This summer, again, I am grateful to have received sever’al volunteer opportunities for giving back to the community. These service opportunities have taught me a lot. Receiving the President Volunteer Service award recently has inspired me to volunteer more often. Here I share a few volunteering experiences that I had in the last few weeks. I have once again signed up for the Dharma internship program (DIP) this summer and hope I can qualify for the PVSA award 2023.
Sandwich Project
Every third saturday of the month, the Wisconsin Shirdi Sai (WISS) volunteer group organizes a sandwich/milk project where the team of volunteers make more than 100 lunch bags containing a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich, a Juice Box, Chips and a Fruit for the Milwaukee Rescue mission. On Saturday, July 15th, seven youth Dharma Interns from Milwaukee had participated in this service project. When I proposed this idea during our last shakha meeting on July 14th, I saw some interest from three youths. However, Shriram Kelkar Ji encouraged me to lead the seva activity. I reached out to our group and shared my personal experiences of volunteering at the temple since the young age of 6. I shared how the process of making sandwiches made me feel like a team working for a good purpose. I also shared how adults and children at Milwaukee Rescue Mission appreciate the effort that we put in this process. The event started at 11 am at the basement of the WISS temple. The one hour process of teamwork was filled with fun and positive attitudes. This was also an opportunity for us to bond as a group. This one hour had brought smiles on all volunteers. I am sure it made many people at Milwaukee Rescue Mission happy after eating lunch. I would personally like to thank all the volunteers from Dharma Internship to join hands with me for this great service. I look forward to working with this amazing team in the coming days.
Adopt A Highway
On July 23rd, seven youth Dharma interns had participated in an Adopt a highway program cleanup and were able to clean 2 miles worth of the highway from Calhoun road to Capitol Drive. It was a unique experience for me because this was my first time doing this. This process took approximately three hours but it was worth every step.
Camp Green Shirt
From the days of June 19-23rd and July 17-21, the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center had hosted an arts camp where I had the opportunity to serve as a camp counselor. I was able to work with small children for more than 40 hours that week. This camp Green Shirt provided me a lot of opportunities and experiences to serve as a leader for a group of students. My favorite parts were the different types of arts related activities such as instrumental music, nature combined with art, the science of bugs, visual art and opportunities for kids to get creative with new things.
I am so grateful that I was able to spend my summer break meaningfully.