During the Holidays, whether it’s Thanksgiving, Easter, Ramadan, Hanukkah, or Christmas, several families and organizations like to do donations or events for the underprivileged community members. Homelessness and Hunger is a major problem in society and giving back to those in need should be a responsibility of all citizens.
Fall is an important time for Hindus around the world as they celebrate different festivals such as Navaratri, and Diwali. Diwali is the festival of lights that celebrates victory of good over evil. The lighting of candles symbolizes the spirit of goodness and joy. Every year for Diwali, the SewaMilwaukee team collaborates with other local organizations for sewa Diwali drive. This year they collaborated with several organizations such as Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, Milwaukee Nepali Pariwar, Wisconsin Shirdi Sai, and Key Club International to conduct a food and hygiene drives to benefit Homeless shelters such as the Juno Hebron Homes, the Waukesha food pantry and more places like these in the Milwaukee area. As a sewa volunteer I participated in the food drive.
Diwali is my favorite festival. I look forward to getting together with family and friends, celebrating the occasion with fireworks in decorated homes, wearing new clothes and trying good foods. I started doing the SewaDiwali donation drive last year as I saw the impact it had on the community, I was motivated to help others during the holiday season because I realized that many people are struggling and are not able to enjoy the holidays the way that my family does.
Last week, I went to Waukesha Food pantry and the Juno House of the Hebron Homes Homeless shelter to donate things I had received from the sewa Diwali drive. To my surprise I was able to donate around 200 pounds of food to the pantry and around 150 hygiene products.
Many teens and adults like to donate for the joy of giving or to meet the volunteer hour’s requirements. But for me it is so much more than that. When I pray everyday , I pray for a lot of things and ask for what’s truly best for me and for the people around me. I strongly believe in serving the community. I like to volunteer my time helping others driven by love, compassion and humility.
I would like to thank all my family and close friends for their willingness to support me in the efforts like this. Once again a special thanks to the Nepali community for making this donation drive possible. I hope that we can make next year’s donation drive 10 times bigger.
I would like to end this report with a quote from the Bhagavad Gita where Krishna tells his disciple Arjuna, “The science of transcendental knowledge has been imparted to you, O Arjuna. No effort ever goes to waste in selfless service, and there is no adverse effect. There is always an opportunity to serve, and there is always time.” (2:39)