This quote by Gayla LeMaire is experienced by volunteers of VT Seva in all our service activities. The real beneficiaries of volunteering are not the ones being served, but the ones who are providing service. The magnitude of it can be felt when you meet the people with smiling faces and sheer joy.  It gives me immense pleasure to share about such wonderful experiences I gained while visiting VT Seva outreach projects in India a month ago. 

The trip began in Hyderabad seeking guidance from VT Seva CEO and founder HH Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji on VT Seva's goals and objectives for the organization. The accomplishments of VT Seva in 2017 and 2018 till date were discussed in detail. I and many of our VT Seva USA board members have been visiting VT Seva outreach projects on regular basis for past decade to gain firsthand experience of how services are provided to the underprivileged, what are the requirements for expanding our support and how the contributions from VT Seva supporters and donors are making a positive impact in the community.

This time, I participated in 3 Women Health Camps (1 in Hyderabad, 1 in Vijayawada and 1 in Pamarru), visited Colleges for Visually Challenged in Hyderabad, School for Visually Challenged in Vizag and 2 Schools for tribals in Adilabad. The Intermediate college students and 10th class students were all appearing for their final examinations at that time. It is a very proud moment for me to share now that majority of them excelled with distinction. For instance, we had 100% pass rate from School for Tribals (Jeeyar Gurukulam) in Allampalli, Adilabad and School for fishermen in Katarivaripalem, Prakasam. Important thing to note is the whole Adilabad district pass percentage (for other schools) was 51.94%. Better results with distinction were exhibited by visually challenged students of Netra Vidyalaya, Vizag. 

I was accompanied by 4 young volunteers Ms. Ananya (to Netra Vidyalaya), Ms. Shravya, Ms. Shrija and Ms. Rajitha to schools for tribals where they interacted with ~800 students and provided career counseling to all the 9th class students. They later contributed monetarily to the schools and have pledged support for the future, thanks to the encouragement by Mr. Prabhakar Rao, JET (S) Secretary and in-charge of the school.  I felt very happy to witness the science exhibits and cultural presentations of multi-talented children with great ambitions. They lucidly expressed their goals to become Teachers, Engineers, Doctors, Farmers, Lawyers and Army personnel. 

The time spent with little children at Netra Vidyalaya is priceless. Every child has a heart touching story to tell us. Spandana (in the picture) was disowned and left orphaned when she was days old, by her parents as she was born blind. She is now a bright and joyful child, studying at Nethra Vidyalaya. She introduced her friends to me and many of them had similar stories. They are all happy, naughty and friendly children. They all have a bright future, thanks to the empowerment by Nethra Vidyalaya with support from many kind hearts like you. Motherly care is provided by teachers and our VT Seva India team at the school. Cheers to Mr. Raj, Ms. Shireesha, Ms. Lakshmi and Ms. Subblakshmi for the love and care provided to the children. 

The highlight of my trip this year was participation in Women Health Camp organized at Vijayawada by Ms. Madhavi Ravindra. I have no words to describe the service provided by VT Seva Mahila Arogya Vikas team of volunteers in states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Thousands of lives are being saved, thanks to these women health checkups, especially with Cervical and Breast cancer screenings. We may have heard about stories of Mother Theresa and her service. But we can firsthand witness selfless volunteers of VT Seva serving the neglected sections of society with utmost care by attending the health camps of VT Seva. Learning about the work they do, I bowed down with utmost respect. Thanks to your support and NVidia grant, we conducted 50 women health camps (India and Nepal) to date screening 8,280 for general health checkup, 4,924 for Cervical and Breast screening. 623 of them reported abnormal and we have provided them immediate medication and registered them for follow ups.

I am very excited for 25 youngsters and 3 chaperones (Ms. Madhavi Donepudi, Dr. Nishitha Reddy and Ms. Sandhya Yellapragada) who are selected for VT Seva Summer Internship (Session 1: July 1st to 13th and Session 2: July 22nd to August 2nd) volunteering at above projects.

From January to April of 2018, VT Seva USA has conducted 115 service activities/events. We have organized 4 major fundraising cultural programs Tarangini (Dallas), Utsav (Seattle), Prerana (Charlotte) and Bloom (Boston) so far and we have Vasantham (New Jersey), Mamatha (North Jersey), Subadha (Virginia), A:lo:k (Houston/Katy), Ra:ga (Bay Area), Ra:as (Detroit), Daya (Nashville), Teja (Minneapolis) and others lined up for rest of the year. We are actively conducting Cancer Awareness Walkathons, Health Seminars, Bone Marrow Drives, Adopt a Street Programs, Thank you Veterans activites, Volunteering programs at Senior Citizen Centers, Food Banks, Hospitals and many other programs such as Sports tournaments, STEM activities throughout the year. None of these would be possible without your support. 

Thank you! Your Support is Our Strength to Serve!