August 23,Vol 6 No. 2

Dear supporters of Sevalaya USA,

Thank you for your support! During the first half of 2023 we supported the education of 412 students and are getting closer to the goal of supporting 600 students for the year. We have exciting news to share! In June 2023, all the Std. XII students in the Mahakavi Bharathiyar Higher Secondary School passed their final exams. The school had a 95% pass rate for the Std. X exam.

In 2023, grants were made to support sports training on campus where students get coached in various sports like volleyball, basketball, athletics, football, and handball.

A grant to a hospital in Gudalur, Nilgiris district has been providing health and social services to the tribals and locals.

This year, Sevalaya Board has a new project, Project Mental Health & Wellness at Mahatma Gandhi Medical Centre, to offer mental health and wellness services to the students, seniors, and staff of Sevalaya and to rural women who are farmers and caregivers. Rural women face challenges including gender discrimination, poverty, and poor physical health. Besides these, they are also exposed to domestic violence, which is one of the main risk factors for common mental disorders in rural women. This project offers individual sessions and group sessions for patients. Every month, an average of 300 people benefit from this clinic.

Some additional projects were accomplished this year thanks to grants from our supporters:

Repairs were made to the roof of the Girl’s Orphanage in the Kasuva campus.

Prayer Meeting

A prayer room was constructed in a senior home in Zamin Endathur, which houses 30 seniors.

Board member Anandi Lakshmikanthan received a grant on behalf of Sevalaya USA on June 10, 2023 from Tri-Valley Kannada Sangha (TVKS) at their SnehaSetu event. Thank you to TVKS for extending help to peer organizations that are making a positive impact on the community. We acknowledge their wonderful team of volunteers and the board members who made everyone feel welcome.

Sevalaya USA would like to thank two students Jahnavi and Jishnu for establishing a spoken English class for the students of Sevalaya. In June 2023, Jahnavi raised funds at her Carnatic Vocal Arangetram, which will be used to provide art education to the stuents. We thank her for her fundraising efforts at such a young age and wish her the best in her future endeavors.

Thank you to longtime supporter Mr. Vijaianand! This year, he raised enough money through his annual fundraiser to sponsor the education of 25 children and added two more endowments, which brings the total number of endowments to 13 children.

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

JAN 2023, Vol. 6,No. 1

Dear supporters of Sevalaya USA,

Happy New Year to all our friends and supporters. A big thank you for your generous donations. In the second half of 2022, Sevalaya has supported the education of 303 students, bringing the total to 591 students for the year 2022. Our goal of reaching 600 students is within reach.

With a generous donation from a donor, Sevalaya provided scholarships to students who are going to college and need financial assistance. With their donation, Sevalaya is able to support the higher education of 11 students at various colleges (Sridevi Arts and Science College, Sriram College of Arts and Science, DRBCCC Hindu College, Nazareth College of Arts and Sciences, Jaya Engineering College and Annai Violet Arts and Science College). These students are interested in a wide variety of majors- Engineering, Commerce, Agriculture, Computer applications and Business.

With support from our donors, we were successful in supporting the following:

• Mahakavi Bharathiyar Higher Secondary School by providing funding for regular training in various sports on campus, buying sports equipment and helping students participate in tournaments

• The construction of a senior home in Zamin Endathur and supporting the seniors living in the Thanjavur senior home

• The children in the Swami Vivekananda Boys’ Home and the Mother Teresa Girls’ Home and seniors at the Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa old age home with a grant towards Diwali celebrations.
  

Year-end Fundraiser

Sevalaya USA thanks supporters for their generous donation towards the San Jose Family Center winter drive. We received two car loads of blankets, sheets, shampoo and food worth nearly $2000 and delivered them!

Board Member Visit to Gayathri Memorial Vocational Training Center

On November 30th, 2022, Board Member Prasad Manickavasagam visited the Sevalaya Pattinappakam Gayathri memorial vocational center.

He described it as a very heartwarming experience and shared that “This economically backward area is in the middle of several luxurious apartment complexes. In the midst of all the huts and dilapidated buildings, the Sevalaya center was brimming with activity. Several women were being trained on tailoring. In an adjacent hallway, small children were doing their homework under the supervision of a teacher. On the third floor of the building, Karate training was going on for kids to build up their self-esteem.”

Thank you to our supporters for participating in two fundraisers in August, 2022:

1. A virtual RunWalkForSeva 5k/10k event (Aug 26-Sept 5) which included 45 participants and thirteen donations. This fundraiser supported the education of eight children. We wanted to acknowledge a supporter who walked 70 miles in 10 days. Supporters hiked in different places, in India, at Soaring Eagle Park in Seattle WA and at Vasona Park, Campbell CA.

2. SEVATHON

Sevalaya USA also participated in the

Bay Area Sevathon organized by India Community Center at Vasona Park on Aug 28th. We had 5 participants. Thanks to ICC for organizing Sevathon and providing a platform for the local nonprofits to raise money.

Amazon has ended its donation program, AmazonSmile. Thank you for supporting us for six amazing years!

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

aug 2022, Vol. 5, No.2

Dear supporters of Sevalaya USA,

As we celebrate five years of Sevalaya USA we want to thank our supporters and volunteers for our continued success. We cannot sustain this amazing work without your generous

contributions and the work of our volunteers who have helped us with legal advice, coding,

fundraising, website redesign, administrative work, etc. Thank you!

Upcoming fundraisers include:

1. Sevathon 2022 Aug 28, at Vasona Park, Los Gatos Run/Walk/do Yoga/Dance: 

Please register at http://konnectme.org/event/join/3451499/?ref=3266697  and make sure

"Sevalaya US" is selected in the "Sevathon-2022 Non-profit partners" drop-down

menu.

2. RunWalkForSeva 2022 - Sevalaya USA's Virtual Run/Walk from August 26,2022 - September 05, 2022. Please register at: https://runsignup.com/Race/CA/Cupertino/RunWalkForSeva.

Since January 2022, Sevalaya USA’s Project Education has supported the education of 354

students at the Mahakavi Bharathiyar Higher Secondary School. Food endowments have been set up to sponsor free breakfasts, lunches and dinners for the students and seniors. We are proud to announce that all 147 XII STD students at Sevalaya's Mahakavi Bharathiyar Higher Secondary School passed their final exams. Best wishes to all of them in their future endeavors.

A generous donation of $4000 ensured that students were provided regular training in various sports on campus. These funds were also used to support students participating in tournaments. 97 boys and 72 girls participated in the sports camp offered at school in May. The girls’ basketball team won 2nd place in Thiruvallur district basketball championship. Congratulations to the team!

Our longtime supporter Vijaianand from Texas raised $5300 to support the education of 25

students in Sevalaya for a year. He has also set up 11 education endowments to provide sustained support for Project Education.

Many thanks to Hindu Cultural and Community Center for a grant awarded in March 2022 and for their continued support.

Here are some additional updates:

Sevalaya Chennai has been offering various health care services to the tribal communities at Samaritan Hospital in Gudalur, Nilgiris District thanks to our donor Arjun Vijayakumar.

Board Member Anandi Lakshmikanthan visited the Sevalaya Campus in Kasuva and met with Sevalaya founder Mr. Muralidharan, staff members and teachers of Sevalaya. She also visited the Pattinapakkam Community Center, a tsunami-affected area of Chennai, where fishermen and their families live. With a very generous donation from a donor in 2021, a corpus fund has been set up to support the operating expenses of the center.

At this community center, we support various classes for children. Participation is open to both boys and girls- computer (16 attendees), karate (30 participants) and tuition classes (25 attendees). There are also classes for adults, especially tailoring classes for women with 25 participants.

We also want to showcase the progress of the construction of the senior home in Zamin Endathur.

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