Dear supporters of Sevalaya USA,
Happy New Year! As we reflect on 2021, we are thankful to our Sevalaya supporters for their generous contributions. This new year brings some new changes and some not so new challenges.
In 2021, Sevalaya USA’s Project Education supported the education of 543 students at the Mahakavi Bharathiyar Higher Secondary School. In addition, a generous donor funded two projects (upgrading the kitchen and pantry areas in Kasuva campus), where around 2000 students and a hundred seniors are served free lunch everyday. Funds were also provided for buying sports equipment for the students.
A big shout out to Vasavi Seva Foundation, San Francisco Bay Area, for funding two humanitarian projects, the renovation of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Senior Home in Kasuva campus and the installation of pavements at Image, a home for mentally challenged in Thevaram, Theni, Tamil Nadu.
Thanks to a generous donation from a supporter, Sevalaya, India has undertaken a construction of a 5044 sq. ft. new senior home, accommodating 30 senior citizens, in Zamin Endathur in Tamil Nadu. The groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the home was performed on March 24th, 2021.
We are excited to announce the funding of a new project, Vocational Training Centre at Pattinampakkam, a neighborhood in Chennai, where most of the residents depend on fishing for their livelihood. With a very generous donation from a donor, a corpus fund has been set up to support the operating expenses of the center. Sevalaya India conducts computer training classes and tailoring classes for young men and women, enhancing their employability. The center also conducts tutoring and karate classes for children.
In October 2021, 48 supporters signed up for the RunWalkForSeva virtual fundraiser and ran in the rain, climbed mountains, hiked trails in Africa, and walked on local roads and in local parks. They raised enough funds to support seven students for one full year, which includes school supplies, classroom materials, uniforms, books, extracurricular activities and also support part of teacher salaries.
Board Member, Anandi Lakshmikanthan, visited the Sevalaya office in Chennai and met with Sevalaya founder Mr. Muralidharan. Mr.Muralidharan shared that the schools, which have been closed for in person instruction for more than a year after the Covid-19 breakout, have reopened and that children are being given masks and are practicing safety protocols to keep everyone safe.
Thank you for your overwhelming support for our Holiday Fundraiser for the San José Family Shelter. We donated pillows, comforters, sheets, bath mats, sanitizers, groceries, and other items worth $2000.
We need your support to continue our work. One easy way to support Sevalaya is to shop on smile.amazon.com. It is the same Amazon you use and the products and services are the same. Go to https://smile.amazon.com/ and select Sevalaya USA from the charity list. Whenever you shop on smile.amazon.com, Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the charitable organization of your choice.
We are also looking for volunteers to join our team. For additional information, please visit us online at sevalaya.us and facebook.com/SevalayaUSA.
Sincerely,
Sevalaya team