After a very busy school year, summer break is time to relax. VT Seva Detroit Youth Board used their summer vacation not only for relaxing but helping others in te community and learnt about their history. The team implemented 5 projects this summer
1. Brilliant Detroit Reading Program
2. Manoogian Manor Senior Center Visits
3. Walkathon
4. Tribute to Bharath
5. Essential Workers Appreciation Project
𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗶𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿am
Brilliant Detroit is dedicated to building kid success families and neighborhoods where families with children 0-8 have what they need to be school ready, healthy and stable.
During the COVID-19 pandemic BD created a program called "𝗩𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿" where the volunteers will record the story book and send the videos to BD and these videos will go on a playlist that can only be exclusively accessed by families who live and participate in the Brilliant Detroit kid success neighborhoods. There are 11 Brilliant Detroit community centers located throughout neighborhoods in Detroit full of families who benefit from programming aimed to increase the literacy rate of these children. This helps the children who are learning from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
VT Seva Detroit Youth Board partnered with Brilliant Detroit and created 87 videos. Youth Board Member Abhinav S coordinated with Brilliant Detroit to make it happen. This was a great summer project for all of the youths who participated to give back to community by supporting the kids education. 27 Youth Board members created 87 videos.
YB Members Participated in this project are: 𝗔𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗮, 𝗔𝗯𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘃, 𝗦𝗮𝗻𝗷𝗮𝗻𝗮, 𝗔𝗺𝗼𝗴𝗵, 𝗘𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗻, 𝗘𝗲𝘀𝗵𝗮, 𝗡𝗶𝗸𝗵𝗶𝗹, 𝗡𝗶𝗿𝘃𝗮𝗻, 𝗥𝗼𝗵𝗮𝗻, 𝗦𝗿𝗮𝘃𝘆𝗮, 𝗧𝗮𝗿𝘂𝗻, 𝗨𝗱𝗵𝗮𝘆𝗮𝗮, 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗱, 𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗵𝗮, 𝗡𝗲𝗵𝗮, 𝗦𝗿𝗶𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗶 𝗛, 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗶, 𝗦𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗧, 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗵, 𝗛𝗶𝗯𝗮, 𝗞𝗮𝗮𝘃𝘆𝗮, 𝗢𝘃𝗶𝘆𝗮, 𝗥𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗮, 𝗦𝗮𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗿𝗮, 𝗦𝗮𝗶 𝗦𝗿𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗺, 𝗦𝗵𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗶
Please visit tinyurl.com/brilliantstorytime to see the published videos.
Awesome job all the youth board members who participated in this project
Brilliant Detroit video project created by: Abhinav S
Please watch the video about this project
Manoogian Manor Senior Center Visit
In May, VTS Detroit YB members wrote Mother's Day and Father's Day cards for three different senior centers, including Manoogian Manor.
Manoogian Manor Senior Center was impressed with the cards and reached out to Harish who initiated the Greeting Card projects and invited the Youth Board members to attend the bonfires with seniors on the summer.
Volunteers spent their time there setting up seats on the patio, handing out pop and popsicles to the residents, socializing with the residents, pushing the wheelchairs, and cleaning up the area.
The seniors in Manoogian Manor thanked the Youth Board members for their time and asked for them to come back in the future. They enjoyed talking with both the youth and adult volunteers, many of them shared their life stories and their experiences at the Manoogian Manor.
The volunteers all said they had a good time and it was fun to do something they've never done before.
What makes people feel happy and content is different for each person and often changes over time. But, our Manoogian Manor residents is always thrilled to see us back at their premises. YB members visited them 3 times during summer, each time both the seniors and the youth board members enjoyed their conversations.
Youth volunteers who visited the seniors are : Aditi(3), Advaith(1), Eesha(3), Harish(1), Kaavya(1), Niharika (1), Nikita (1), Oviya (3), Tarun (1) and Veeksha(3)
Adult volunteers who visited the seniors are: Vani (3), Srinath (1), Priya(3), Vanitha (1)
Manoogian Manor Senior Center Visits video created by: Veeksha
Please watch the video about their senior center visits.
Walkathon
The VT Seva Detroit Youth Board initiated their first-ever charity walkathon in 2021. Not only was it a first for our group, but it was also a hybrid walkathon, taking place both virtually and in person.
29 team members 162 participants, 43 days walked more than 20 Million steps (1000+ miles)
All the proceeds from this event were donated to Angels of Hope and VT Seva Bharath.
It was a very successful Walkathon, raised $3214 and splitted equally with both organizations.
For more details and pictures please visit https://www.vtsworld.org/post/vt-seva-detroit-youth-board-initiated-first-walkathon
Tribute to Bharath
On August 15, 2021, India celebrated its 75th Independence Day. British traders had established outposts in the Indian subcontinent by the 17th century. Through overwhelming military strength, the East India Company fought and annexed local kingdoms and established themselves as the dominant force in India by the 18th century.
Oviya, a member of the Detroit youth board, proposed this project as a way to pay homage to those responsible for India’s independence. This was liked by many branches and became a national project. Atlanta, Austin, the Bay Area, and Cary youth team joined the Detroit team in appreciating these freedom fighters on the anniversary of India’s independence.
31 Youth Board members learned about 31 leaders and created 31 informational poster and posted it for whole month of August
Youth Board members who participated in this project are: Oviya Jaisankar, Harish Jaisankar, Rashmita Raghunathan, Rachana Raghunathan, Anand Brijesh, Sravya Saranu, Hiba Zyna, Sai Sri Ram Karnati, Veeksha Somula, Abhinav Suresh, Eesha Chigullapally, Kaustubh Dingari, Udhayaa Arul, Ishani Shetty, Pavan Nagaraj, Srihari Hebbar, Rohan Patil, Amogh Pisipati, Aditi Jethri Kompally, Hrudya Kishore, Nikita Talwar, Sanjay Sundarapandiyan, Nirvan Daram, Kalki Renga Anand, Adhvaith Suresh, Eashan Daram, Pranav Maringanti, Adhip Pisipati, Shruthi Adduri, Siddharth Tirumala Kanduri and Niharika prabhu
Tribute to Bharath project video created by: Oviya
Please watch the video about Tribute to Bharath project at
For more details about this project please visithttps://www.vtsworld.org/post/tribute-to-bharath
Essential Workers Appreciation Project:
VT Seva Detroit Youth Board members celebrated this labor day by expressing their appreciation to the essential workers who makes our life goes smoothly every day even during the pandemic.
Either rain or shine, pandemic or non pandemic, we all got our mails, we all got our trash picked up, we all got our groceries, all of our kids went to school by bus.
Can't even imaginge not having any of those services accessible to us. They came to our door steps to provide services to us.
Our YB members gave thank you notes to 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗣𝗶𝗰𝗸𝘂𝗽𝗖𝗿𝗲𝘄, 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗗𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗸𝘀, 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀, 𝗣𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀, 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀, 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘄 and many more
𝟯𝟰 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗕𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 surprised the essential workers by giving thank you notes, choclates, gifts and gift cards to all the essential workers. They did made a change in their life, workers were so grateful to be appreciated. Some workers even had a tears of joy.
This project taught our YB members the value of Gratitude and how much it impacts the giver and receiver positively. All the members who participated in this project was really happy for the opportunity and start noticing whats around them
Youth Volunteers: Oviya, Harish, Sravya, Eesha, Rachana, Kaavya, Sai, Hiba, Rashmitha, Advaith, Chakrika, Abhinav, Saisha, Udhayaa, Srihari A, Anurag, Sai Sahasra, Shruthi, Rishi, Nitya, Aditya, Ananya, Kausthubh Amogh, Pranav M, Dhruthi, Teja, Arya, Siddharth, Ishani, Akshay, Varshini, Aneeshwa, and Vibha
Essential Workers Appreciation Project video created by: Siddharth
Please watch the video about this project
Newsletter Consolidated by: Harish Jaisankar
Published by : Nandini Cheemalamarri (Detroit Communications)
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