Aug 2020, Vol. 3, No. 2

Dear supporters of Sevalaya USA,

The advent of COVID-19 has brought the issues of digital inclusion, food insecurity and personal safety to the forefront. Working with corporate sponsors, Sevalaya has distributed two crore rupees worth grocery kits, sanitation kits, dry rations kits, and masks to vulnerable populations and PPE kits frontline workers. These kits include rice, dhal, cereals, spices, oil, gloves, face masks, sanitizer, N95 masks, non-woven face masks and hand wash liquid.

Schools are closed for in-person learning in Tamil Nadu but the school year has started. Many of the students of Sevalaya do not have access to technology including smartphones, computers or laptops at home. Some parents have smartphones and teachers are able to connect with and teach their students using Skype and WhatsApp. The teachers have created WhatsApp groups for their classrooms and send worksheets on a daily basis to their students. Students complete the same and send them back to the teachers using WhatsApp. Students also send their audio recording, video recording and pictures of their drawings to their teachers. Sevalaya Chennai is requesting the donation of old Smartphones.

Sevalaya thanks alumni from the 1995 Computer Science batch of PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore for their generous and thoughtful donation. They celebrated their 25th year reunion by raising funds to support three Smart Classrooms at Mahakavi Bharathiyar Higher Secondary School. A Smart Classroom includes an ACER Dual Core PC, projector and an interactive board. The alumni group has also set up 4 educational endowments which will provide continuous support to Sevalaya.

Special thanks to InstaGana Live, a California based International community organization that promotes music, for hosting a musical fundraiser for Sevalaya on August 16. In this virtual event, participants from all over the world, including students and senior residents of Sevalaya, sang songs celebrating Indian Independence Day.

We are very excited to announce another ongoing fundraiser. 1995 ECE batch of PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore is celebrating their 25th year reunion by raising funds for Sevalaya.

Students at Sevalaya Mahakavi Bharathiyar Higher Secondary School secured 98% pass results in XII Std. Board Examination. 120 of the 123 students have successfully cleared the finals with excellent marks. Congratulations!

Since the beginning of 2020, Sevalaya USA has supported the education of 330 students and raised $1745 towards COVID relief and $3000 for supporting the senior homes. We would like to thank our donors and supporters.

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.

Be well and stay healthy!

Sincerely,

Sevalaya team

Jan 2020, Vol. 3, No. 1

Dear supporters of Sevalaya USA,

Happy New Year! We hope that everyone was able to share the holiday season with family and loved ones. Sevalaya USA is already hard at work for a successful start to the new decade. We start this year with Project Education 2020 where we have committed to supporting 500 students at the Mahakavi Bharathiyar High School. With your support, we feel confident we can achieve our new goal.

In 2018, we had committed to providing full educational support for 400 students studying at the Mahakavi Bharathiyar High School as part of Project Education 2018. Thanks to your support, by the end of the project in October 2019 we have supported 596 students. In addition, we were successful in creating three endowments for a total of $30,000, which helps with the future sustenance of the school.

Board member, Anandi Lakshmikanthan, visited the campus in August 2019 and was able to attend the annual science exhibition. She was impressed and noted “What an amazing effort by teachers and students! The models, posters and presentations addressed the problem of global warming and the need for sustainable growth...The mime performance titled "Say no to plastic" was fantastic. Kudos to the students!” Donor Manickam Dhamodharan visited Sevalaya and “was simply blown away by the passion and dedication shown by everyone there in serving underprivileged. It was a very humbling experience.”

Our donors, Devi and Amudha, visited the Sevalaya campus in December 2019. They met with the head of donor relations, talked to the oldest senior in the senior home, visited the orphanage and community college, and joined the residents for a meal in the dining hall. Devi said that they “were humbled and inspired by the dedication of the staff of the organization. We were literally blown away by the organizations’ extensive activities, dedication of the staff and the beautiful environ.”

In addition, we would also like to thank all our supporters for participating in Sevathon 2019 and for visiting our booth. It was great to meet and connect with our supporters. We had 31 registered participants in the 5K/10K/Half Marathon/Yogathon event. We were one of the winners of Sevathon2019 Spirit Award from ICC Sevathon. In 2019, we also donated blankets, comforters, sheets, and some groceries including coffee and creamer worth $800 to Family

Supportive Housing in San José. Thank you to all the donors who made it possible.

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

August 2019 Vol 2 No. 2

Dear friends and supporters of Sevalaya USA,

Thank you for your ongoing support to Sevalaya USA. We are excited to share that since November 2018, we have supported 361 students at Sevalaya’s Mahakavi Bharathiyar High School. We are on track towards our goal of providing full support to 400 students at the school by October 2019. Your donation is a gift for the future lives of these students.

Currently, there are 2083 students studying at the Mahakavi Bharathiyar School and more than 1000 students were trained in 10 trades at 8 community colleges across Tamil Nadu. Many of the students live in small single room houses with no special facilities for studying. The parents mostly work as daily wage earners and struggle to make ends meet. This year, the school achieved 100% pass rate in X Std. English-medium section and XI and XII Board examinations. Each year sees a steady improvement in the performance of the students.

Donor Visit: Mr. Vijaianand from Texas, who has been a supporter of the school for the last 14 years, has set up 4 endowments and is currently funding 27 kids. On his visit to the campus, he said the following: He supports Sevalaya because he has a direct relationship with the organization and he is confident that his donations go towards supporting the children instead of towards administrative activities.

The school also provides free and nutritious food to all students through the generosity of supporters. In June 2019, Board member Mani Subramaniyan visited the school, the clinic, and the community college. He also participated in the lunch program with the teachers and students.

We are proud to inform you that Indian Medical Association honored V. Muralidharan, the founder of Sevalaya with a Lifetime Achievement Award in July 2019, for his service to the poor.

Sevathon 2019

Sevathon is on September 8, 2019. Please sign up for Sevathon and support Sevalaya USA. You may sign up for a half marathon or Sun Salutations or any race/ activity of your choice. Go to http://iccsevathon.org/ to register. Please REMEMBER to Select "Sevalaya USA" in the menu "Sevathon-2019 Non-Profit partners." After you complete your registration, you should get an email confirmation. Before the event, you will be notified by email about t-shirt/bib distribution for participants and instructions regarding parking and schedule. After you finish your walk, please visit our booth and find out how your support has helped the children of Sevalaya.

Amazon Smile

One easy way to support Sevalaya is to shop on smile.amazon.com. 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 Sevalaya.

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