Adopt A Highway is an event that VT SEVA Cary has taken up every quarter for the past 5 years. We clean and maintain a portion of Green Level church road and plan on continuing this in the future. During this event, youth volunteers stepped up to help in the cleaning and maintenance of Green Level Church Road between Morrisville Parkway and the Carpenter Fire Station road Intersection. Our 12 youth volunteers and 2 adult volunteers did a wonderful job of carefully picking up trash and litter in the area, and contributing to the cleanliness of our community!

Every quarter, for the past 5 years, VT SEVA Cary volunteers have participated in Adopt a Highway. For the first time, VT SEVA Cary has participated in an Adopt a Highway with the Town of Apex! Volunteers participated in cleaning up the area on West Street Park in Apex, and made sure that the necessary clean-up and care was done. Great job to all of our 15 youth volunteers and 2 adult volunteers who showed up and did their best work!

VT SEVA Cary had the opportunity to create appreciation cards for our beloved WakeMed staff at the WakeMed Cary Hospital. VT SEVA Cary volunteers were able to make 200 cards total with appreciative, thoughtful, and kind messages. The cards were dropped off at a location by April 27th, and were delivered to WakeMed Cary to reach the staff and serve as a reminder of their continuous hard work and service for our community. The handmade cards by our volunteers not only featured lovely messages, but also creative uses of color and imagery that we hope helped warm the hearts of their recipients. We had a total of 50 volunteers participate in the creation of these cards! Great job to all of our volunteers!

In collaboration with the Town of Morrisville, VT SEVA Cary volunteers participated in the Town of Morrisville Green Day Event where youth volunteers assisted adult volunteers in the textile station, FOG collection, paper shredding, and the goodwill. The Town of Morrisville hosts Green Day events for community members to recycle goods that cannot be placed in residential recycling pickup and to dispose of hazardous or sensitive materials. These events are sponsored by the Public Works Department, the Sustainability Program, and the Morrisville Environment and Stormwater Committee, and they take place each spring and fall. Our 6 youth volunteers diligently volunteered in each of their roles, and efficiently assisted their adult volunteers to contribute towards the betterment of our environment!

Supporting the ASHA foundation, VT SEVA Cary volunteers worked at the crafts center, game center, face painting, and meet/greet stations to support the Easter Egg Hunt event hosted by ASHA. This event supports children with special needs. Our 15 youth volunteers and 2 adult volunteers came together to provide support for this event with their immaculate patience and kindness as they performed each of their roles.

To support VT SEVA Cary’s core mission of supporting the education of visually challenged children, our volunteers hosted and participated in a Walkathon fundraiser. During this fundraising event, both youth and adult volunteers provided exceptional support to the runners, and spread awareness of VT SEVA’s mission. Our 22 youth volunteers specifically spread awareness and information about the Walkathon to garner support for its cause, while other youth volunteers volunteered at the event as checkpoint volunteers, and water/gatorade station volunteers. Our 20 adult volunteers provided equal support with their help with the set up/clean up, and guiding the runners along with the youth. All together, our volunteers contributed greatly to the success of this event, and did an amazing job in their roles!

Taking care of our beautiful planet is something that must be at the forefront of all of our minds today as we begin to acknowledge the impacts humans have had on the Earth in the past centuries. To educate and inspire others to respect and take care of our Earth, our VT SEVA Cary volunteers have created multiple infographic presentations to spread awareness of potential issues surrounding our environment and to ways to protect Earth. Through each infographic, each volunteer was able to spread the ideology that Earth day is not just an annual event, but rather it must be every day. We had 34 youth volunteers participate in this event! They did an amazing job with their colorful, creative, and informational presentations that are definitely worth a read!

Durham Rescue Mission volunteering has been one of our core volunteering events over the past couple years and we have consistently been requested to come back and help. This time was like none other, and volunteers were asked to help serve meals to the men at the Men’s Campus. Durham Rescue Mission is NC’s oldest and largest non-profit homeless shelter. Volunteers were able to help with one of their core aspects of service which is serving meals for the homeless who take shelter at the Rescue Mission. We were able to commit to a great cause and help the homeless community right here in our own towns through this volunteering event at Durham Rescue Mission - Men’s Campus.

Invited by the Durham Food Bank once again, we were asked to help assist inside the warehouse. There were many tasks that the Food Bank wanted us to help out with and volunteers were able to meet all the needs and help out with their community. Working hard, volunteers were able to complete duties such as sorting out produce and placing them in family size bags, sorting out donations from retail stores such as Food Lion and Harris Teeter, cleaning and bagging Capri Sun, sorting and inspecting food drive donations from individuals and corporate donations, and bagging cereal, rice, or pasta into family size bags. Volunteers did an amazing job helping out at the Food Bank again, helping out throughout the warehouse and creating a happy community of those in need.

An annual event, we have come back to volunteer at the FS Series Marathon. We have taken part in this event multiple years in the past, always asked to come back and help them out more and more. This is due to the tremendous jobs our volunteers are able to do as part of the event time after time. This year at the 2024 Tobacco Road Marathon volunteers supported the water aid station. They were set up handing out closed bottles to the runners as well as pumping up their spirits and cheering them on. Our volunteers were able to be organized while also creating an efficient water hand-off station which ensured that the event was well-organized and a positive experience for runners.

The DAV stands for Disabled America Veterans. As a symbol of remembrance and to commemorate the lives of soldiers, servicemen, and women that were lost fighting, little blue Forget-Me-Nots have been created since World War I. The DAV collects these flowers and are distributed to veterans to show our support for them. Annually, 500,000 flowers are created in support for this cause. Joining in, VT Seva Cary has decided to volunteer to create 5,000 Forget-Me-Nots for the DAV. Volunteers gathered at one location to help create these flowers. They were tasked with attaching flowers to a stick as well as adding a paper indicating what the meaning of the flowers were. After being collected we were able to create a gracious amount of Forget-Me Nots for the event. Volunteers did a great job staying on task, finishing the flowers efficiently, while helping make a big difference in the veterans’ lives.

Supporting the Town of Morrisville, our volunteers took part in the drain marking event. This event tasked the volunteers with monitoring oncoming traffic, while installing drain markers and marking those areas on a map of Morrisville that was given. This was done in an effort to keep the stormwater of Morrisville clean and assist the town with other aspects of drainage, water runoff, etc. We have done this event a couple years in the past, and this year, thanks to the wonderful jobs by our volunteers, we were asked to come back and help once again. This event was done on two other shifts at different locations that were held on two other days. (3/17/2024 and 3/24/2024).

This volunteering event was done through the Sri Venkateswara Temple of NC. As the Temple is expanding and changing, we were requested to help out with the gardening aspects of the temple. Our volunteers put in the physical effort to help the temple with landscaping, mulching, and gardening around the temple. They were also needed to help carry and lift supplies and other materials. Connecting with the nature around them and helping our Earth, as well as our well respected friends at the SV Temple, we were able to help create a beautiful environment that was much appreciated.

As part of the WAKE Up and Read Volunteering activity, VT Seva Cary volunteers were part of a community initiative in 2024 to improve school readiness, expand learning opportunities, and also engage families in the learning process. It is ultimately a way for volunteers to commit to a charitable cause that helps the underprivileged by building home libraries for them in Wake County. Volunteers were able to take part in one of the biggest book drives on March 2nd. This activity asked volunteers to help sort, count, and bundle books that would then be shared with the community. They were also tasked with receiving books, and sorting/compiling literacy materials. This event allowed our volunteers to become closer within our Wake County community and help support the underprivileged.

Vt Seva Cary provided an opportunity to make Valentine's Day Cards and Bracelets for the seniors at Meals on Wheels at the Durham Campus towards an amazing cause! Thanks to the volunteers’ creativity and spirit of volunteerism, we were able to brighten someone’s day on this beautiful holiday. We would like to thank our youth volunteers for making this years Valentine’s day a very special one for the seniors at Meals on Wheels by showing their love and support through the Valentine’s Day Cards making and Protein Shake collection event! Your kindness has certainly touched the hearts of many and will make someone’s day brighter.  We had 58 volunteers sign up for the Valentine Day cards and were able to deliver a total of 232 beautiful and creative cards. The ask for protein shakes from Meals on Wheels came at the last minute. Knowing that they won’t receive any hours for this activity, we had 7 youth volunteers sign up and they were able to donate more than 70 bottles displaying a true act of kindness. We would like to give a special shout out to Praveena ji for dropping the cards and protein shakes at Meals on wheels . Your kindness has certainly touched the hearts of many and made this Valentine’s Day brighter for our community!