Two projects, Grocery Delivery Project & 13 Day Shred—VTSEVA Report
Due to the drastic societal effects of this global pandemic, the Grocery Delivery Project and the 13 Day Shred were created in order to help engage and support a multitude of families and communities. Throughout the 13 Day Shred, families and kids were able to participate in engaging workouts at home despite a majority of gyms being closed. The Grocery Delivery Project was crafted to acquire non-perishable food items as donations for the community as many Americans are currently suffering to makes ends meet because of the pandemic.
Thank you to our volunteers (Aakarsh Dhilip, Pranav Nair, and Chinmay Koimuttum) who have worked hard to organize these programs to work as effectively as possible. We created these programs to be as easily accessible as possible, making it convenient for anyone who wished to participate in them.
For the Grocery Delivery Project, volunteers advertised the program through various different avenues in order to reach as many potential participants as possible. Over the course of 4 weeks, participants left their food donations by their front doors for our volunteers to pick up every Saturday. These donations would then all be donated to Northwest Harvest on specific dates. In total, The Grocery Delivery Project was able to reach 46 families, and with the support of all of our participants, was able to donate 1560 lbs worth of donations.
The 13 Day Shred was a workout program that occurred over the course of one month. With adequate rest days in between for recovery, the program involved 13 exercise videos catered to participants of all fitness levels. The exercises involved little to no equipment, allowing for anyone to participate. The videos also entailed nutrition segments which provided helpful nutrition tips and advice for participants.
Thank you,
Chinmay Koimuttum
VTSEVA Seattle
Jai Srimannarayana! My name is Chinmay Koimuttum, and I have been on the VTSEVA youth board for two years. I was drawn into VTSEVA by witnessing the support and guidance that the youth board is provided with by all of our adults and mentors.
This guidance and inspiration are what motivated me to help run the 13 Day Shred and the Grocery Delivery Project. I am extremely thankful to both Aakarsh and Pranav, as well as everyone who participated and volunteered to make these programs successful.
My name is Pranav, and I worked alongside other members of VTSEVA to take part in "The 13 Day Shred". I was interested in helping create videos for this series because I found it hard to continuously exercise during the past few months, so I wanted to eliminate this problem for others. By providing exercise videos every couple of days, people will stay motivated to keep fit during these times.
I also took part in the Grocery Delivery program. I was motivated to help because I knew that I was making a positive difference in our community. While delivering food does not sound complicated, it helps many people who previously did not have access to the amount of food that many of us take for granted.
Hello! My name is Aakarsh and I have had the privilege of serving on the VTSeva youth board for the past two years. My association with VTSeva has not only helped me embrace and understand the true spirit of volunteerism, but more importantly, VTSeva has allowed me to truly grasp the meaning of empathizing with the people around us. With every initiative that is carried out, the transformative impact that is created on countless lives make the VTSeva experience a fulfilling, cathartic journey.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, I and a few of my VTSeva friends created the Grocery Delivery Project with the intention of providing non-perishable food donations to those reeling from the effects of the pandemic. We executed this plan by picking up donations from the doorstep of interested donors and delivering those donations to local food banks while abiding to all Covid-19 health guidelines. We were blessed to have raised over 1500 pounds of donations during the course of our project and we are proud that our small efforts contributed towards putting food on someone’s plate during these tough times. During this pandemic, I also co-created the 13-day shred program which was designed to motivate people to work out during the pandemic by providing videos, every other day, of simple workouts for people of all ages. Our goal with this program was to encourage our viewers to adopt a healthier lifestyle and instill the discipline of working out on a continual basis.
THANK YOU