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  • VT Seva Detroit: Mailing Supplies Project to help Penrickton Center for Blind Children (REMOTE)

    Penrickton Center is a private non-profit organization that provides care and support to blind, multi-disabled children and their families.Penrickton Center for Blind Children provides services to families at no charge, and relies entirely on donations from the community. Throughout the year Penrickton Center sends out requests for donations, and invitations to raise funds . VT Seva Detroit volunteers got this opportunity to help them assemble their Mailing Supplies items in envelopes as per their directions for their fund raising purposes. FIRST BATCH MAILING SUPPLIES PROJECT SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED Timeline: May 1st, 2021 to June 5th, 2021 Items Delivered: June 6th, 2021 We received 20 signups within an hour of project release in groups. The mailing supplies were picked up from the Penrickton Center, sorted and organized as 20 kits with 250 counts of each items. The kits were later distributed to volunteers to do at their homes and then to be dropped off before June 5th, 2021. We had 20 youth volunteers who participated in this remote volunteering project. Each volunteers assembled perfectly 250 envelopes with those mailing supplies items provided. On the whole we delivered around 5000 envelopes in this first batch of our Mailing Supplies Project to Penrickton Center for Blind Children. We received lots of appreciations from the Penrickton Center coordinators for this great help by our volunteers since it saves a lot of their time in doing this task before proceeding to their next step of sending these mails to all their donors. Youth volunteers who participated: Aarush Arun; Abhinav Suresh; Ananya Ramanan; Harish Jaishankar ;Ish Niranjan Patel; Ishani; Kaavya Karnati; Karthik Tilak ;Likitha Gidijala;Nikhil Aerabati; Oviya Jaishankar;Rishi Adduri;Rohan Patil; Sai Sahasra; Sai Karnati ;Saisha Srivatsan;Shreya Srivatsan;Shruthi Adduri; Siddharth Tirumala Kanduri; Tarun Rajesh This project was so successful & liked by our Volunteers that many wanted to do more of the mailing supplies. Hence we have brought in the second batch of the supplies from Penrickton Center and we will be executing that as our next remote project for Penrickton Center. SECOND BATCH MAILING SUPPLIES PROJECT Timeline: June 11, 2021 to July 2nd, 2021 After successful completion of FIRST BATCH of Mailing Supplies Project we are ready to go with our SECOND BATCH Mailing Supplies Project. The mailing supplies were picked up from the center on June 6th, 2021. 15 volunteers have already signed up for this second batch project. The supplies will be sorted, organized and will be available as kits to be picked up from our volunteer coordinator residence in Novi. The project kicked off on June 11 and July 1 st will be the due date for kit’s to be dropped off. 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭: 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡, 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐣𝐚, 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢, 𝐇𝐢𝐛𝐚, 𝐑𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐚, 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐧, 𝐍𝐢𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐧, 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐣𝐚𝐲, 𝐀𝐦𝐨𝐠𝐡, 𝐀𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐤𝐚, 𝐊𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐛𝐡, 𝐔𝐝𝐡𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐚, 𝐊𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥 𝐕 𝐃𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐚, 𝐓𝐞𝐣𝐚 On the whole we delivered around 4000 envelopes in this second batch of our Mailing Supplies Project to Penrickton Center for Blind Children THIRD BATCH MAILING SUPPLIES PROJECT Timeline: June 26, 2021 to July 17, 2021 Due to popularity of this remote project, we reached out to Penrickton for our Third Batch to do more help for them in assembling their mailing supplies. They were kind enough to give more kits for our volunteers to help them. The supplies were picked up on June 24th from Penrickton; the items are sorted and organized as 18 kits ready to be distributed to volunteers. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭: 𝐃𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐚 𝐑, 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐣𝐚𝐧𝐚 ,𝐘𝐮𝐠, 𝐇𝐫𝐮𝐝𝐲𝐚 , 𝐀𝐧𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐚𝐠 𝐀𝐛𝐢𝐬𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐭𝐢, 𝐒𝐫𝐢𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢 𝐇, 𝐒𝐫𝐢𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢 𝐀, 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐯 𝐌, 𝐏𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐧, 𝐀𝐫𝐲𝐚, 𝐄𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐚, 𝐑𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐚, 𝐓𝐞𝐣𝐚𝐬, 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐯 𝐉, 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐯 𝐓, 𝐒𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐒, 𝐊𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢 On the whole we delivered around 4000 envelopes in this second batch of our Mailing Supplies Project to Penrickton Center for Blind Children All the mailing supplies project kits from our 2nd batch project youth volunteers and 3rd batch project youth volunteers all were sorted, organized in bins and were dropped off on July 20,2021 at Penrickton Center, Taylor, MI. On the whole, we did around 13,000 envelopes assembled including our first batch which is simply amazing work We greatly appreciate all above youth volunteer’s awesome work and their parents support to coordinate with me for picking and dropping off their kits on time. We are grateful that Penrickton Center was kind enough to give us 3 times this opportunity to help them in a big way towards their Penrickton Center fundraising efforts to support Blind Children. We are also looking forward to visit their special ed school where their kids goes in Wyandotte sometimes next year once they open up for group visits. We would definitely continue to serve Penrickton Center every year in whatever ways we can. Please see our Facebook page for more photographs, like, and share. FIRST BATCH MAILING SUPPLIES SECOND AND THIRD BATCH MAILING SUPPLIES AS ALWAYS, YOUR SUPPORT IS OUR STRENGTH TO SERVE

  • VT Seva Detroit: Yard Beautification Help & Facilities Tour at Penrickton Center for Blind Children

    Date: June 6, 2021 Time: 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM What an exciting way to start off our first in-person volunteering outdoors today (06/06/21) by our VT Seva Detroit Volunteers helping in Yard Beautification at Penrickton Center for Blind Children in Taylor, MI. All our volunteers followed the COVID-19 Safety protocols during the entire stay there. Penrickton center has a very beautiful front yard and our volunteers were helping by pulling weeds, raking, edging the grass around driveway areas and finally cleaning the front yard. The center had all the necessary tools and gears to work with volunteers. While all of us were working at the yard, we were also greeted by the 3-mile-long Bikers who were 'Riding for a Reason' in support of the Penrickton Center. There were over 500 Bikers riding through the street outside the Center escorted by the Cops on Motorbikes as well. We were thrilled to wave at them and appreciate their support for the full 10 minutes of their Bike Caravan . We were also given an opportunity to tour their facility by the center coordinator Chelsea. Volunteers were split into 2 groups and were taken inside following all the Covid-19 safety protocols. It was a great opportunity for all of us to see their facility, to know more about the Penrickton Center. It was enriching to learn how they provide great care and support to the visually challenged, multi-disabled children and their families . Chelsea took us through a day in the life of the children at their center. She was kind enough to show us the Kitchen, Bed Rooms, Activity & Therapy Rooms, Educational and Batch rooms that were all adorned with lovely painting on the wall mostly painted by volunteers. Their Childcare Workers & Staff go above & beyond to help teach important Life Skills to the challenged children to make them independent. We were shown a video about the Penrickton Center Children and were so touched seeing those children's faces and hearing their stories. Due to COVID restrictions, we were unable to meet the children this time but they promised us future tours whenever the situations come back to normalcy. Our volunteers could very much relate to the whole experience at the Center since it is very close to what the children go through at VT Seva Nethra Vidyalaya institutions. These are our 13 VT Seva Detroit volunteers who attended today. Youth: Abhinav Suresh; Anand Brijesh; Anirudh Venbakkam; Nikhil Aerabati; Siddharth Tirumala Kanduri; Srihari Hebbar Adults: Asha K Puranam; Gopal Brijesh; Raghunath Aerabati; SrinathBabu Karnati; Sudheer Koppu; Suresh Rajan; Vanitha Gopalan Kudos to all their wonderful help & time. The Scorching sun didn't make them to stop their excitement and all their volunteering spirit. AS ALWAYS, YOUR SUPPORT IS OUR STRENGTH TO SERVE Please check out our Facebook page for more pictures and other news from VT Seva Detroit.

  • VT SEVA DETROIT ANNUAL VOLLEYBALL/WOMEN'S THROWBALL TOURNAMENT

    AUGUST 14TH, 2021 from 9:00 AM onwards One of the most awaited Sports events of VT Seva is back in action in 2021. Unfortunately, 2020 turned out to be a complete washout due to the COVID pandemic. What better way to get yourself outdoors than participating in the VT Seva Volleyball & Throwball Tournament benefiting visually challenged children. Please mark your calendar for Aug 14th, 2021 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM at Founders Park, Farmington Hills . All proceeds from the event will go towards the education, food, and clothing for visually challenged children of Nethra Vidyalaya. Join us in making this event a successful one either as a Player or an audience. Lunch & beverages will be provided at a nominal price. Register as a Team or an Individual Player by clicking here Rules & Regulations: All Teams/Individual Players must go through the rules & regulations and sign the Waiver Form. COVID Waiver: All participants must submit the COVID Waiver form as well: Please click the link below for the form. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc3jfSevzuAIxUG-hlb8aNw_loG4Hob4MbhoZyr5Ls0by2O9A/viewform?fbclid=IwAR07HSVFMBpwcYMOsPEBm-qL6mvSiaPFyJfHVmwhMFByE4rXs3TBXoNnYGU

  • VT Seva Detroit Youth Board 2nd Quarter Newsletter

    VT Seva Detroit Youth Board had a busy 2nd quarter. The team implemented 3 projects which were initiated by 3 Youth Board Members. ● Eco-Conscious Project ● Mother’s Day Greeting Card Project ● Father’s Day Greeting Card Project In addition to that, they celebrated their 2nd year anniversary with lots of live and recorded entertainment programs and a live game. ECO – Conscious Project: Since 1970, 𝑬𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝑫𝒂𝒚 has been celebrated to educate about and activate environmental awareness. The 𝑽𝑻 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒂 𝑫𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒊𝒕 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝑩𝒐𝒂𝒓𝒅 joined this movement by learning about and creating awareness for the need to take care of our earth through our 𝑬𝒄𝒐-𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕. 24 Youth Board Members came together and exhibited their creativity and talent in creating media content towards environmental awareness This project was initiated by the youth board members Harish & Oviya . They've created videos, infographics, cartoons, comics... to persuade the public to be environmentally aware. Their creations have been posted on VT-Seva Detroit Facebook each day for the whole month of April 2021. 3 Projects conducted by the Youth Board in the 1st quarter of 2021 also reflected the need of 3R's Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. "𝑹𝒆𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒉 𝒃𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝑨𝒏𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒍 𝑺𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒓" "𝑹𝒆𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝑭𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒆" "𝑹𝒆𝒄𝒚𝒄𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒈𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒅" One youth Board member Oviya reached out to her school to promote the 3R's campaign. She put together a video with the tips to follow 3R's which was played in her school TV's on the hallways for the whole day on Earth Day. Overall the Youth Board members learned a lot through this project and started following those tips in their everyday life and promoted it to the rest of the world too. Youth Board Members who participated in this project are Abhinav, Amogh, Anand, Eashan, Harish, Hiba, Nikhil, Varun, Nirvan, Oviya, Rishi, Rohan, Saisha, Sanjana, Shreya, Sanjit, Sathvik, Shruthi, Siddharth, Srihari A, Supraja, Tarun, Yasaswini, Yug Eco-Conscious project video created by Youth Board Member: Eesha Mother’s Day Greeting Card Project: 𝑴𝑨:𝑻𝑯𝑹𝑼 𝑫𝑬:𝑽𝑶: 𝑩𝑯𝑨𝑽𝑨 Revere your Mother as god 𝑯𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝑴𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓'𝒔 𝑫𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆!!! “𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒕 𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓’𝒔 𝒍𝒂𝒑, 𝒏𝒐 𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆, 𝒏𝒐 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒐 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑𝒔.”—𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐬𝐨𝐧 The VT Seva Detroit Youth Board celebrated Mother's Day with the mothers in senior centers in Livonia, MI. 44 volunteers came together and created 163 beautiful hand made greeting cards to wish them a happy Mother's Day. Cards have been distributed to 3 senior centers 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐫, 𝐎𝐚𝐤𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 and they were so happy to receive the cards! This project was initiated by the Youth Board Member 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒉. 44 Youth Board Members who worked on this project are Abhinav, Adhvaith, Aishani, Anagha, Anand,Ananya R, Anjana, Anurag, Arya, Dhanya, Eashan, Harish, Hiba, Ishani, Kaavya, Neha, Niharika, Nikhil A, Nikhil S, Nirvan, Oviya, Pranav T, Rashmita, Risha, Rishi, Rohan, Sahasra, Sai Sriram, Sanjith, Sathvik, Shrikha, Shriya, Shruthi, Siddharth, Srihari A, Srihari H, Sravya, Supraja, Sveya, Tarun, Teja, Tanvi, Shruthi & Sanaa. They brought smiles to 163 wonderful moms from these 3 senior centers and made Mother's day special for them. Father’s Day Greeting Card Project: 𝑷𝑰𝑻𝑹𝑯𝑼 𝑫𝑬:𝑽𝑶: 𝑩𝑯𝑨𝑽𝑨 Revere your Dad as god 𝑯𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓'𝒔 𝑫𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒅𝒂𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆!!! "𝑫𝒂𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 " - 𝑷𝒂𝒎 𝑩𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏 The VT Seva Detroit Youth Board celebrated Fathers's Day with the dads in 3 senior centers in Livonia, MI. 44 volunteers came together and created 77 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 to wish them a happy Father's Day. Cards have been distributed to 3 senior centers 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐫, 𝐎𝐚𝐤𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 and they were so happy to receive the cards! This project was initiated by the Youth Board Member 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒉. 44 Youth Board members who participated on this project are Aishani, Anagha, Anand,Ananya R, Anjana, Anurag, Arya, Dhanya, Eashan, Harish, Hiba, Ishani, Kaavya, Neha, Niharika, Nikhil A, Nikhil S, Nirvan, Oviya, Pranav T, Rashmita, Risha, Rishi, Rohan, Sahasra, Sai Sriram, Sanjith, Sathvik, Shrikha, Shriya, Shruthi, Siddharth, Srihari A, Srihari H, Sravya, Supraja, Sveya, Tarun, Teja, Tanvi, Shruthi & Sanaa. They brought a smile to 77 wonderful dads from these 3 senior centers and made Fathers day special for them. Greeting card project video created by Youth Board Member: Sai Sahasra Please review VT Seva Detroit Facebook for more details on these events. https://www.facebook.com/vtseva.detroit/posts/4639396279420698 [Mother's day] https://www.facebook.com/vtseva.detroit/posts/4767373989956259 [Father's day] 2nd Anniversary Celebrations: The VT Seva Detroit Youth Board celebrated our 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗿𝘆 with an evening of family, fun, and festivity! We all met virtually and reminisced about many of the amazing volunteering events that the youth board has run over the past two years. Many of our talented youth board members then graced us with dance and song, showing off their special skills to all their peers in celebration of two years of service. We kicked off the program with a rendition of 𝗣𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗸𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗺 𝗯𝘆 𝗛𝗶𝗯𝗮, followed by 𝗦𝗿𝗶𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗶 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘃𝗶𝗸'𝘀 𝘃𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗮 𝗱𝘂𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗕𝗵𝗼 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗼. Next came 𝗥𝗮𝗴𝗵𝘂𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗶 𝗥𝗮𝗴𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗮 𝗥𝗮𝗷𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗺 𝗯𝘆 𝗦𝗮𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗿𝗮 on her violin. The 𝗩𝗧 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗮 𝗨𝗦𝗔 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗠𝗿. 𝗞𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗻 𝗩𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗮, delivered a motivational speech to all the youth board members, encouraging them to continue their service. A big thank you to Kiran ji for his encouraging words! Our youth board members 𝗞𝗮𝗮𝘃𝘆𝗮, 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵, 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗵, 𝗔𝗯𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘃, 𝗦𝗮𝗻𝗷𝗮𝗻𝗮, 𝗢𝘃𝗶𝘆𝗮, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗡𝗶𝗸𝗵𝗶𝗹 recapped many of the community service projects that the youth board has run over the past two years. Next, 𝗢𝘃𝗶𝘆𝗮 performed a Bollywood dance to the song 𝗥𝗮𝗷𝘄𝗮𝗱𝗶 𝗢𝗱𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶, followed by 𝗞𝗮𝘂𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗯𝗵'𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗲𝗴𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗮 𝗥𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗮. Our 𝗩𝗧 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗮 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗶𝘁 𝗩𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿, 𝗩𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗮 𝗝𝗶, gave us all a presentation about future events for RAAS 2021, an annual fundraising event run by VT Seva Detroit to support the Netra Vidyalaya schools for the visually challenged and tribal students. Her presentation was succeeded by two incredible instrumental performances! 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗮𝘃 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝗴𝗵𝗶 𝗩𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗺 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗻 and 𝗥𝗼𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗔𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗔𝘆𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝘅𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲. 𝗡𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗷 𝗝𝗶, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗝𝗘𝗧 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿, gave a guest speech, congratulating our youth volunteers on all their accomplishments and encouraging them to keep volunteering. A live performance of 𝗢𝗸𝗲𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗻𝘂𝘃𝗮𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝗦𝗮𝗶 came after these guest speeches. 𝗛𝗶𝗯𝗮 then performed a dance to 𝗦𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗮 𝗗𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘆𝗮, followed by 𝗨𝗱𝗮𝘆𝗮'𝘀 playing of 𝗩𝗮𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗺 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱. Our 𝗩𝗧 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗮 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗶𝘁 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗕𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿, 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘆𝗮 𝗝𝗶, came on and spoke about future projects for our youth board. 𝗞𝗮𝗮𝘃𝘆𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗮𝗻𝗷𝗮𝗻𝗮 then led a fun 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝘁 for all the attendees! Everyone was given the same list of 19 household items and two minutes to gather as many as possible. It was incredibly amusing and engaging! The 𝗩𝗧 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗮 𝗨𝗦𝗔 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆, 𝗦𝘂𝗱𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗝𝗶, gave us all an amazing speech recognizing all of the youth board's efforts and inspiring us to keep on giving back to their community. To finish off the night, the𝗩𝗧 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗮 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗶𝘁 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗝𝗶 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗕𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘆𝗮 𝗝𝗶 delivered a vote of thanks and a wrap-up to the fun-filled night! Additional Projects: In addition to the youth board-initiated projects, Youth Board members participated in Toy drive, Penrickton Mailing Supplies Project, Gardening help for Crossroads Community Garden, Yard beautification help for Penrickton Center. Blog Consolidated by Youth Board Member: Oviya

  • VT Seva Cary - PVSA Award Winners

    Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. - Martin Luther King Jr Every year VT Seva as a token of appreciation announces Presidential Service awards for the great work the volunteers do as during the year. We would like to introduce the winners from VT Seva Cary and a small intro in their own words. Ms Srichandrika Changalvala Active volunteer for the past 2 years & raised awareness and funds for all the service of the organization. Acquired skills: Creativity and organization Year-round volunteer In Srichandrika's Own words - " I love the artistic side of VT Seva! Especially when we have our monthly meetings where we get to see our volunteers virtually and I get to make colorful presentations. I think the biggest way I impacted the community is through our card projects or something small like those activities. Although we aren’t able to donate thousands of dollars, we are able to give what matters most: gratitude and love! For 2021 I hope to work and plan more activities to involve out volunteers, especially as Covid-19 dies down." Mr Ashrith Desu Active volunteer for the past 3 years & raised awareness and funds for all the service of the organization. Acquired skills: Leadership, communication, focus Year-round volunteer In Ashrith's Own words - " During my years with VT Seva, I have learned a lot about how our small help causes a greater impact on the community. So far, I have volunteered at many places, such as food banks, marathons, and even helped set up events online. I have learned to be grateful, determined, and hard-working from volunteering with VT Seva. Doing something small, like packaging food at food banks, will help many people in need get food and stay healthy. Setting up virtual events, such as Happy Hour, will help volunteers spend time with others and have a little fun during this time. Volunteering gave me the ability to serve the community, make new friends, and help people in many ways. In 2021, I wish to help many people around me and serve the community. " Mr Thanuj Desu Active volunteer for the past 3 years & raised awareness and funds for all the service of the organization. Acquired skills: Graphic Design, Communication Skills and Writing Skills Year-round volunteer In Thanuj's Own words - " Over the past few years, I have worked on many projects with the VT Seva Cary Youth Board and all the other volunteers that work with VT Seva Cary. One of my favorite experiences from volunteering with VT Seva was the VT Seva Cary Summer Camp that was conducted last summer. In this camp, I was able to teach Scratch and Python to middle school and elementary school students. This camp helped me in multiple ways, from introducing me to teaching, improving my organization skills, and even helping me find a potential career path. For 2021, I hope to improve on my personal skills and volunteer in more events (hopefully in person). I want to try and have a larger role within VT Seva Cary, and I want to make a larger impact on my community." Ms Neeraja Boppana Active volunteer for the past 3 years & raised awareness and funds for all the service of the organization. Acquired skills: Teaching , violinist Year-round volunteer In Neeraja's Own words - " I have had a wonderful time working with VT Seva and I have been able to give back to the community. I have been able to spend my time doing something that I will never regret and that will help a lot of people. I have been able to go to the food bank and package different types of food like fruit, veggies, and pasta to give to people who need it. I have also been able to do Adopt-A-Highway which is a program where you adopt a highway and you have to take care of it and clean it. I have been able to go to trash clean ups to make the environment cleaner and have less litter and pollution. Some of my goals of 2021 is to try to volunteer more than I did last year." Ms Manasvi Gudibandi Active volunteer for the past 1.5 years & raised awareness and funds for all the service of the organization. Acquired skills: Leadership and team work Year-round volunteer In Manasvi's Own words - " My experiences with VT Seva have been very eye opening and have changed me as a person. In 2020 I participated in teaching in a summer camp. I think that my services have impacted the community in a positive way. I believe that I have made a difference, even if it is a small one. My goals for 2021 are to work on new and innovative projects such as the toy drive I am participating in, and to help the community as much as possible." Ms Rohitha sanka Active volunteer for the past 8 years & raised awareness and funds for all the service of the organization. Acquired skills: Communication, flexibility, persistence Year-round volunteer In Rohitha's Own words - " My services impacted the community by not only locally but throughout the world. When I first took up my bike riding project, I started reflecting. I realized that through the activities provided I could create myself an advantage of benefitting me as well as my community. From making food bags to plucking weed, VT Seva has taught me more than basic life skills. My goals not only consists of leading my fellow volunteers but to bring an emphasis of how volunteering can change ones life. I want to use the skills I learned to gather a diverse group of volunteers in 2021." Ms Mahathi Mallela Active volunteer for the past 2 years & raised awareness and funds for all the service of the organization. Acquired skills: Leadership, Problem solving Year-round volunteer In Mahathi's Own words - " My experience and leadership significantly augmented while volunteering with VT Seva. Knowing that your service at events like the FS Series helped give nourishment and encouragement to the runners is enough to continue doing such events in the winter. Additionally, it is very beautiful when racers or the event organizers thank us for our efforts. Another event that gave me a few interpersonal skills would be the VT Seva Summer Booth-camp, where we tutored elementary and middle school children. I tutored Spanish for elementary and middle school children. It was an amazing experience to see how engaging and interested these children were to learn Spanish. Overall, the feedback from parents is enough to do such event again. I hope that in the 2021 year I am able to do such event again." Ms Sribhaavita Nekkalapudi Active volunteer for the past 10 years & raised awareness and funds for all the service of the organization. Acquired skills: Social skills, Artistic skills, Drumming, Robotics, Graphic design Year-round volunteer In Sribhaavita's Own words - " VT Seva has always encouraged me to volunteer. I have been learning how to get creative and branch out in my volunteering activities. Last year, I took on the initiative of stitching over 150 masks for a local senior center near my home. Even though this was a small gesture, the staff and residents at the senior center were thankful as they were in short supply of masks at the time. This motivated me to keep doing more. In 2021, I have set a goal to take up a few volunteering initiatives that will help my community." Ms Lakshmikrutica Annugu Active volunteer for the past 3 years & raised awareness and funds for all the service of the organization. Acquired skills: Organization, problem solving, teamwork, leadership skills Year-round volunteer In Lakshmikrutica's Own words - " I loved organizing at kramden. I also like sorting food at food banks. This year I would like to help contribute more time in helping the community. I would like to help more people through my volunteering." Mr Srinivas Tirunagari Active volunteer for the past 3 years & raised awareness and funds for all the service of the organization. Acquired skills: Leadership,communication, time management Year-round volunteer In Srinivas's Own words - " For the past 2 years, we at VTSEVA did a lot. I am grateful to be apart of some of the things that we did. In the summer we did a summer camp virtually and it was a lot of fun. We got to spend our time with kids and they helped us with a better understanding of how to work with kids. In the food drive, we went to the house of the people who registered and we took food from them and gave it to the community and people who needed it. My goal for next year is to make a bigger impact in my community and aim to get the silver medal." Mr Manaskrishna Annugu Active volunteer for the past 5 years & raised awareness and funds for all the service of the organization. Acquired skills: Being Flexible, Determination/Persistence and managing my time well. Year-round volunteer In ManasKrishna's Own words - " Through volunteering at Kramden I was able to fix and refurbish computers that were then given to those in need. When I was volunteering Adopt-A-Highway I was able to help make the community streets be clean and prevent materials from polluting the bodies of water in our community. With the Save Mother Earth project I was able to spread the awareness on climate change. When I was volunteering at food banks I was able to help those who were financially struggling and needed good food. One of my goals for 2021 is to be able to contribute more back into the community than what I had done in previous years. " Ms Ishani Dasyam Active volunteer for the past 2 years & raised awareness and funds for all the service of the organization. Acquired skills: Collaboration and Writing Skills Year-round volunteer In Ishani's Own words - " I've had a lot of different experiences in VTSeva, there's a wide range of volunteering opportunities, so you get a different perspective and experience whatever you do. One of my favorite experiences over my years was cleaning and taking apart computers at Kramden. Kramden is an institute that collects and refurbishes computers, to award them to families with no computers in their homes. Due to the actions of us volunteers, we were able to help hundreds of families gain access to computers, and we will continue to do so. My goals for 2021 are to take more initiative in starting my own volunteering projects, and become more of a leader." Congratulations to all the winners!!

  • VT Seva Detroit Youth Board 2nd Year Anniversary Celebrations

    The VT Seva Detroit Youth Board celebrated our 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗿𝘆 with an evening of family, fun, and festivity! We all met virtually and reminisced about many of the amazing volunteering events that the youth board has run over the past two years. Many of our talented youth board members then graced us with dance and song, showing off their special skills to all their peers in celebration of two years of service. We kicked off the program with a rendition of 𝗣𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗸𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗺 𝗯𝘆 𝗛𝗶𝗯𝗮, followed by 𝗦𝗿𝗶𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗶 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘃𝗶𝗸'𝘀 𝘃𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗮 𝗱𝘂𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗕𝗵𝗼 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗼. Next came 𝗥𝗮𝗴𝗵𝘂𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗶 𝗥𝗮𝗴𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗮 𝗥𝗮𝗷𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗺 𝗯𝘆 𝗦𝗮𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗿𝗮 on her violin. The 𝗩𝗧 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗮 𝗨𝗦𝗔 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗠𝗿. 𝗞𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗻 𝗩𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗮, delivered a motivational speech to all the youth board members, encouraging them to continue their service. A big thank you to Kiran ji for his encouraging words! Our youth board members 𝗞𝗮𝗮𝘃𝘆𝗮, 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵, 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗵, 𝗔𝗯𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘃, 𝗦𝗮𝗻𝗷𝗮𝗻𝗮, 𝗢𝘃𝗶𝘆𝗮, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗡𝗶𝗸𝗵𝗶𝗹 recapped many of the community service projects that the youth board has run over the past two years. Next, 𝗢𝘃𝗶𝘆𝗮 performed a Bollywood dance to the song 𝗥𝗮𝗷𝘄𝗮𝗱𝗶 𝗢𝗱𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶, followed by 𝗞𝗮𝘂𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗯𝗵'𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗲𝗴𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗮 𝗥𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗮. Our 𝗩𝗧 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗮 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗶𝘁 𝗩𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿, 𝗩𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗮 𝗝𝗶, gave us all a presentation about future events for RAAS 2021, an annual fundraising event run by VT Seva Detroit to support the Nethravidyalya schools for the visually challenged and tribal students. Her presentation was succeeded by two incredible instrumental performances! 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗮𝘃 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝗴𝗵𝗶 𝗩𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗺 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗻 and 𝗥𝗼𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗔𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗔𝘆𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝘅𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲. 𝗡𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗷 𝗝𝗶, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗝𝗘𝗧 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿, gave a guest speech, congratulating our youth volunteers on all their accomplishments and encouraging them to keep volunteering. A live performance of 𝗢𝗸𝗲𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗻𝘂𝘃𝗮𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝗦𝗮𝗶 came after these guest speeches. 𝗛𝗶𝗯𝗮 then performed a dance to 𝗦𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗮 𝗗𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘆𝗮, followed by 𝗨𝗱𝗮𝘆𝗮'𝘀 playing of 𝗩𝗮𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗺 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱. Our 𝗩𝗧 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗮 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗶𝘁 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗕𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿, 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘆𝗮 𝗝𝗶, came on and spoke about future projects for our youth board. 𝗞𝗮𝗮𝘃𝘆𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗮𝗻𝗷𝗮𝗻𝗮 then led a fun 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝘁 for all the attendees! Everyone was given the same list of 19 household items and two minutes to gather as many as possible. It was incredibly amusing and engaging! The 𝗩𝗧 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗮 𝗨𝗦𝗔 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆, 𝗦𝘂𝗱𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗝𝗶, gave us all an amazing speech recognizing all of the youth board's efforts and inspiring us to keep on giving back to their community. To finish off the night, the𝗩𝗧 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗮 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗶𝘁 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗝𝗶 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗕𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘆𝗮 𝗝𝗶 delivered a vote of thanks and a wrap-up to the fun-filled night! Please check out our Youth Board performances during the celebration VT Seva Detroit YouthBoard 2nd Year Anniversary Videos - YouTube INVITATION VT Seva Detroit commenced Youth Board on 5/19/19. Yay! It's time to celebrate the 2nd anniversary. Come join us to celebrate this Friday, 5/28/21 at 7:30 PM From day 1 our Youth Board members are actively participating in the events and keep growing in strength. Join us to learn about their achievements and their future plans. There is no celebration without entertainment, our Youth Board members are going to perform live entertainment and some recorded acts. Songs, Instruments, Dance all are in line for entertainment. Please join us to have a fun-filled evening. Feel free to invite your family and friends. All are Welcome!!! Meeting Link: http://bit.ly/VTSDetYB2ndAnniversary YOUR SUPPORT IS OUR STRENGTH TO SERVE For More Details VT SEVA Volunteer Opportunities: Vanitha, Detroit.volunteercoordinator@vtsworld.org/ 248-227-3094 VT SEVA Youth Board Membership: Priya: Detroit.youthdirector@vtsworld.org / 313-529-0824 To become VT SEVA Member: Srinath : Detroit.director@vtsworld.org / 949-232-9477

  • VT Seva Detroit Soccer Tournament - 2021

    VT Seva Detroit is organizing a soccer tournament , on July 18th, 2021 from 11:30 AM in Total Sports Novi East. Proceeds from this tournament will go to schools in India for visually challenged children. VT Seva supports Schools for the visually challenged in India such as Nethra Vidyalaya . These schools provide higher education to visually challenged students and enable them to be independent supporting themselves and their families financially. Date: July 18th at 11:30 AM Venue: Total Sports Novi EAST 41550 Grand River Ave, Novi, MI 48375 Kids from age 6 and above are eligible to participate in this soccer tournament to support a great cause while enjoying a fun tournament. Come join us and play for a cause. For more details, please contact: Suresh: 734-612-4961 Venkat: 313-587-8011 For volunteering opportunities, please contact: Vanitha: 248-227-3094 If you would like to sponsor for the event or to place your business logo, banner, or any other type of promotion, please contact detroit.director@vtsworld.org / Srinath: 949-232-9477 or Sudheer: 213-399-2315 We request you to review the following consent forms, fill COVID-19 Waiver form and acknowledge the same in registration form. VTSEVA DETROIT SOCCER TOURNAMENT LIABILITY WAIVER FORM Participant Waiver & Liability Agreement I understand that there are risks associated with playing all sports and field-related activities. In consideration for the privilege to use the Novi Total Sports facility and/or attend the VTSEVA Detroit Soccer tournament, my participation indicates that I assume the risk of any injuries that myself or my children/wards may sustain while participating in any VTSEVA sponsored sports activity and for any injuries which myself or my children/wards may sustain while on the premises of Total Sports, Novi. I assure that I am or my child is physically and mentally able to participate in physical activities and have been examined by a licensed medical physician within one (1) year prior to attending this clinic/camp. By registering for the tournament, I am signing this Waiver and Liability Agreement. I acknowledge that I HAVE READ AND FULLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE TO ALL OF ITS TERMS AND CONDITIONS INCLUDING PERMISION TO TREAT AGREEMENT. I further state that I have executed this waiver and liability voluntarily and with full knowledge of its significance to be binding on my, my heirs, executors, administrators and assigns. VT SEVA DETROIT COVID-19 SPORTS EVENTS WAIVER FORM Please fill the online waiver form for each participant: COVID-19 WAIVER FORM

  • VT Seva Detroit: Yard Beautification Help & Facilities Tour at Penrickton Center for Blind Children

    VT Seva Detroit: Yard Beautification Help & Facilities Tour at Penrickton Center for Blind Children. After a year & half long hiatus since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, VT SEVA Detroit is organizing the first in-person outdoor volunteering event with all COVID-19 SAFETY PROTOCOLS as per the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) & Volunteering Organization Safety Guidelines. About Penrickton Center: Penrickton Center is a private non-profit organization that provides care and support to blind, multi-disabled children and their families. Penrickton Center for Blind Children provides services to families at no charge and relies entirely on donations from the community. Yard Beautification Help & Facilities Tou r 1. Yard Beautification: The center has a very beautiful front yard and our volunteers will be helping Penrickton Center to beautify their yard by pulling weeds, raking , edging the grass around driveway areas, beautifying the flower beds, etc. The center will be providing the necessary tools and gears to work with volunteers. 2. Facilities Tour: The center coordinator will take our entire group of volunteers to tour their facility as well during our stay there. It would be a great opportunity for all of us to see their facility & to know more about the Penrickton Center and how it provides care and support to blind, multi-disabled children and their families. NOTE: ALL VOLUNTEERS NEED TO FOLLOW THE COVID-19 SAFETY PROTOCOLS AT ALL TIMES DURING THEIR STAY AT PENRICKTON CENTER. 1. COVID-19 WAIVER FORM WILL BE SENT THROUGH WHATSAPP TO BE SUBMITTED DIGITALLY 2. SIGN-UP REGISTRATION FORM AT THE EARLIEST TO HOLD YOUR SPOT. (First-come, first-serve basis) VENUE: 26530 Eureka Rd, Taylor, MI 48180 DATE: JUNE 6th, 2021 TIME: 1 pm to 4 pm. NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS: 20 MAX (8 ADULTS, 12 YOUTH); YOUTH AGE 14 AND ABOVE. VOLUNTEERS WILL RECEIVE 3 HRS AS SERVICE HOURS. Your Support is our Strength to Serve for more details on how to get involved on VT SEVA Detroit Volunteering Projects Please contact : Vanitha : Detroit.volunteercoordinator@vtsworld.org / 248-227-3094 Priya : Detroit.youthdirector@vtsworld.org / 313-529-0824 Srinath : Detroit.director@vtsworld.org / 949-232-9477

  • VT Seva Detroit - Police Appreciation Lunch

    " We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives" - John.F.Kennedy During the National Police Week May 9th through May 15th, 2021, VT Seva Detroit hosted an Appreciation lunch for Novi Police Department on May 8th, 2021, at 11.30 am We had an opportunity to visit Novi Police Department today (May 8th, 2021) as a small team of VT Seva Detroit Volunteers to host a lunch and personally express our sincere gratitude, a thank you flyer photo frame, and a letter of appreciation to all the Officers there for their selfless services to protect our community. 🙏 We expressed our gratitude to all the Police officers who are always there for us. We know that they are there protecting the law, and therefore, we have nothing to fear. During our visit, we met Sgt. Manar, Sgt. Boody, Officer Woodley, and Cadet Morningstar. They were all very cordial and kind to us, very appreciative of our efforts and all community services that we do locally and globally. We had a great interaction with them in explaining about VT Seva, JET USA, and all the activities we do in the Detroit branch. We would surely continue these appreciation lunches or dinner visits to them whenever possible in the future. Also, plan it as a bigger group of Adult and Youth volunteers once we get their permission and the situation is favorable to all. ( Our Adult volunteers who visited include Sudheer ji, Narsaraj ji representing JET Michigan, Srinath ji, Anand ji, and Vanitha. Due to unavoidable reason's Sudhakar ji, Priya ji, Archita ji couldn't make it) Thank you to all the Police officers who don't give up and work day in and day out with alertness and make sure to keep the people safe in our community. WE SALUTE OUR BRAVE POLICE OFFICERS. GOD BLESS!! Please check out our Facebook page for more pictures and other news from VT Seva Detroit.

  • VT SEVA DETROIT MAILING SUPPLIES PROJECT

    VT Seva Detroit: Mailing Supplies Project to help Penrickton Center for Blind Children (REMOTE) Penrickton Center is a private non-profit organization that provides care and support to blind, multi-disabled children and their families. Penrickton Center for Blind Children provides services to families at no charge and relies entirely on donations from the community. Throughout the year Penrickton Center sends out requests for donations, and invitations to raise funds . VT Seva Detroit volunteers got this opportunity to help them assemble their Mailing Supplies items in envelopes as per their directions for their fundraising purposes. FIRST BATCH MAILING SUPPLIES PROJECT SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED Timeline: May 1st, 2021 to June 5th, 2021 Items Delivered: June 6th, 2021 We received 20 signups within an hour of project release in groups. The mailing supplies were picked up from the Penrickton Center, sorted, and organized as 20 kits with 250 counts of each item. The kits were later distributed to volunteers to do at their homes and then to be dropped off before June 5th, 2021. We had 20 youth volunteers who participated in this remote volunteering project. Each volunteer assembled perfectly 250 envelopes with those mailing supplies items provided. On the whole, we delivered around 5000 envelopes in this first batch of our Mailing Supplies Project to Penrickton Center for Blind Children. We received lots of appreciations from the Penrickton Center coordinators for this great help by our volunteers since it saves a lot of their time in doing this task before proceeding to their next step of sending these mails to all their donors. Youth volunteers who participated: Aarush Arun; Abhinav Suresh; Ananya Ramanan; Harish Jaishankar ;Ish Niranjan Patel; Ishani; Kaavya Karnati; Karthik Tilak ;Likitha Gidijala;Nikhil Aerabati; Oviya Jaishankar;Rishi Adduri;Rohan Patil; Sai Sahasra; Sai Karnati ;Saisha Srivatsan;Shreya Srivatsan;Shruthi Adduri; Siddharth Tirumala Kanduri;Tarun Rajesh This project was so successful & liked by our Volunteers that many wanted to do more of the mailing supplies. Hence we have brought in the second batch of the supplies from Penrickton Center and we will be executing that as our next remote project for Penrickton Center. SECOND BATCH MAILING SUPPLIES PROJECT Timeline: June 11, 2021 to July 2nd, 2021 After successful completion of the FIRST BATCH of Mailing Supplies Project, we are ready to go with our SECOND BATCH Mailing Supplies Project. The mailing supplies were picked up from the center on June 6th, 2021. 15 volunteers have already signed up for this second batch project. The supplies will be sorted, organized and will be available as kits to be picked up from our volunteer coordinator residence in Novi. The project will kick off on June 11 and July 2nd will be the due date for kits to be dropped off. You may check out this 'How To' YouTube Video Link to know how to assemble those mailing supplies items in the envelope. Volunteering credit hours about this project (FOR YOUTH ONLY): -> Every kit will have 250 items each within the mailing supplies -> It takes approximately 2.5 hours to assemble 250 envelopes, so the Volunteering Credit hours will be rounded off to 3 hours for completing 250 envelopes. For any further questions, contact: Vanitha @ 248-227-3094 (or) Srinath @ 949-232-9477 Please visit VT Seva Detroit Facebook page to view more details. https://www.facebook.com/vtseva.detroit/posts/4736603273033331 THIRD BATCH MAILING SUPPLIES PROJECT Timeline: June 26, 2021, to July 17, 2021 Due to the popularity of this remote project, we reached out to Penrickton for our Third Batch to do more help for them in assembling their mailing supplies. They were kind enough to give more kits for our volunteers to help them. The supplies were picked up on June 24th from Penrickton; the items are sorted and organized as 18 kits ready to be distributed to volunteers. Whoever interested kindly please signup the form shorturl.at/hjsAF and schedule your date and time to pick up the kit from Vanitha @ 248-227-3094 at the earliest. NOTE: This signup is only for those volunteers who missed participating in our previous mailing supplies project. You may check out this 'How To' YouTube Video Link to know how to assemble those mailing supplies items in the envelope. https://youtu.be/xs2y9vUIiGw Volunteering credit hours about this project (FOR YOUTH ONLY): -> Every kit will have 250 items each within the mailing supplies -> It takes approximately 2.5 hours to assemble 250 envelopes, so the Volunteering Credit hours will be rounded off to 3 hours for completing 250 envelopes. For any further questions, contact: Vanitha @ 248-227-3094 (or) Srinath @ 949-232-9477

  • VT Seva Cary PVSA Award Ceremony

    To make a difference in someone's world, you don't have to be amazing, rich, talented, or beautiful. You just have to be you and CARE. - Rebecca Fox Volunteering in 2020 was unprecedented, with the pandemic, not being able to do in-person volunteering, and a lot of uncertainty. But, VT Seva Cary quickly adapted to these trying times by coming up with creative ways to volunteer. Our youth volunteers smoothly transitioned to volunteering their time either virtually or in other ways while maintaining covid protocols. Making cloth masks and distributing them at a senior center, providing lunch to our healthcare workers at Rex and UNC, a two-week online summer camp teaching various skills and subjects, pumpkin carving sessions, a bake sale, biking for donations, making greeting cards for our healthcare workers and patients at UNC, on-line tutoring and college app sessions were few of the ways our youth volunteers volunteered their time in 2020. On February 21st, 2021, some of these VT Seva Cary youth volunteers received their Presidential Volunteers Service Awards at a small ceremony while maintaining social distance. In total, we had eight gold, one silver, and four bronze awards. Volunteers who received the awards are Ashrith Desu, Dhriti Koneru, Ishani Dasyam, Lakshmi Annugu, Mahathi Mallela, Manasvi Gudibandi, Monish Manne, Neeraja Boppana, Rohitha Sanka, Sribhaavita Nekkalapudi, Srichandrika Changalvala, Srinivas Tirunagari, and Thanuj Desu. Together, these kids volunteered a total of 1,617 hours in 2020. Hearty congratulations to them! We would like to thank their parents as none of this would have been possible without their amazing support!! An award calls for a celebration and these kids wanted to celebrate too. But, they wanted to celebrate a little differently this year. So, they donated $35 each, thus raising around $500. With this money they sponsored meals for a day (24th February 2021) to all the students at all the VT Seva Sponsored schools in INDIA - Netra Vidyalaya (School for the visually challenged kids), Netra College (College for the visually challenged kids), and Tribal school (School for kids living in tribal areas), thus showing true volunteerism in their celebrations too. What a wonderful and inspiring way to celebrate any occasion! If you would like to celebrate your special occasions similarly then please visit the below link to know more about the ‘Feed a School’ program. https://www.vtsworld.org/specialoccasion To recognize the efforts of these kids, on February 28th,2021, the VT Seva Cary youth board directed their first PVSA awards ceremony. This eventful session opened up with a blast of energetic words from our directors Kalyani Sanka and Sowjanya Thungathurti, and our amazing emcee and youth board President, Chandrika Changalvala. Then, Thanuj Desu and Ashrith Desu talked about the various activities VT Seva Cary took up so far in 2021. The ceremony started with some inspirational words from our guest speaker, Dawn Dixon. Dawn is the volunteer coordinator for FSSeries, a nonprofit organization specializing in marathon events to raise funds for the REX hospital and other organizations. These funds go towards research for incurable diseases. Recently, she funded education for two visually challenged kids. Dawn spoke of her experience in volunteering and service, helping our volunteers learn how to branch out to gain more experience. While sharing her experience of working with our VT Seva volunteers she said, “In the past, when I have worked with your group, they have been wonderful kids to work with. They have been dedicated and very focused on the task. It’s rewarding to see how much they want to give to the community and how they help the athletes.” Then, our advisor Chakradhar Sriperumbudur spoke about the PVSA awards and volunteerism and the effect it has on the community. Here is an excerpt from his speech, “Do you know what it takes to be a volunteer?: Generosity... willingness... time... understanding... empathy... compassion... patience... dedication. You have shown all these qualities and much more. Thanks for the difference you have made. Because of you, my friend, someone will have enough to eat tonight, someone will have decent clothes to wear, someone will have shelter. Because of you, someone knows that there is at least one person in this world that cares for them. This world is a better place because you volunteer.” Then our PVSA Award winners were recognized by Aravind Parankusam and Subrahmanyam Nekkalapudi. The award winners were asked to speak about their experience and journey that led them to this award. Each volunteer gave incredible speeches that were very motivational to the audience. Below are a few excerpts from their speeches, “The events I went to have taught me that I should always be thankful and appreciative for the people around me.” “Teaching in the summer camp helped me personally because not only did I gain life skills...it also helped me gain a career interest in STEM and computer science.” “At an event I remember it was really cold...and at one point our toes got numb...but I realized that you need to give nourishment and encouragement to the runners and that’s what pushed me forward to just stand there and volunteer all I can.” “Volunteering helped me understand what it means to truly give back to the community and helped me define who I am as a person.” “Volunteering with VT Seva has edified me into being a better leader and bring the best out of me. It has not only taught me to give back but has also helped me get out of my personal box.” “Through VT Seva not only was I becoming an active member of the community, but I was also becoming a better person.” “One of the greatest things that VT Seva has to offer is motivation and encouragement. They will help you in anything you want to pursue.” “VT Seva made me realize how much an individual can do for the community, how important it is to respect and be thankful to people who do so much for us and how much of an impact I can have on the community.” After the open mic with the award winners, Ishani Dasyam introduced VT Seva Cary’s monthly spotlight performance by one of our very own youth volunteers, Sribhaavita Nekkalapudi. Bhaavita played an improvised piece on the drums, in quite a unique circumstance. She had just returned from a seven-hour fundraiser video shoot for our local temple and was fully decked in traditional classical dance attire. It was quite a unique combination of traditional meets western. She gave an energetic performance which left the audience speechless. Session was concluded by conducting a quick game of Kahoot, run by youth volunteer Rohitha Sanka. It was both engaging and entertaining, thus bringing the week-long celebrations of our PVSA award winners to an end. Needless to say, it was a very successful event, leaving all of our volunteers inspired and motivated. Kudos to the volunteers for all their efforts and continued support to this great mission.

  • VT Seva Detroit Youth Board 1st Quarter Newsletter

    VT Seva Detroit Youth Board is working towards a goal of implementing at least one project each month which is initiated by Youth Board members. We had a busy and successful 1st quarter. The team has implemented 4 projects in the 1st quarter. o Operation Gratitude Project o Rescue Animal Towel Collection Project o Foster Care Clothes Drive o Grocery Bag Donation Operation Gratitude Project: VT Seva Detroit Youth Board Thanking our Deployed Troops Operation Gratitude is a program that supplies deployed troops and frontline responders with a variety of necessities including blankets, bags, and letters. VT Seva Detroit Youth Board Member Harish came up with this idea and all the group Youth Board members came together to make handwritten letters for these people who put their lives on the line every day. Writing letters is a very quick process, yet it still means the world to the recipients. By working on this project, Detroit Youth Board members thanked all the troops and responders who have been putting themselves in harm's way to keep us safe amid a global pandemic. 23 members participated and wrote 190 letters to our deployed troops. This is the least our youth can do to show their gratitude for the service of our troops. In this high-tech world, penmanship is becoming a lost art. This project provided the opportunity for our youth to discover their writing skills and creativity. Thank You Troops for keeping us safe Youths who participated in this project are Abhinav, Adhvaith, Aishani, Amogh, Anagha, Dhanya, Harish, Hiba, Kaavya, Niharika, Nikhil, Nikita, Oviya, Rashmita, Risha, Sanjana, Shrikha, Sohan, Srihari, Supraja, Sveya, Vaibhav, Yasaswini Youth Board Member Niharika put together a video for this project FB Link: (1) VT Seva-Detroit - Posts | Facebook Rescue Animal Towel Collection Project "𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐨𝐝" - 𝐕𝐓 𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐚 𝐂𝐄𝐎 𝐇𝐇 𝐒𝐫𝐢 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐉𝐞𝐞𝐲𝐚𝐫 𝐒𝐰𝐚𝐦𝐢 𝐣𝐢 *𝓡𝓮𝓼𝓬𝓾𝓮 𝓐𝓷𝓲𝓶𝓪𝓵 𝓣𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓵 𝓓𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓟𝓻𝓸𝓳𝓮𝓬𝓽* A rescue animal is an animal that has been placed in a new home after being abused, neglected, or abandoned by its previous owner... Many animal rescue organizations exist to rescue, protect, care and re-home the animals. What a wonderful service provides by the Animal Shelters to save these voiceless animals! VT Seva Detroit Youth Board did their part to help these animals by collecting the used towels. The towels that we think are useless after some time are a great help to these shelters to take care of the dogs after giving them the bath, using as a rag to train the dogs, cleaning after surgeries. This project was initiated by the Youth Board Member 𝗢𝘃𝗶𝘆𝗮. 𝟐𝟔 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫s reached out to their friends and families and collected 210 big towels. Members who participated in this project are Yug, Yasaswini, Vaibhav, Teja, Tarun, Sveya, Supraja, Srihari A, Sohan, Siddharth, Shriya, Sathvik, Saisha, Risha, Rashmitha, Oviya, Nikhil, Niharika, Kaavya, Hiba, Harish, Dhanya, Arya, Anjana, Amogh & Abhinav. Due to the large volume of the collection, we were able to donate it to two different organizations. 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐃𝐨𝐠 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐞 - supports the rescue animals by fostering them, just a day after we donated the towels, they received 30 dogs from Texas where one of the animal shelters was damaged by a recent winter storm. They were so happy to receive the towels and happy for the timely help. 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 - - Animal shelter rescues the animals using the team of trained and credentialed investigators. They are one of the leaders in the Animal Welfare community. They provide shelter to lost animals and surrendered animals also. At any given time in each of their location, they have 100+ animals (dogs, cats, bunnies.). They were also so happy to receive the towels which will be used in a huge deal to support their mission. Special shout out to the parent volunteers Vanitha ji, Sudheer ji, Sripriya ji, Srinath ji, Priya ji, Madhavan ji, and Architha ji for collecting the towels in each city and dropping them off. Youth Board Member Oviya put together a video for this project FB Link: (1) VT Seva-Detroit - Posts | Facebook Foster Care Clothes Drive: “When you wear clothes that make you feel confident, happy, and empowered, they can act as armor, shielding you from negative feelings and experiences.”- Georgina Lucas Foster care (also known as out-of-home care) is a temporary service provided by states for children who cannot live with their families. There are lots of wonderful foster parents out there, but they do need help from all of us to provide proper care for the kids. The VT Seva Detroit Youth Board helped many foster kids by donating their gently used clothes to the Downriver Foster Closet. This simple gesture brightens the lives of many kids. The Downriver Foster Closet has been helping Downriver Foster Families since 2020. Their mission is to help foster kids rebuild their self-esteem and adapt to their new homes. This project was initiated and led by Youth Board member Harish 𝟑𝟓 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐁𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝟑𝟐𝟎 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬. Members participated in this project are: Oviya, Pranav M, Rashmitha, Risha, Rohan, Saisha, Sanjana, Sanjith, Sathvik, Siddharth, Sohan, Srihari A, Srihari H, Supraja, Sveya, Tarun, Teja, Vaibhav, Yasaswini, Yug, Abhinav, Aishani, Amogh, Ananya R, Ananya V, Arya, Dhanya, Eeshan, Harish, Hiba, Jishnu, Kaavya, Nikhil, Nikitha and Nirvan. Special shout out to parent volunteers Sripriya ji, Vidya ji, Architha ji, Sudheer ji, Srinath ji, Vanitha ji, and Priya ji for collecting clothes from different cities. Youth Board member Hiba put together a video for this project FB Link: (1) VT Seva-Detroit - Posts | Facebook Grocery Bags Donation: VT Seva Detroit youth has taken up a new project to convert 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲. Youth Board member Risha initiated this project. 35 members collected 3469 grocery bags and donated them to 2 different groups 1. Foodbank in Canton called Open Door Ministry, use these bags to distribute foods 2. Group of volunteers who make mats for the homeless from the plastic bags. Both groups were thankful for receiving those bags. Members participated in this project are Abhinav, Aishani, Amogh, Ananya R, Ananya V, Anjana, Arya, Dhanya, Eeshan, Harish, Hiba, Jishnu, Kaavya, Nikhil, Nirvan, Oviya, Pranav M, Rashmita, Risha, Rohan, Saisha, Sanjana, Sanjith, Sathvik, Shriya, Siddharth, Sohan, Srihari A, Srihari H, Supraja, Sveya, Tarun, Teja, Vaibhav, Yasaswini Special shout out to parent volunteers Sripriya ji, Vidya ji, Architha ji, Sudheer ji, Srinath ji, Vanitha ji, and Priya ji for collecting clothes from different cities. Promotional Video: Post completion video: Youth Board member Kaavya put together a video for this project FB Link: (1) VT Seva-Detroit - Posts | Facebook Blog Consolidated By Youth Board Member Oviya

  • Toys/Books/Games Drive for the Children's Hospital Michigan

    VT Seva Detroit is hosting a Toys/Books/Games Drive for the Children's Hospital Michigan NEW ITEMS ARE ACCEPTED APRIL 25 DUE DATE Children's Hospital Michigan relies on the generosity of our local community to brighten the Children's hospital stay. Your donation of new gifts helps create a comfortable, healing environment for them. This is our first community service for Children's Hospital Michigan and VT Seva Detroit is looking forward to a successful donation drive. Together let's bring a smile to a Child's face. Contact : (949) 232-9477 SrinathBabu Karnati VTSEVA DETROIT DIRECTOR VOLUNTEER

  • VT SEVA Detroit Youth Board's Outreach Project

    This fall, 30 VT Seva youth members from Michigan joined forces to raise thousands of dollars for underprivileged children in India. They created an online fundraiser using GoFundMe to collect donations towards the cause. VT Seva is a non- profit volunteer organization which is mostly run with the help of the youth board. "The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention."—Oscar Wilde A team of 30 , an ambitious goal, and a total of more than $7,000 raised. This fall, 30 members of the Michigan youth board started a fundraiser to raise money for the blind and tribal children of India. Due to the obstacles of COVID-19, RAAS, an annual fundraiser to raise money for these children, was canceled. We had to manage everything online in the form of Webex meetings, online fundraisers, and online group chats. All of the participants had to do most of the work alone due to the pandemic, which made it quite challenging. The main goal of their outreach project was to spread awareness about all the work that VTSeva does to help the visually challenged children in India. Our donations help the Nethra Vidyalaya schools for the visually challenged. It is a group of institutions focused on providing a value-based quality education, technology-assisted learning, and a self-reliant lifestyle to visually challenged kids. This fundraiser helps the students get high quality education and presents them with a better opportunity for success. The idea was thought of by 16 year old youth member Harish Jaisankar . By informing people about these students and VT Seva's mission to the people who are not aware of VT SEVA, the VT Seva Detroit Youth Board helped raise money for Nethra Vidyala students, their team raised $7,100. The cost of helping one blind child receive education for an entire year is $365, which means that together they helped over 19 visually challenged students. Just like any other great cause, it started out fairly slow. A goal was set that each participant must raise at least $50 which enabled them to encourage each participant to raise money. Their initial target was to raise $3000 in three weeks but by the eighth day of fundraising, they had already surpassed their goal. This led them to increase their goal to $6,600. However, they also exceeded their goal again on the 18th day. Finally, they increased their goal to $10,000, campaign is still going on. Every member who committed to the cause made sure they reached their personal goals. Their outreach project helped contribute to this cause as they put together their efforts to spread the word. The fundraiser lasted over the course of 21 days. Over the course of this time, members asked many people for donations through gofundme.com. It was a great way to gain experience, and be an active part of society. Our fundraiser and message reached well beyond the United States’s borders. For example, we got a number of donations from India and Australia. This project helped bring attention to our service group from foreign countries. All our participants helped spread the word of VTSEVA. Some of our participants took initiatives at school to spread the word even more. They hung up posters around their schools as well as asked their teachers to donate. Many teachers were incredibly interested and impressed by our generous cause. By doing this, our participants brought so much more attention to the visually impaired in India and VT SEVA's contribution. This project was supported by Youth Board members as young as eight years old . Adhip , Jansi , Chandini , and Ritvija are our youngest members and they helped raise a ton of money and bring awareness to our cause. We believe that leadership should start young and by helping collect donations, our four young members proved that leadership in youth is attainable. Youth is the backbone of our nation and it is our job to encourage them from a young age to grow and become responsible citizens. The members of our team shared their personal experiences and explained the feeling of being able to change lives and bring smiles to many faces . It took a lot of phone calls, text messages, and emails to reach people. Volunteers reflect on their personal experiences: Oviya , Saisha , and Risha talked about how rewarding the experience felt. Teja , Yasaswini , and Shreya explain how great the experience was for them. Sathvik , Abhinav , Nikhil , and Harish say they are grateful for the opportunity. Teja , Yasaswini , and Shreya explain how great the experience was for them. Sanjana , Rashmita , and Jansi explain their joy of giving “During the journey of Go Funding I found true generous donors who gave silently without hope of reward!! I appreciate them!”— Niharika , Chandini , and Arya “I am very happy that I was able to contribute towards the education of the students in Netra Vidyalaya. The experience has made me become more compassionate towards not so privileged people.” discuss Adhip , Aishani , Amogh “This project taught me how to reach out to people. I am very proud that I was a part of something that helped so many kids.” — Shrikha , Nikita , Ritvija “Even during this time, I was really glad that I was able to reach society and explain to them what VTSeva is and how we help. Every time when I got the donation it made me feel really happy.” as written by Kaavya , Soham , and Srihari Siddharth , Sohan , and Vaibhav reflect, “This fundraiser gave me the opportunity to raise awareness for a great cause. I am really grateful to be part of this wonderful organization.” “Being a part of this fundraiser made me realize how much one person can impact such a big society.”— Anagha , and Srujan Overall, our outreach program helped bring a lot of awareness to VT Seva and our cause, enabling us to help visually impaired children attain better education and future. Seeing all the smiles on these kids's faces brought joy to all of us. “ Giving is not just about making a donation, it's about making a difference.” - Kathy Calvin . The experiences of our participants show that each and every one of them are very grateful to the donors and VT Seva for giving them this opportunity. Detroit Youth Board Members Thanking the donor Special Thanks to: Blog Written By: Nikitha Talwar , Shrikha Atchutuni Collage Made By: Rashmitha Ragunathan Video Made By: Oviya Jaisankar, Harish Jaisankar

  • VT SEVA-Seattle Cricket Coaching Camp

    VT SEVA Seattle branch conducted a 6-week Cricket Coaching Camp, August - October 2020. 26 children ages 5-13 participated in the fun filled program from Seattle Area. Trainees were invited to sign up to attend a virtual orientation, followed by a trial session open to participants and parents to get a feel for the program. Precautions were taken and the best hygienic practices were enforced through out the program. Participants were given a choice to choose between taped tennis ball, and a slightly harder tennis ball. The six-weeks were split into three 2-week sprints, where we focused on basics, techniques, and game scenarios, respectively. Closing ceremony was conducted with a scrimmage between all the kids. In the ceremony, VT Seva Youth and Seattle Board shared about VT Seva's activities, and invited the families to join to help serve more people in need. Because the need is huge and we need everyone to step forward. Participants were presented commemorative wristbands for the program followed by nice refreshments. Cricket Coaching was an opportunity for the kids to get a safe, active outlet during the pandemic which was enjoyed by the participants and Youth Volunteers while knowing their effort is leading to support Schools for Tribals and Schools for Visually challenged in India raising $ 2500 towards the cause. We thank Varnon Srinivasan, Neha Aitharaju, Pavan Kotti, Vivek Chilakala, Samvit Garg, Kavya Yeremelli, Arnav Thappesandra, Sumedha Kanumuri, Adam D’mello, Rishi Sharma, Shyam Ramesh and VT Seva Seattle Leadership Team for collaborating on planning and execution of the program. - By Srihari Krishnaswamy, Hi All, I’m Srihari Krishnaswamy, I’m the Sports Lead at VTS Seattle, and have been with the branch for the past 2 years now. I first joined near the end of 2018, and like many of the volunteers at VTS Seattle, I was captivated by the branch’s effectiveness in accomplishing goals and wanted to help them make a difference. I was first exposed to JET at a very young age, and had the opportunity to meet Swami Ji. I have always loved the game of cricket, whether I was playing in leagues in the US, or watching India dominate from thousands of miles away. The sport has allowed me to make so many meaningful connections and learn how to be accountable and lead effectively. I started playing when I was about 9. Along the way, I learned meaningful drills, strategies, and techniques that I knew I could pass onto others. VT SEVA Cricket gave my peers and me an opportunity to do that, and we could not be more thankful. We knew that we had potential to provide an increase of outreach and donations for VTS and are glad that we were able to do that in our own type of way. Reflecting on the fact that we were able to further the game with younger kids, while also enabling the underprivileged in India learn in school was truly heartwarming.

  • Stitch & Fix – Meet Ananya, Our Youth Volunteer

    “The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.” Oscar Wilde VT Seva team is proud to present one of our amazing youth volunteers - Ananya Suthram. This Middle Schooler proves, it is the intention to help others that matters, and you can easily find a way. Lets hear how she made a difference in her own words: This journey started with my interest in stitching, and the desire to help those in need, especially in these challenging times of Covid-19. I started sewing masks and taking orders for minor fixes and altering pant lengths, with the intention of raising funds. For every article of clothing I mend, I asked for a suggested donation of $5 or more. At the end of summer, I raised a total of $365, which was donated to support education of one student from Schools for Visually Challenged / Schools for Tribals supported by VT Seva for a year. Thanks to my mother, who was the inspiration behind this project, and the rest of my family who supported me through my journey. I would also like to thank all the people who donated and encouraged my efforts, for I couldn’t have reached my goal without them. I was delighted to know that my endeavors also inspired another person to stitch as well. Together we stitched masks and donated them. - Ananya Suthram – VT SEVA Seattle Wishing many more years of joyful service Ananya! Hello! My name is Ananya Suthram and I am at my last year in middle school at Issaquah, WA. My hobbies include sewing, coding, dancing, and skating. I have been serving with VT SEVA Seattle branch for seven years, through UTSAV, and many other volunteering activities. I originally joined VT SEVA because I found it amazing to see other people my age working hard to give back to the society, they live in. I am proud to say that I am a part of this great organization. VT Seva empowers youth to own and lead Volunteering events from a very young age.

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