June 2nd, 2020

  Dear Friend,

Thank you to the members of the ISW community who continue with their community efforts as you can see from the updates in this newsletter. If you would like to include an event or share some news about things going on with you or your community, please use this form to submit. We look forward to hearing from you! Share the newsletter with your family and friends - to subscribe click here. Follow us on YouTube, subscribe to ISW Channel here.

ISW EVENTS

Antakshari - A Day of Musical Escape

ISW will be hosting our annual Antakshari event on Sat June 20, 2020. This year, for obvious reasons, it will be done via Zoom but with the same format as in recent years and hopefully the same level of engagement and entertainment. Join us with friends and family for a melodious evening. To participate, click here and register as soon as possible, so you don't miss out on the fun!! Registration closes June 12, 2020. Unfortunately, we cannot entertain walk-ins this year. Specific details about meeting link and instructions will be provided closer to the event date. Further details at ISW Website or Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/events/2299950696979909/

Sarita Deshpande and Amita Rao, cultural@iswonline.org

The ISW Free Health Stop available via Telemedicine

The ISW Free Health Stop has been providing free medical care to patients for over 15 years. The health stop services are now available for free via Telemedicine. Listen to Dr. Sahdev Passey, Chair of the ISW Health Stop talk about the services offered in this video interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh1N5IDZPi4

You can get details on how to access these Telemedicine services at: https://iswonline.org/page-18074/8860087

ISW CULTURAL SCHOOL NEWS

Hindi 4 Students compile Hindi Patrika Magazine by Sonia Gera

The Hindi 4 students of ISW Culture and Language School created a magazine in Hindi as part of their year-end project. Students worked on different articles that included a poem, sport's article, cartoon, crossword puzzle, a story and multiple translated recipes. They typed their articles in Hindi using Google Hindi transliteration. We hope the eSandesh readers will enjoy this magazine and appreciate the hard work put in by these budding Hindi writers! 

ISW Cultural and Language School Annual Day

On May 24, we had our first online ISW Annual Day program. It lasted more than three hours with each class joining in for an assigned 15 minute time slot. It was very successful, and we were happy that we could recognize the kids and their hard work. Carolyn mailed individual certificates to over 100 student’s homes. They were presented to the student by their parents at the end of each session. It added the perfect touch. We were fortunate to have grandparents and relatives join in from India and across the US. Congratulations to Abhiram and Aaryan for graduating Hindi 4 and for their acknowledgement speeches. We really are excited that we were able to complete our academic year virtually and with style. Kudos to all the teachers, parents and parents who supported our Webex calls and, of course, the students who made it possible. You can see some of the graduation Webex photos on the website. Ruchi Chauhan & Shiamin Melville, school@iswonline.org

ISW COMMUNITY NEWS

Census 2020 - Get Counted !

Did you know that the 2020 Census is happening now?

School lunches. Plans for highways. Support for firefighters and families in need. Census results affect your community every day. Census data is used to allocate critical resources like public benefits, firetrucks, road repairs, and hospitals. It’s essential that we have a complete and accurate count! *Know someone who needs help in an Indian language? ISW has volunteers standing by to offer translation assistance. Click here for more info

Showcasing ISW Talent – Dhriti Aiylam, Artist

Meet our student teacher at ISW Language and Culture School, passionate artist, author - Dhriti Aiylam. In addition to recently publishing a Young Adult fiction book, Double-Edged, she is also a gifted artist. She is bringing her amazing talent to walk youngsters through the artistic process. Follow along with her in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ-kwhHR2TM

Pranayam breathing with Bharti Bhakta

Meet another talented ISW community member. Bharti Bhakta. In the time of pandemic, building up immunity and strength is vital. Bhartiji guides her viewers in this video in some of measures that are easy to adapt to in your daily routine!

Stress for Satisfaction

By Dhruv Jagan

A kid’s eye view of his mother’s mask making project. ISW community member Snehal Kadam took up the challenge of stitching masks for front line professionals that quickly became a family project. Her son, Dhruv, shares his perspective on how things unfolded at home. A couple of weeks and 95 masks later, he says it was well worth it! When we asked his mom, Snehal, what inspired her to start the project, she said it was an inner desire to help people who were taking care of others. She is a member of Worcester Stitchers for Health that provided her with the cloth and sewing machine. Read the full article on our website  

ISW member’s multiple projects support Healthcare Community in the Covid Crisis

Ever since the state enforced a stay safe at home policy in Massachusetts, ISW member Malini Mohankumar has been finding ways to keep active and make a difference. Over the past several weeks she has led efforts to procure baby monitors for hospitals to use in their Covid wards, drummed up a coalition of over 30 helpers who have been stitching masks as part of Central Mass Sew We Care, and now graduated to now creating full sized PPE gowns. Their efforts have supplied over 60 baby monitors, 5500 masks and dozens of stitched products to 55 different hospitals, shelters, rehab, refugee and senior centers. We asked Malini to share some of their experience. Read more about her efforts on the ISW Website .

Congratulations Class of 2020!

ISW is very proud to celebrate the high school graduations of several of its IYG and ISW member’s kids. We congratulate them and their family for this accomplishment and would like to recognize them in a section on the website dedicated to our graduates. With the Covid crisis putting a damper on celebrations and commencements, we want to make sure that we can share the joy of this occasion with the rest of our community. We wish all our graduates the very best in their future academic careers.

YOUR PROFESSIONAL SELF

With this issue of eSandesh we inaugurate another section “ Your Professional Self ”, a regular feature to help you advance your professional aspirations. It will highlight career tips and suggestions, profile community businesses and leaders and suggestions for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Why LinkedIn is even more critical in time of Covid-19?

By Ragoo Raghunathan

If you have been recently laid-off, furloughed or are just making a career transition, I would highly recommend creating a LinkedIn profile if you don’t already have one. It is pretty easy. Once you make a profile, start making those connections and expand your network. Read more about why it is even more important now.

Please check out ISW website and ISW FB page for other online event updates.