YFS volunteers have had discussions with the teachers of these schools and also with NGOs working in slums and have come up with a list of basic requirements, under the School Kit Program. The school authorities and NGOs have shown good interest in making this program a success and are looking forward to keen involvement from YFS.

After explaining the detailed plan of this program to the school staff, they responded enthusiastically, and we quote: “This is going to be the best help at this moment for these children and we will co-operate whole heatedly to make this activity a big success”.

Namaste,

In an initiative to spread awareness about RTI and empower volunteers to file RTIs about issues concerning their areas of work and for social good, a hands-on session was conducted in conjunction with ITMD India. A 4-hour long captivating session shed light on where RTI can be used and on various success stories to motivate people to do the same. YFS volunteers also filed a few RTIs during the hands-on session.

Eminent activist Sri N Srinivasa Rao from Prakasam Dist shread his experiences on how RTI can be a potent tool to find answers to various issues! Seasoned activist Karare spoke at length about various success stories and conducted the hands-on session helping the volunteers to file different RTIs.

Join the YFS RTI team to meet more such stalwarts and bring about a change using this powerful tool!

Vande Mataram,

YFS Team

Write up about the Health & Hygiene training session by volunteer Booma-

I reached YFS – Seva Bharathi office at 4.05 pm. Priya, Dr.Vanishree Sriram ( A doctor specialized in Community Medicine – Our trainer of the day) , Dr. Sriram, Vishesh and Suresh were there already and the session had not started yet. By around 4.15 pm 10 volunteers had reached there and the training session started. Dr.Vanishree talked about Personal Hygiene, Environmental Hygiene, Smoking/Alcohol Abuse, Good Nutrition Habits, Menstrual hygiene in a systematic manner.

We ended the training at about 6.15 pm.  It was wonderful seeing so many volunteers turning up for the event even though it was really hot that day. Kudos to Priya for organizing the session.

Thanks,

YFS Chennai

yfschennai@youthforseva.org

M: 954 304 3492

Namaste,

A group of 105 volunteers and families had a wonderful time in the lap of Mother Nature at a picnic arranged at an organic farm in Velimineedu in Nalgonda district, about 60 kms from Hyderabad. Along with the chance to interact with each other, know volunteers you have not met and bond with their families, the picnic also included a night trek up a hill nearby, sapling plantation which coincided well with Earth Day on the 22nd , a snake show by ‘Friends of Snakes Society’ and yummy ‘fresh-from-the-farm’ food!

Roja, volunteer  from Dell shares her experiences:

Though I have been involved with YFS for a year now, this is my first trip out of Hyderabad with YFS team. It was an amazing experience wherein we all(with our families) had loads of fun along with learning, meeting likeminded people and exchanging thoughts. The volunteers thought through and planned meticulously to make sure the farm house trip was comfortable for the kids, women and old aged folks too. In a nutshell we had team games, yoga sessions, great food, talent shows, physical activities and excitement for every age group.

The YFS volunteers have very high levels of dedication, team spirit and motivation. They continue to inspire me with their simplicity and great thoughts to make a difference in the nation. My take away from the trip is a commitment to myself  to do whatever little I can to give back to the society.

Thanks YFS..I am proud to be a part of this team. Keep going!!!

Here are some pics from the event. More on FB!

Vande Mataram!

Gangadhar, a 23 year old lad from Mandya had to discontinue his PU to take care of the family after his father’s death. He worked as a garment worker along with his mother. His heart pains started from past one year. He was diagnosed with septal defect in his heart (hole in heart) and was referred to Jayadeva  Hospital where the treatment costs were approximated to Rs. 1,07,000.  He wasn’t enrolled under

He had taken a loan for his sister’s marriage and had sidelined his treatment. He placed the responsibility of being a good brother above his health. But being a good brother didn’t lessen the pain of his heart. He came to know about the assistance provided by Sanjeevini (Doctors for Seva) clinic for the needy through a chain of contacts which he doesn’t remember clearly.

Bhavani from the clinic guided him throughout the process after reviewing his economic condition. Taking his weak economic condition into consideration, Jayadeva Hospital reduced the treatment cost to Rs 25000/- , Youth for Seva’s Sponsor a Patient program arranged Rs 20000/- and he paid the rest. He recalls that he was very brave throughout the process and had a successful surgery on 17th May 2011. He considers this as his rebirth and feels indebted to Youth for Seva and also he remembers Bhavani as being more than a family for him during his treatment. When he had first heard that someone will pay his medical bills, his first thought was, “are they out of their mind?!”

He’s transforming his gratitude into action by accompanying the patients from Sanjeevini to their concerned hospitals and guides them through the process.

“I want to become an engineer, so I really need to learn to speak English” said the 10 year old girl in broken words at her first English Speaking Class. Constant reminders of her plans provide enough motivation to her to learn the daunting Grammar Rules and Spellings. And sometimes, it’s the appreciation and encouragement from me, her “English Teacher”, which does the task. Their determination is contagious.

I have been teaching these children; primarily girls aged 10-15 years, at Anatha Shishu Nivas since 3 months. Conducting the English Speaking classes in Bangalore has been one of my most overwhelming experiences as a volunteer with Youth for Seva.

When I had begun, there was this obvious and naive “feel good about myself” factor. But it didn’t take time to realize the much greater depth of fulfillment such interactions leave you with.  The connection in those classrooms with all the students has been enriching not only in terms of doing good for others but also on spiritual and emotional levels. And that’s what makes me go back every time and give it my all.

Today, while working for a leading Software Consulting Firm, I spend two weekends a month and other times when I am free to support a cause I strongly believe in: Education for Children. I believe that all of us can contribute something, no matter how big or small. I know for myself that as long as there is a need, I will continue to volunteer.

– Pallavi S, YFS volunteer since 2008 and Accenture employee                                                                                                                                                                                                                             (teaches Spoken English at Anatha Shishu Nivas)

In some locations, the children have requested volunteers to continue the camp for a longer time as they have enjoyed so much.

“There were children from 8th and 9th class. The children were very eager and quiet too to listen the story on the first day. It was a wonderful experience narrating the story and managing the children over there. Once they became aware of the moral of the story, there came voices saying “Miss. I know one more story”, “Miss, I will sing a song”, “miss, dance miss, dance miss”. We all enjoyed and learnt a lot. Thank you YFS, for giving me these sweet memorable days” shares Rajeshwari, YFS volunteer involved in summer camp held at Govindaraju Govt. High School near KHB Colony in the first week of April. Mr. Bala also volunteered during the summer camp.

“Activities like singing, quiz, puzzles, and games took turns one after the other. Desha Nammadu was the super hit song of the camp. Ms.Leela kept the students enjoying with her Quiz and Puzzle programs. Children liked the game PING PONG, very much. They even gave different versions for it like naming leaders of the nation. I could really feel the innovative nature of the growing students. At the end even a field trip also happened which was a long pending program. Trip was made to Bangalore Diary on 17/04/2012. I along with another volunteer friend Ms Sushmita accompanied about 35 children and one teacher from the school. Diary authorities were very helpful in explaining and showing all the departments like milk storage, pasteurization, packing etc. Children also came across production of butter, ghee and sweet products. They were tempted to taste them but controlled themselves. They were treated with buttermilk at the end of the tour. Children enjoyed journey back with little snacks and of course singing their favorite song Desha Nammadu” shares Ms. Paranjyothi, YFS volunteer involved in the summer camp held at Marenahalli Govt. School from 2^nd – 12^th of April. Leela, Sindu, Sushmita and Sukruta also volunteered during the summer camp.

Sinu Joseph, the convenor of Youth For Seva started the presentation by giving a summary of last year’s activities and highlighted the achievements accomplished by our volunteers. She talked about how our volunteers dedicated close to 21,000 volunteer hours for social service and worked on different projects all over Karnataka. All the numbers and the statistic of last year were discussed with the audience and the recognition YFS got in last year were also mentioned.

Youth for Seva was featured in CNN-IBN’s YUVA program and YFS was invited by the Ministry of Youth Affairs to provide inputs for drafting the youth policy in Karnataka state. The CSR program YFS has with Bosch won the Bosch Business Excellence Award and the icing on the cake was our SWMRT project winning the Namma Bengaluru award for Solid Waste management.

Venkatesh Murthy took over from Sinu and gave a critical analysis of last year’s projects. How often were the targets met and how much did we achieve and many more questions like that were answered by him during the presentation. He talked about the expansion of YFS network to other cities and states across India and how it has helped us serve the society better. He gave a overall picture of YFS’ growth in the past few years and then opened up for feedback and questions from volunteers.

Questions on the process involved in school centric activities and other projects were asked by the participants and the respective coordinators answered the questions and gracefully accepted the feedback. After the question-answer session, the coordinators of each project gave a briefing about their projects and the roadmap they had for the future.

So far, YFS was aiming at organic growth and thanks to all the volunteers for their dedicated efforts, YFS as an organisation accreted from a small NGO to growing NGO. Venkatesh Murthy introduced the plan that YFS has, to handle the growth and the process change from organic growth to controlled growth. He talked about scaling up of well-structured projects and structuring of the relatively newer projects.

Anu Adya gave a briefing about the Sponsor a Child program, Dr. Daya Kulkarni talked about the activities, mission and vision of the Doctors for Seva project, Akshay Yadav spoke about the accomplishments and plans of Green Commandos and Aravinda Rajagopal talked about the shared services wing and introduced the newly formed communications team. He also talked about the roles and responsibilities of the teams working under YFS.

The event concluded with closing remarks from Venkatesh Murthy who again opened up the stage for questions.

Before the start of the 2-day campaign, they made sure that people knew about it by circulating emails in advance with all the details. During the campaign itself, they did an excellent job of providing visibility as well as ground support. To ensure that the maximum number of people was attracted to their stall, they put it in a prominent place in the cafeteria, and decorated it beautifully. They also created flash screens that ran continuously on the TV screens in the cafeteria and in the public spaces to advertise the campaign. To encourage people to ask questions about the SAC program, they created a team of volunteers who circulated in the crowd just to answer them. They also created a roster of volunteers to fill every hour that the stall was open.

Their efforts paid off. At the end of the two days, Sponsor A Child had gained 60 new donors from amongst the EMC² employees. Their example can be an inspiration to other teams who want to organize similar campaigns.

SAC works on matching each willing donor to a child who needs the help and building a healthy relationship between the two. For a sum of Rs. 6000 (or Rs. 500 every month), a donor can change the life of a child forever.

If you would like to conduct a fundraiser for SAC at your office, apartment complex, college, etc., please get in touch with us at yfschild@gmail.com or at 9845056092. We have publicity material ready and will help you organize and set up your event. Together, we can help SAC reach out to a 1000 new children who need our help.

On March 23, 2012, over forty volunteers celebrated Ugadi with their extended family at across ten units covering the government home for destitute children and at Kidwai.

The day started off with all of them gathering at the campus in a festive ambience. A quick round of introduction was followed by each one’s take on why Ugadi is celebrated and how the consumption of neem and jaggery (bevu bella) which portrays the hardships and happiness on life’s canvas, came to be. The discussion was sealed with prayers and a renewed hope for peace and prosperity for the new year in every heart present there.

The torch bearers of Seva were then divided into groups to take on each unit separately. The celebrations at each unit were invoked with prayers for health and happiness for all. The goodwill mascots then distributed sweets ( holige, mixture and prasadam) , keeping up with the tradition of the festival to around 600 children at Bal Bhavan. The unit at Kidwai joined the adult and children alike and celebrated the joyous beginning of the year by distributing fruits (apple and mousambi) to around 1000 cancer patients.

The volunteers across the units were left deeply gratified for the fulfilling day of Ugadi they had.Everybody who participated prayed and thanked for the bliss that Seva brings and joined hands for more such opportunities to come by. They left with a wish and a silent prayer to bring happiness and peace to every suffering soul out there.