Hindu Swayam Sevak believes that “Service to Humanity is Service to God”, extremely relevant in the Covid-19 pandemic times we live in,  there is a great need to lend a helping hand to the less fortunate in our communities. HSS volunteers rose to the occasion and supported the refugees, who are finding their footing in a new land they had adopted.

Early June the local Burmese Buddhist Refugee community of Oakland reached out to HSS Alameda stating  that they were facing tough times and weren’t able to put food on the table due to lack of work during covid-19 enforced shutdowns.  HSS Alameda team created a plan to support the community for a month. We were expecting things to get better in the coming weeks. We divided the entire month among 4 balagokulam, created a plan for fundraising and started acting upon it. To ensure we get the right amount of donation (Food/Fund), we created a campaign "Each One Feed one" and requested shakha families to sponsor a refugee family by providing/Sponsoring a packet of food. Each packet consists of 4 packets of 4lb Dal, 10 lbs of Rice, one bottle of vegetable oil. As soon as this plan was shared with Shakha families, many stepped forward to sponsor the cause.

Based on the outreach, the response from shakha families was pretty overwhelming. Our Initial plan got converted from 4 week to well over 10 weeks as few shakha opted for doing this Sewa activity for two to three weeks. Around the 8th week when we were running out of donations/funds, however somehow we were contacted by Sewa International and they asked if we needed some help in terms of food. We were delighted and happy that it's not over yet.

The Refugee community was hugely appreciative to the helping hand HSS Karyakartas extended when they were finding several hardships on multiple fronts, and expressed gratitude towards the volunteers and the community that’s ensuring their kids don’t have to sleep empty stomach.

In appreciation of the selfless service the volunteers did to the refugees living in the Oakland city, the Mayor of Oakland honored us with being part of the “Universal One-ness Day” and also passing a proclamation supporting the event.

New Jersey, December 9th, 2021 - This Diwali season, 315 Dharmic-American organizations and communities came together to collect over 590,000 pounds of food, donating to about 240 food distribution centers across the country.  Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh USA (HSS) coordinated this initiative nationwide.  The effort extended across 31 states and involved over 200 townships. Through Sewa Diwali, communities throughout America which align themselves with the Dharmic values originating in the Indian subcontinent - Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains - channeled their continued dedication to selfless service and shared celebration into a collective, far-reaching initiative involving volunteers across all age groups and serving a wide American demographic.

Mayor John B. Muns of Plano, Texas, while thanking local volunteers, noted, “Your generosity gives hope to folks who have food insecurity. There’s a lot of hard work that goes into giving back to a community.”

Diwali, a festival celebrated by nearly all cultures and traditions that originated in present-day India commemorates triumphant virtue and knowledge. It is commonly celebrated as a festival of lights with community gatherings and feasts. “This festival presents us with an important opportunity to put one of our core Dharmic values into practice: the entire world is a family,” says Krishnamurthy Woonnimani, National Coordinator for Sewa Diwali. “We want to extend our celebration and warmth beyond just our families and friends.”

The distribution centers which received food through Sewa Diwali included food pantries, schools, colleges, and houses of worship. Mark McCormick, President of Middlesex College in Edison, NJ explained, “We have over 10,000 students and many of them experience food insecurity. The food donated today will go a long way toward alleviating that food insecurity and helping them focus on their studies. We’re very grateful.”

Aparna Jujjavarapu, the North America Executive Secretary at Chinmaya Mission added, “We are very glad to be a part of Sewa Diwali and hope to continue to live up to our pledge of producing more than what we consume and giving more than what we take.  May we all continue to stand as one family with love and respect.”

Sewa Diwali also received recognition from several government officials across the United States. “Your partnership with Sewa Diwali to supply the town of Harrisburg’s Community Food Pantry is of great merit,” said State Senator Paul Newton of North Carolina, “and I believe your service to those in need will have a significant impact.”

“We were very happy to see so many children practice and experience something so essential to our culture and to humanity - that is, selfless service, or sewa - on this auspicious occasion,” added Chand Mehta, President of the Rajasthan Association of North America.

About Sewa Diwali

Sewa Diwali strives to make a difference in the lives of those experiencing food insecurity. Driven by the values of Dharma and selfless service, this noble act of giving back is a collective initiative of Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, and Jain communities. This initiative is coordinated nationally by Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh USA, a non-profit, voluntary service organization.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency May 7 said that Indian American-led volunteer groups Sewa International and the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) are committed to vaccination efforts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This FEMA press release link talks about the selfless efforts of HSS.

Find more about the news coverage of the efforts here.

"Serving the poor is the true service to the God". During 2008 Diwali 4 shakhas in Midwest Sambhag - Abhimanyu shakha at Shaumburg, Bloomington shakha, Eagen shakha and Shree Ram shakha, Indianapolis took up food drive to bring into reality this age old adage from our Hindu scriptures. Although all the shakhas took up this initiative independently, the common thread that seemed to be running through them was the urge to something for the society in which they live. That was also thought of as a reasonable way to assimilate in the local community. History of food drives in Midwest dates back to 2006 Diwali when Bloomington shakha 1st demonstrated it successfully. This year 3 more shakhas joined in to execute this initiative locally. Needless to say that each of these food drives were planned meticulously and executed diligently. Each one of them had some local flavor too. Like in Bloomington the tradition has been to conduct the food drive in collaboration with the local Indian Organization. At Abhimanyu shakha the karyakartas thought it the most appropriate way of celebrating Diwali by sharing the joy of Hindu festival of Lights with the less privileged people of the local community. Diwali Food Drive was a result of such a noble and kind hearted feeling. Over the next 2 weeks they collected several bag full of non-perishable food items and essential toiletries and also contacted several local Food pantries in surrounding communities and one of them housed inside a Church in Elk Grove Village was very excited to be the beneficiary of this Food Drive. The pantry was very appreciative of this initiative by HSS that Nancy from this Food Pantry welcomed kids and parents from the Shakha who had gone to deliver the items and she was very appreciative of people from Hindu faith coming into a Church to deliver Food items. For the karyakartas of the Abhimanyu shakha from beginning to end of the initiative, it was a great and fulfilling experience.

In Bloomington the Sewa International - Bloomington chapter and the local shakha jointly in collaboration with 7 other Indian organizations in the town organized the Food drive on the auspicious occassion of Diwali. This was the third successful year of this noble initiative. Here too the vision wan't different than the other shakhas, that is the Indians in the town are also a part of the local community and giving & contributing should come about naturally. Diwali is an auspicious occassion for Hindus and hence this was chosen as the day. There was a core team of 15 volunteers. Food collection started from 12 October and lasted for 3 weeks. There were around 20 food collection centre in the twin towns of Bloomington & Normal, from where the food used to collected at a central location. The food was distributed to 5 charities which were pre-decided. The distribution took place on November 1 & 2. In all around 25 volunteers took part actively in the whole exercise. The charities appreciated the food that was given to them. 3 of them also sent a thanks / appreciation note. All in all it was a satisfying experience for the Bloomington shakha karyakartas.

At Eagan Shakha, spark of a conversation blossomed into an idea of donating food and related items to the local Family Resource Center with the noble intention to integrate themselves with local communityand assist the needy. The Family Resource Center at Mount Calvary was chosen due its close proximity and being in the same county as those of most of the KKs of the Eagan Shakha. The karyakartas from shakha and Balagokulam enthusiastically started bringing in donations in form of canned foods and monetory donations during ttarting with he Diwali weekend. Collection ended on November 22, 2008 and the donated items were donated at the food shelf on November 25, 2008. The Shakha collected several items ranging from cans of soup and vegetables to boxed items such as mashed potatoes, crackers, paper towels and Laundry detergent. The food shelf coordinators were extremely pleased with the donations and appropriately extended their thanks to the Shakha KKs.

In Indianapolis, the Shree Ram Shakha organized a food drive during Diwali to serve the homeless families of Indianapolis. The idea was conceived in one of the shakha baithaks two months before Diwali.The idea here being to continue the tradition of sharing our happiness with the less privileged during our festivals. All the karyakartas agreed that there should be a food donation drive to help the homeless people of Indianapolis. Holy Family shelter was chosen as the shelter to donate food, because it provides shelter for families and children. The date to donate food was also decided as November 9th 2008. Each of karyakartas listed five families they knew to collect the food. The shelter kitchen in charge was contacted to find out what was needed by them. A total number of 30 families participated in the food drive, donating generous amounts of food. On the designated date, 9 karyakartas went to the shelter in three cars full of collected food. Karen (the coordinator at the shelter) lauded the efforts of the shakha karyakartas.

All in all it was matter of great satisfaction and a spiritual experience to the karyakartas of each of these shakha. As one of the karyakartas said " You cannot measure the satisfaction found in helping people who are in need. On the occasion of Diwali this year, we found the true meaning of being a Hindu, spreading light "

They brought into being in a sense the geet which we have always sung compassionately in sangh - "Chalo jalaye deep vahan jahan abhi bhi andhera hai"

Pictures are availabel at the link below
Bloomington - http://www.hssus.org/gallery/v/MWEST/Bloomington+Diwali+Food+Drive_001/
Indianapolis - http://www.hssus.org/gallery/v/MWEST/Indy+Diwali+Food+Drive/