VT Seva Dallas celebrates its 15th Annual Earth Day !!
Earth day is a day where everyone comes together to help our Mother Earth. It is a day to remind everyone to protect our world and to live a more sustainable, eco-friendly life. And that's exactly what we did this year.
Every year VT Seva Dallas has been teaming up with the City of Frisco's "Clean it Green it' environmental program to celebrate Earth day.
VT Seva Dallas came together as a community and helped clean up litter at the adopted street in Frisco. Approximately 70 volunteers participated in this initiative, about 45 of them being youth volunteers. It was a great chance for everyone to see the effects of littering and what damages it can bring to our very own planet. Participating in this initiative helped create awareness in our society about littering and how to help our world become a better place.
Like every year, the event started off with a sloka(poem)on Mother Earth that we all recited together:
namasthe: priyadaththa:yai thubhyam de:vi ! vasundhare: ! |
tvam ma:tha: sarva bhu:tha:na:m pa:da sparsam kshamasva me: ||
The sloka emphasized the value of our Mother Earth and how we should always protect it. Following the sloka recital, we set to work. We were all given trash pickers and we separated into different groups to pick up the litter. And surprisingly, we all found that there was actually quite a lot of trash- plastic, car tires, paper, bottles, etc. It was in so many unexpected places, but we all did the best we could to pick up the most trash. And it brought a smile to my face seeing everyone help clean our environment and it seemed like they were enjoying it too.
This year some of the youth members also had an opportunity to make plant seed bombs to distribute to volunteers on the day of the earth day. Seed balls are small clusters packed with wildflower seeds that are designed to bring greenery and colorful pollinator habitats to urban landscapes or neglected areas.
Overall, this initiative has taught me a lot and I’m sure it has taught everyone else a lot too. Helping our environment made me feel so happy; to know I was helping my own planet for the future made me even happier. By working together as a community, we helped our Mother Earth sustain even longer. So, it can all start with a small change. Help our world by Reducing, Reusing and Recycling. And always remember, one small change can lead to making our world a better place. Individually we are one drop, together we are an ocean.
- Shriya Aviur
For more pictures related to the Earth Day event, please visit this link:
In the words of the youth volunteers who participated in the Earth Day cleanup -
"My name is Arnav Senapathi and I had a great time participating in VT Seva Dallas’ 15th annual Earth Day. I am glad to have the opportunity to serve and help out mother nature in any way that I can. Me and my friends as well as many fellow volunteers picked up a lot of litter and filled up many bags of trash, contributing and fulfilling a portion of our part in making our world a cleaner place. Overall, the experience was phenomenal, and I will definitely participate in next year's Earth Day activity." - Arnav Senapathi
"It was a nice experience, and quite frankly, a change from the fact that we haven't had any in-person volunteering events for quite a bit. It was nice getting to see everyone in-person, interacting with them, as well as helping clean the streets." - Shreyas Viswanathan
"It was such a different experience, I had never done anything like it before. VTSeva Dallas’s street cleaning project for Earth day made me get a chance to help our environment and it really brought me back to reality. I got to see how much litter there was, affecting our own world. Overall, it made me so happy to be able to help clean our streets, city- contributing to make our world a better, cleaner place." - Shriya Aviur
"The VT Seva Dallas 15th annual earth day was a very fulfilling experience for me. Getting to work together with all the youth group members to clean up the environment was not only very beneficial for the environment, but also a great opportunity for me to give back to the environment, and meet new people! The seed bombs were also a super fun end to the volunteering, and a great way for me to tell others about my experience!" - Vidya Sampath Kumar
"Yesterday we picked up a lot of trash from the street that we adopted. The collection went pretty successfully because the street itself was full of litter. I think that we picked up a lot within two hours, and it’s definitely a step towards making Frisco cleaner. I thoroughly enjoyed getting my hands dirty and picking up things with my friends. It was a great experience working with others, and I strongly think that I will be participating again next year." - Teja Papaiahgari
"Hi! My name is Sriram and I have been a VTSeva volunteer for almost 10 years. I found yesterday's Earth Day experience extremely satisfying and relaxing. I had a lot of fun spending time with my friends and I thoroughly enjoyed cleaning up Frisco as it gave me a sense of accomplishment. Overall I had a great time and I would love to be part of the next Earth Day. Remember, it doesn't matter how much of a difference you made, it's still a difference for a great cause." - Sriram Vennamaneni
"Hi my name is Lakshman Vennamaneni and yesterday I participated in an earth day street cleanup by VtSeva. It was a very fun and relaxing experience as I got to help the planet, meet my friends and relax at the same time. My friends and I picked up enough trash to fill up 5-6 bags and we felt very accomplished. On the whole I really enjoyed the earth day cleanup." - Lakshman Vennamaneni
"We really liked cleaning the earth and were surprised to see so much plastic. Would love to help clean the earth more often." - Siddarth Dwaram and Veda Dwaram
"For the Earth Day activity, I participated in a volunteering activity called Adopt a Street to help clean a street. First we were given gloves, bags, and grabbers. When we saw the street there was so much trash. I saw plastic bags, cups, and cans. I loved the activity because it felt good when all the trash was going in the bags and the area was getting cleaned. Together we picked up at least 10 bags full of trash. I would love to do activities like this again because it makes Earth a better place." - Sahana K