A collective of Hindu organisations and individuals in the USA have come under one umbrella as Sewa4Community which are working in as many as 11 different spheres to aid the country’s fight against COVID19.
Sewa4Community is a collection of organizations and individuals rooted in Indic values and believe in ‘Sewa Dharma’, i.e. “Service to Humanity is Service to Divinity”. The effort is collective coordination of many organizations like Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, Sewa USA, Monroe Township Indians for Civic Action, Hindi USA, Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, Bhartiya Temple of Philadelphia, Chinmaya Mission, Gujarati Samaj of Delaware, Hindu Student Council, Overseas Volunteers for a Better India, Gayatri Chetna Center, International Swaminarayan Satsang Organisation, Shree Swaminarayan Mandir, Vadtaal Dham New Jersey, Overseas Friends of BJP, Norwalk Gurudwara, Vaswami Foundation, Jain Center, Hindu Jain Temple Pittsburgh, etc. A total of close to 130 organizations and 800 volunteers are running relief efforts.
As of 5th May, the collective efforts of a Sewa4Community has ensured that a total of 45,000 masks (K95, N95 &Surgical masks), 4,500 handmade masks and 75,000 hand gloves were distributed to 43 hospitals which include St Francis Hospital-Trenton, Palisades Medical Center-North Bergen, St Michael Medical Center-Newark, JFK Medical Center-Edison, St Peter’s University Hospital-New Brunswick, Care Point Medical Center-Hoboken, Holy Name Medical Center- Teaneck, Centra State Hospital- Manalapan, St Claire’s Hospital- Denville, Clara Maass Medical Center- Belleville, Christ Hospital-Jersey City, King County Hospital-NY, Queens Hospital, NY, Danbury, Hartford, and Norwalk Hospital- CT, etc.
The other major service efforts done by the Hindu Community was to donate $ 1,30,000 dollars to 35 food pantries like MC Foods in Middlesex County, Heights town, NourishNJ at Morristown, NBTHS Raiders Home Plate at North Brunswick, Trenton Area Soup Kitchen at Trenton, Home Front, The We Project, Plainsboro Food pantry, Monroe- Friends of senior citizens, We Feed: Woodbridge and Community Food Bank of New Jersey, Lowell transitional living center, MA, Burlington food pantry, etc.
Volunteers also distributed 300 gallons of hand sanitizers, 25,000 of surgical masks, 15,000 of hand gloves and around 85 food meals to Policeman, Fire Squad, First Aid squad close to 45 townships like Woodbridge, North Brunswick, Linwood, Chesterfield, Mt Laurel, Jersey City, Parsippany, Edison, South Brunswick, Robbinsville, Mansfield, Florence, Bordentown, Danbury, Philadelphia, Exton, Pittsburgh, Scranton, Allentown, Hudson Valley, West Chester, Shrewsbury, Burlington, Wilton, Norristown, etc. As a community, we will continue to play our role and provide support with the same belief i.e. “Service to Humanity is Service to Divinity”.
Along with these efforts, Sewa4Community has coordinated and executed the following efforts.
- Delivering groceries to Senior Citizens and families in need
- Delivering groceries to COVID patients taking precautions and utmost care
- Delivering hand made masks from Sewa International’s Mask Making Mission Design
- Rehabilitation of international students and helping coordinate grocery delivery and accommodation
- Coordination of plasma donors with needs and doctors
- Handling and solving calls that come through helplines of Sewa International
- Providing meals to doctors and hospitals in the Tri-state area and EMS/EMT/Police/Fire departments
- Providing medical help for patients by connecting them with doctors in our Network
- Providing information on various arrangements e.g., Funeral, Travel etc.
Minal Sapre, Service Coordinator from HSS USA, has said that teenage volunteers are doing their part by collecting food to provide meals to EMS/EMT workers in their townships.
