On March 20th,2022 Vt Seva Cary Kids volunteered at the FS Series Marathon. During the FS Series Half/Full Marathon, there were around a total of 120 participants who had competed. As the duration of the race had started around 6:45 AM and lasted till 10:30 AM, it was important for the racers to be hydrated throughout the race. As VT SEVA volunteers, we made it our job to make sure that these racers were hydrated during this race. We stood at Station 4 which is usually the spot where runners start to find themselves dehydrated which is why we took the role of providing water, gatorade and even small nutritional snacks. We stationed ourselves on both sides of the track and made our own gatorade to provide for the racers. VT Seva made their mark by bringing joyful attitudes to this race and made sure to assist in every way possible. Volunteers constantly put work in to gather water, make gatorade, or simply pick trash up on the track so it’s safe for racers. FS series team was very happy & impressed with VT-Seva volunteers dedication.

On March 6, 2022, a few of our youth volunteers went and participated in an event led by Durham Rescue Mission. During the event, we went to the Women and Children’s Campus and helped serve food and prepare lunch for those that were living there. We had 6 youth volunteers and 2 adult volunteers participate in this event. Some of the tasks we did included washing, drying, and organizing kitchen utensils and dishes, setting up the salad bar and the food for serving to the residents, cleaning the kitchen, and more. Durham Rescue Mission works to help the lives of families that are experiencing tremendous challenges. They provide housing, food, and basic necessities to restore peoples’ lives.

For the month of February, VT Seva Cary participated in a Valentine's Day card-making event. A total of 20 volunteers participated and gave cards that they made to be donated to retired veteran seniors in a senior home. A total of 70 cards were given to seniors @ Phoenix Assisted Care Center. Thanks to them VT Seva Cary was successfully able to distribute the cards. The elderly who received the cards, as well as the people who made them, were very happy. VT Seva Cary wishes them a Happy Valentines Day!

For the month of February, VT Seva Cary participated in a Valentine's Day card-making event. A total of 25 volunteers participated and gave cards that they made to be donated to retired veteran seniors in a senior home. A total of 100 cards were able to be donated through the Meals on Wheels Durham. Meals on Wheels Durham is an organization that is committed to serving the elderly. They do not only distribute meals but many other things to make their lives better. Thanks to them VT Seva Cary was successfully able to distribute the cards. The elderly who received the cards, as well as the people who made them, were very happy. VT Seva Cary wishes them a Happy Valentines Day!

VT Seva Cary recently celebrated their first annual Sadaya event. Sadaya, meaning kindness in Sanskrit, was dedicated to Netra Vidyalaya Schools and responsible for uplifting and supporting the education of visually-challenged students. Through splendiferous performances and stories, the event was highly successful and inspiring. Through videos that highlighted the struggles, journeys, and achievements of Nethra Vidyalaya students, we witnessed remarkable passion and determination. They provided details regarding their daily life and imparted insight on various other topics. Their most recent and most significant achievement occurred when they received the opportunity to march in the Republic Day Parade. Participating in this prestigious opportunity opened up new doors of opportunity and inspiration among the students and community. Additionally, during our Sadaya event, we discovered the awe-inspiring journey of two alumni students from the Nethra schools. They divulged their educational days and the current career paths they are pursuing. Throughout the event, the audience heard encouraging words about volunteering and the impact of service from the president and vice-president of VT Seva's National Board, Mr. Kiran Vangala, and Ms. Madhavi Donepudi, respectively. In addition to those top-notch speeches, the audience became well acquainted with world-renowned scientist John Cohn. He actively engaged the audience with his breakthrough career and motivated us with words about reaching your dreams and doing what you love. To convey his importance of enjoying one's life, he quoted from one of his favorite Irish playwrights, George Bernard Shaw, "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." Moreover, VT Seva Cary's Sadaya incorporated entertainment that included a plethora of performances ranging from classical melodies songs to upbeat modern dance performances. Apart from these dances, musical medleys, drumline performances from a local high school, and a Karra Samu performance completed the event. Without a doubt, this incredible event with the meaning of kindness in the atmosphere sparked a movement of understanding and happiness among the audience. VT Seva Cary successfully reached their goal of supporting 80 Nethra Vidyalaya students. The impact from dozens of wonderful families is not lost. To see the audience determined to help and support our Nethra Vidyalaya kids is stupendous and extraordinary. The Sadaya event and the ever-circling meaning of kindness were not just bound to the walls of Zoom but rather augmented outward and beyond. Sadaya was truly an inspiring act of kindness.

During the last weekend of October 30th and 31th, VT-SEVA Cary and it’s enthusiastic volunteers participated in the RDC Marathon, which took place in Apex. Waking up early on the weekends, the volunteers were determined to help out and give back to the community. On a series of two days, the volunteers cheerfully and enthusiastically participated on both days. Time stamps ranged from early at 6:30 in the morning till almost noon. Small groups of VT-SEVA’s volunteers encouraged and did everything they could to make this experience good for them, as well as the participating runners. VT-SEVA has previously, many times, been participating in the FS-Series as well, and as much as it brought joy to the volunteers as always, this was no different. Many volunteers encouraged as they saw the participants running with as much enthusiasm. The twist of Halloween and fall although, brought even more excitement. Many participants were dressed up in their halloween costumes, and our volunteers cheered, encouraged and clapped for their determination and participation. VT-SEVA Cary has always been, and will definitely love to continue being a part of this journey with FS-Series and supporting marathon runners for the good cause, in the long run.

VT Seva Cary held our Halloween Hungama Carnival on October 24, 2021. This event was a Halloween Carnival for special-needs children which included different activities and fun experiences for the kids to participate in. During this event, we organized a variety of activities, such as Sack Racing, Painting, Pumpkin Toss, and the kids took pictures in front of our Halloween banner. We had 16 volunteers participate in this Halloween event. Throughout the event, our volunteers did an exceptional job handling the children that attended, and were extremely patient. Our volunteers interacted with the children to entertain them We had a lot of fun doing this event, and hope to participate in the future too!

The FS Series Cupcake Marathon took place on the 16th of October at Brier Creek Commons in Raleigh. During this event, various individuals, kids, teens, adults, and seniors, all participated in a 5K marathon and ended up with a t-shirt, a medal, and a cupcake. VT Seva played a big role in this event, with 8 volunteers working to provide water bottles to the tired and thirsty runners in the event as well as the volunteers cheering them on as they were running past the water stand. The volunteers had a great time participating in this event as they were able to help and encourage the runners in their efforts to complete the marathon and were very well received by the runners as they passed by the water stand. Also, following the marathon itself, some of the volunteers helped disassemble the tables and stands and helped wrap up the event. All in all, this volunteering event was a great experience for the VT Seva volunteers as they were able to help the runners through the marathon by providing them with water bottles and cheering them on, and also, the volunteers as a result made the experience that much better for the runners themselves.

VT Seva Cary volunteers on July 31st, our volunteers participated in the Adopt-A-Highway event. Volunteers cleaned 3 miles on Green Level Church Rd, between the Morrisville Pkwy & Carpenter Fire station road Intersections. VT Seva Cary did a fantastic cleanup as part of the Adopt A highway program.

VT Seva Cary conducted virtual summer camp in the month of JULY for elementary & middle school kids. Camp offered from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm . Below tutors did awesome job with their great teaching skills. They showed a lot patience in handling the kids especially with different grades of kids. Mahathi Mallela, Parnika Dandepally, Siddharth Malireddi,Sribhaavita Nekkalapudi,Neeraja Boppana,Suchir Madap,Aneesh Yarlagadda,Akhil Dammalapati, Rohitha Sanka,Thanuj Desu,Nithya Janapati,Ashrith Desu,Saran Chittela,Rahul Solleti,Anish Voota,Ishani Dasyam, Sarayu Buchireddygari KUDOS to all you for your patience & talents!! Parents were very happy and appreciated with great feed back about tutors in handling this camp We appreciate each tutor to support for taking the ownership and supporting the younger kids in this summer and raising funds to help our visually challenged kids.

Recently, VT Seva Cary had their June Monthly Meeting. The Youth Board talked about the process to enter volunteers’ hours for their volunteering events. After that, we also had one of our youth volunteers, Anish Voota, talk about the volunteering experience that he led in his community. Anish and his group led a talent show throughout his community for all ages. Anish told us about the process of starting this talent show and spreading the message across his community. Anish conducted this talent show to help support visually challenged kids and VT Seva's Mission and Vision. Following Anish’s spotlight, the Youth Board discussed the upcoming VT Seva Summer Camp and talked about the summer camp details. Towards the end of the meeting, volunteers were informed about the Essay Writing Boot Camp for rising seniors, taught by a former VT Seva Youth Board President and high school graduate, Chandu Changalvala. Our volunteers played a fun and entertaining game to end the meeting.

Occurring on June 19th, 20th, 26th, and 27th in 2021, Chandu Changalvala led a workshop for rising 12th graders to talk about her experience writing college essays and discussing some points about writing essays. Chandu is a rising college freshman, heading to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte on the Levine Scholarship, and a former VT Seva Cary Youthboard President in 2020-2021. On the first day of the camp, Chandu communicated to the students about the information on the college application process and the timeline of applications, including types of applications and their requirements. During the second day, the students brainstormed different topics they were interested in, with their own life lessons, and created rough drafts of essays for those topics. On the third day of the boot camp, they chose the essay draft they liked the most and wrote another draft of that chosen topic. Chandu also met with each student individually and discussed things they can change about their essay draft. On the last day of the camp, the students made their final essay drafts of their chosen topic and met with Chandu for any questions they had. The students came out of this boot camp with a great understanding of college essay writing and had a well-written college essay, as all funds and proceeds have been donated to Bharat Covid Relief Fund, for COVID-19 relief for India.

VT Seva Cary conducted a Virtual Workshop on "WILL with Living Trust" on June 13th,2021 by Ram Nimma from 3pm- 4:30pm. The session was successful and went well with 25 participants. Please find the high-level topics that were covered during the workshop 1.WILL with Living Trust 2.Last Will and Testament 3.Probate Avoidance Living Trust 4.Power of Attorney 5.Commerical & Personal Insurance The session concluded with Q & A on Will and insurance

VT Seva Cary recently held their May monthly meeting. Youth volunteers discussed about VT Seva's pillars and study tips for their upcoming exams. For this meeting we had about 25 volunteers attend the meeting. The session began with reviewing the process of how to enter your hours, next up we had the youthboard talk about some study tips because we all know, May is the month of exams! Later on, we had one of our volunteers, Lasya Tula, sing her favorite Carnatic song as our monthly spotlight. After that, we had Aneesh Y and Team talk about their science club and what they will be teaching, the topics, how long the club will go on and when to sign up. Following the informational discussion, VT Seva Branch directors announced the Earth Competition Winners who were Lasya Tula, Ishani Dasyam and Anirudh Janapati and fund raising tips to support VT Seva pillars.

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.