Like us on Facebook
May 2013
VT Seva
VT SEVA NEWSLETTER
Your Support is our Strength to Serve

Latest Activities in US
VT Seva CEO is in US
VT Seva CEO  
VT Seva CEO HH Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji is in US. 

CityFromDayTimeToDayTimePhone







 
Chicago5/29/2013Wed10:00 AM5/29/2013Wed7:00 PM630-909-9779
Novi5/29/2013Wed11:00 PM6/3/2013Mon10:00 AM248-505-8832, 248-408-3361
Akron6/3/2013Mon2:00 PM6/4/2013Tue12:00 PM330-388-0381
Pittsburgh6/4/2013Tue2:00 PM6/5/2013Wed12:00 PM724-733-8702,
313-598-7669
Houston6/5/2013Wed4:00 PM6/8/2013Sat8:00 PM281-498-2344
San Antonio6/8/2013Sat10:00 PM6/10/2013Mon10:00 AM210-378-2815
Hosuton6/10/2013Mon1:00 PM6/11/2013Tue4:00 PM281-498-2344
Chicago6/11/2013Tue22:00:006/12/2013Wed8:00 AM630-909-9779

Youth Empowerment for transforming tribal communities
Kai Moor  
The proceeds from TARANGINI 2013 organized by Dallas team will go towards empowering the tribal community in Allampalli, Adilabad district for the following 2 projects.
  • Education of around 60 students ($360 per student)
  • Water Retention project which will benefit them as they live in remote villages and regularly face problems with water crisis and water contamination problems.
VT Seva Dallas believes that through education to students and better living facilities to the families, generations can be improved in the tribal communities. For more details, click on pictures and report.
VT Seva Dallas Tarangini Team

 

Dance For A Cure
The proceeds from 'Dance for a Cure' event organized by VT Seva Boston will go towards raising cancer awareness and prevention in India and Boston. 





This event was organized in memory of Seshu MV Kandukuri, one of the early youth volunteers of VT Seva, who lost his physical battle to cancer at a very early age. The 'Dance for a Cure' emphasized that life is beautiful and it is in our hands to keep it that way. VT Seva CEO HH Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji sent His message - "Let us try always with all our energies to identify good volunteers, motivate and involve them for making our society a better place free from such deadly diseases like Cancer." For more details, click on pictures and report.

 
Strength
United EcoSkies Community Grant

VT Seva Houston received a grant of $5000 United EcoSkies community grant to raise awareness about the use of biodegradable and reusable material and organize a walkathon to emphasize environmental protection.  

 

 

 

With the received grant, Houston team is planning to procure 1000 custom made ceramic cups and 3000 custom printed reusable shopping bags with VT Seva and United Eco-skies logos and distribute them to general public.

 

Decreasing the Environmental footprint by distributing Ceramic cups in place of cups made of less biodegradable material such as Styrofoam and plastic.  Based on the Environmental Action Association, USA data, we estimate that using 1000 cups will decrease the use of less biodegradable alternatives by about 1 million cups per year.  According to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 380 billion plastic bags are used in the United States every year.  Of those, approximately 100 billion are plastic shopping bags.  By distributing reusable shopping bags, we intend to decrease the negative effects of photo degradation, a process that occurs with plastic in landfills and leads to toxic chemicals being released into the environment. 

 

 The Earth Day walkathon will focus on environmental awareness.  It also highlights the spirit of volunteerism especially among youth by empowering them to take lead roles in organizing the walk in line with the mission of VT Seva.  All participants in the walkathon will be given ceramic cups.  We will distribute the reusable shopping bags in public places such as shopping malls and outside grocery stores and in parks on Earth Day.

Monthly Health Education Series
Health Seminar Houston team is organizing monthly health education series at Sri Ashtalakshmi Temple Event Hall. The purpose of this event to is to be able to educate the community on various relevant topics in health. This event is free to the public.
 
On June 1st 2013, a seminar on 'Health and Homeopathy' by Anusha Thiagarajan is being organized. Click here for more details.
 
As part of the Monthly Health Education series in April, VT Seva organized a lecture on Cancer Prevention and Screening. Dr Ronjay Rakkhit, a famous oncologist, educated the audience about the various trends in cancer and the most common cancers among men and women. Dr Rakkhit instructed the audience about various symptoms they need to watch for and the timely tests they should undergo for cancer screening. He also gave the audience some life style tips to keep cancer at bay. 

Ms Kusum Vyas, founder of The Living Planet Foundation, was invited as the chief guest for the seminar. She congratulated VT Seva, Houston on all the wonderful work that the organization is doing towards promoting volunteerism in the community. 

The seminar was very well-received by one and all who looked forward to future medical seminars. You can download Dr Rakkhit's presentation hereFor more photos from the event, please click here
Bone Marrow Drive
Bone Marrow Drive  
Seattle team in partnership with SAMAR has organized its 3rd Bone Marrow Drive on April 13th at Washington Telugu Samithi Ugadi event.
Feeding America
Tampa Youth
Tampa team engaged Middle/High school Students in volunteering for a good cause on May 11th. Around 20 volunteers took part in packing the food and organizing it to help distribute the food packets by 'Feeding America of Tampa Bay' across Florida. For pictures, click here.
 
With the enthusiasm of all the volunteers, especially youth, the team has decided to continue this activity on monthly basis (4th Saturday). They also started volunteering for health camps at a local temple.
Earth Day News
VT Seva teams throughout the US observed Earth Day by organizing local activities/events in month of April.

Please click on the respective cities for more details and pictures.

Bay Area (Pictures and Video) -  On April 20, 2013. VT Seva Bay Area extended its reach in North Bay by participating in the Earth Day celebrations hosted by City of Emeryville. Team set up a booth and distributed VT Seva brochures, educated the visitors about the organization and its vast services and reach. This event provided a chance to interact with the local organizations who match VT Seva's vision and have exchanged contacts. Volunteers distributed reusable bags for free and encouraged one and all to use them highlighting the benefits of doing so.
 
Bay Area Team
 
Boston (Pictures) - Ashland Green UP day Earth day Cleanup..yeah..we. participated..and we did it..but returned with a heavy heart that there is so much more to do..
If every citizen felt responsible on a daily basis then Earth day can be celebrated in a totally different way one step at a time...promise to never litter and be mindful.
 
Boston Youth  
 
Dallas (Pictures) - The VT Seva Dallas chapter teamed up with the City of Frisco to do a city wide clean up. Our team of around 60 volunteers enthusiastically cleaned the First street from Main St. to N. County Rd in Frisco. We formed multiple teams and began the cleanup activity picking different areas of the street. As the street was near Frisco Wholesale lumber and a railway track, there was quite a bit of trash to be cleaned. Volunteers enthusiastically picked up lots of Styrofoam, cans, plastic bags & bottles to make the street as clean as possible. The energetic volunteers did their bit on keeping the Earth clean. The City of Frisco thanked VT Seva youth volunteers for the wonderful service.
 
Dallas Team  

 

Tampa (Pictures) - Energetic Tampa team took part in Hillsborough Park cleanup. Team took novel and unique initiative of engaging youngsters in raising Environmental awareness by conducting healthy competitions and quizzes.

JUNIORS:
1) Acrostic Poem on EARTH DAY, Winner = Varsha K
2) 10 (7 +ve , 3 -ve) Points on a Topic, Winner = Varsha K
3) Quick Recollection, Brain Game :- Winner = Shivani T

SENIORS:
1) Acrostic Poem on EARTH DAY:- Winner = Meghana N
2) 10 (7 +ve , 3 -ve) Points on a Topic :- Winner = Nikhila V
3) Quick Recollection , Brain Game :- Winner = Manika S and Nikhila V

TEAM QUIZ
Junior VS Senior Quiz : Winners are Juniors
 
Tampa Team  
Washington DC (Pictures) -    VT Seva DC chapter conducted Earth Day activities at Floris Elementary School on April 21st 2013. Adults and students participated actively and had a great time by working for the community, taking care of plants and mulching soil to all the plants needed.
 
DC team 
Educate and Empower Netra Degree College Students
VT Seva (Volunteering Together for Service) New Jersey invites you to our annual event - 'VASANTHAM' (a fun filled evening with dance, music and food)  on Saturday, June 15th 2013 from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM EDT at Madison High School, 170 Ridgedale Ave, Madison, NJ 07940. Please call us at 862-571-9518 or visit http://tinyurl.com/vasantham2013 for tickets to the event.
Salma





All the proceeds of this event will go towards education of visually challenged students studying at Netra Degree College, Samshabad, Hyderabad. For more details, click here.

 
Degree College Students
In 2012, VT Seva New Jersey team had a very successful Vasantham event followed by Sandy Storm Disaster relief (made 547 disaster relief boxes that convert to 9000 meals for the people in affected areas) and volunteering with Red Cross etc.
Latest Activities & Updates from India
Wonderful Results - Thank you for your Generosity 
We are proud to announce the results of Netra Vidyalaya students who recently passed out of 10th class. Because of support from each one of YOU to VT Seva, we are able to facilitate good education to them.
 
School for the Visually Challenged  
 

Name

Age

Class

Percentage

Scored marks/Total Marks

Komatapalli Sudhakar

16

10th

85%

8.5/10

Nakka Murali

15

10th

85%

8.5/10

Mandangi Ramesh

18

10th

80%

8.0/10

Mandhapati Manoj

16

10th

83%

8.3/10

Vongapandu Ravindra

16

10th

87%

8.7/10

Gedhel a Venkata Rao

16

10th

83%

8.3/10

Sampathirao Himgiri

15

10th

87%

8.7/10

Suri  Eshwar Rao

16

10th

83%

8.3/10

Kondru Sita Ram

16

10th

82%

8.2/10

Devella  Manju Latha

16

10th

82%

8.2/10

Akula Siva

17

10th

85%

8.5/10

Thammineni ajay Kumar

16

10th

83%

8.3/10

Dukka Appanna

17

10th

80%

8.0/10

 
Cancer Screening Details
The camp details for the year 2012 (Jan. to Dec.) only, are as follows:
2012 Health Care Data
1} Cancer early detection & awareness camps
=========================================== 
a) # of camps...................................................92
b) # of persons checked...............................20580
c) # of VIA +ve...............................................1256
d) # of Mammograms done.................................31
e) # of Ultrasound tests done............................113
f) # of  Doctors Participated...............................603
g) # of technicians............................................349
h)# of V.T. Volunteers......................................1429
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2) Arogya Vikas- (dental/eye check up ) health camps.
===========================================
a) # of camps..................................................81
b) # of students checked...............................6812
c) # given dental trt.(scaling,xtraction etc).......3234
d) # given Eye check up..................................986
e) Free Specs given........................................148
g) # of Doctors participated............................... 36
h) # of technecians...........................................53
i) # V.T. Volunteers.........................................407
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3) Veterinary camps
===========================================
a) # of camps..................................................13
b) # of villages covered.....................................22
c) # of animals checked/treated.....................6911
d) # of Doctors participated...............................28
e) # of Paramedics...........................................18
f) # of V.T Volunteers........................................66
Cattle feeds & medicines were given free in some of the camps. 
Care on Wheels
Using the Chase Community Giving Grant, VT Seva is facilitating the following for 2012 - 
 
Care on Wheels  
  • Engage and empower youth from the local tribal communities in making a social change by recruiting and providing them with good training and facilities.
  • Provide quality education to the underprivileged children living in remote forests by taking education to their doorsteps using bicycles (Care on Wheels).
  • Provide health care to the children in thandas by improving health and hygiene conditions.
  • Improve the educational facilities at the schools for underprivileged children by procuring computer desktops, modernizing science labs and providing better kitchen facilities.
In hill areas and in forest, the tribals live in small groups. The small groups are called Gudems and Thundas. They don't have the necessary facilities also. Mostly they live on Agriculture. Their culture ,systems, traditions and languages are different from those who live in plains. Without losing their identity to achieve progress, to attain modern facilities, it is a great challenge before the tribal communities.

First phase program is to take the tribal youth towards self confidence.

The primary aim of "Care on Wheels" is to give the youth, the courage end efficiency, and to better their Gudems and Thandas also. The aim of "Care on Wheels" is also, to increase the service mindedness, to develop the leadership qualities and thus to make them efficient agents. Therefore, "Care on Wheels" Project is arranging the following activities in Gudems and Thandas -

1. Health development
2. Education development
3. Environmental protection
4. Cleanliness
5. Implementation of moral values
6. Protected water supply
7. Life according to saving plans
8. Arrangement of night schools
9. Arrangement of cultural centers

For this,

1. Giving those youth, who are interested in training, understanding of the Gudems or Thundas by organizing a survey of the Gudems and Thundas.
2. In phase 1, training is being given from April 11th to June 15th through experienced resource persons in different fields.
3. After 45 days training they are given special objectives and sent to Gudems. After 2 weeks that is on June 11th 2013 they are being brought back again to their Training - Center, at Sri Ramanagaram, Shamshabad. From April11th to June 15th , their experiences are being analyzed and again and being sent to the local fields for service.