VT Seva hosted a delightful event on May 10th that brought together the Utsav Success Meet and a Mother's Day celebration. It was a fantastic day filled with joy and gratitude. The highlight was definitely the heartfelt notes written by VT Seva youth members, celebrating their amazing moms. The event was a perfect mix of acknowledging the hard work of our volunteers and showing love to all the wonderful mothers. It was a memorable day, full of smiles and warm moments!

Seattle youth and adult volunteers participated in an Earth Day event restoring native habitat at Evans Creek Preserve for eventual meadows and bee hive setup later this year.

Proud of our VTSeva Seattle Team for a massively successful UTSAV Annual Event on April 7th. Our youth team had the opportunity to showcase the journey of our Netra Robotics team to the world championship through a captivating Drama. Together in 2023, we empowered by sponsoring education for 652 students across our Netra Vidyalaya and Jeeyar Gurukulam schools. We are incredibly proud of our dedicated volunteers and thankful for the donors who supported our mission. The Utsav Event was a night filled with captivating performances, heartfelt moments, and inspiring stories, leaving a lasting impact on all attendees.

Seattle youth volunteers collected canned food to support local food bank. In total, volunteers donated 300 lbs. of canned food and helped sort donations at the warehouse.

We completed our first Pradaan/Sewa Diwali food donation to Northshore school district food pantry last week. This is first of our Pradaan contributions this festive season. We have one more to go before end of the year. Thanks to all the youth volunteers - Sathkrith, Achyuth, Nikhil, Smaran, Hemanth, Akshara, Pranav - who helped with the flyer design, waiting in cold outside QFC/Fred Meyer, collecting all the canned food and cash donations. Thanks also to the parents for helping out!

As part of October Microsoft giving campaign, Seattle VTSEVA team conducted a chess competition for Microsoft employees. We had two tournaments: one in-person and one online tournament. Together, there were more than 50 employees who participated across the country.

As part of October giving campaign, Seattle VTSEVA volunteers conducted a volleyball tournament for Microsoft employees. There were 12 teams who participated over a period of 4 weeks and we raised $5500 towards education pillar of VTSEVA.

On Sep 9th VTSEVA Seattle conducted a seminar, led by alumni currently studying at the University of Washington, that covered various aspects of the college application process - including personal essays, campus life, selecting a college, understanding strengths, and choosing a bachelor's program. The speakers, alumni at different stages of their Bachelors program, provided diverse perspectives. The seminar was attended by around 30 individuals in person and on Zoom, addressed key questions and emphasized the importance of parental guidance without imposing on the students' college journey.

VT Seva Kids and Youth celebrated Father's Day by making beautiful handmade cards for their dads and seniors in a memory care center. The event showcased their creativity and gratitude, bringing joy to both fathers and seniors.

Seattle chapter kids came together on Sunday May 7th and prepared Mothers Day cards. Some of these cards are going to the old age home (Memory Care center where our volunteers play music for seniors) and some are going home with the kids! Overall 30 kids participated making 45 cards. More than the volume, it was inspirational to see youth executing this project on their own and bringing smiles to moms everywhere!

Seattle chapter conducted a parenting session to discuss solutions to common issues facing families with kids (especially in teen years). Dr. Vrushaliji who is an established general psychatrist and Dr. Srinivasji who is an assistant director of Northshore School District were the presenters giving both medical and education perspective to all the parents. Things presented included parenting styles, how to recognize stress in kids, how to model one's own behavior for positive impact on kids, how to create family rituals which help them bond together, and how best to understand what is happening physically when kids are under stress. Recording of this presentation can be accessed here: https://vtsevaworld-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/seattle_director_vtsworld_org/Eau7j6q5LIJCiIlHzX11_10BBaa8jG_nXd8kglB_PkPv4Q?e=w0Zwfs

Seattle Youth volunteers spent the Earth Day caring for our local community park in Sammamish - Lower Commons Park. As you might know Pacific Northwest is famous for different kinds of berries but Himalayan Backberry is a weed which crowds out local native plants. As part of this event, our volunteers removed blackberry thorny plants to restore native habitat. Volunteers also learnt about different berry types and how to spot differences between different types of berry trees.

VTSEVA Seattle chapter worked with two other local organizations to support local Issaquah Food Bank with canned food drive. We were able to collect and donate ~ 2100lbs of canned food which will go to support local homeless shelters. Local council members were also present to encourage and show their appreciation for the work youth volunteers are doing in the community.

Partnering with Sewa International and local HSS, VTSEVA youth collected and donated 512lbs of food to Issaquah Food bank to support local homeless shelters! Volunteers collected these donations by going door to door within communities and also collected food donations during our Acharya Thirunakshatram celebrations. Thank you again for all the volunteers who helped with this food drive!

As part of October giving campaign, VTSEVA conducted chess competition in Microsoft. All proceeds from the chess competition were donated to VTSEVA. This is the first time we are conducting as part of giving campaign. There were 16 participants and final winners were decided based on a Swiss based tournament in 5 rounds. It was a great forum to explain what we do as an organization and introduce new members to the cause.