 youths & adults are participated in the street cleanup activity. It was 32 degrees in Atlanta. Rain n shine, VT volunteers are always delivering quality service!

VT Seva Atlanta youths collected 200 lbs of candy for the US troops on the borders to spread the joy and holiday cheers with them. One kind hearted dentist of Atlanta provided special goody bags to all the Atlanta VT Seva youths for their contribution. Each goody bag has a tooth brush, paste, smart rinse, and other Halloween giveaways. He is so impressed by our youth activities that he has donated 1500 for Subha annual event. 🍭Trick or treat, bags of SWEETS 🍭 VT children walking down the streets!

VT Seva Atlanta youths had donated 500 cotton cloth masks to the Special Needs kids of the Laurel Heights Hospital on October 30, 2022. These masks are stitched by our VT Seva Atlanta youths. The Laurel Heights staff highly appreciates our youths year round contribution and loving-caring attitude for the jewels of hospital. We have donated 6,500 masks till now in year 2022. It really helped them in minimizing flu break and Covid prevention at the hospital.