Sacramento November 10 2007, Hindu organizations around greater Sacramento celebrated Diwali in a unique and meaningful way along with Loaves and Fishes (local organization which provides food and shelter to homeless) at Sacramento . For first time Hindu community of Sacramento got together to celebrate Diwali along with local community.
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) along with ten Hindu organizations of greater Sacramento organized Annapoorna – Food Donation Program. In Hindu culture serving food to a poor is considered the highest service. Hindus believe that “Feeding a poor is not a charity. It’s our obligation, it’s our duty”.
Four different kitchens were setup with more than 40 volunteers involved in cooking six different dishes for 500 guests including men, women and children. Cooking was started at midnight on Friday, Nov 9th, to prepare fresh Indian vegetarian meal. Loaves & Fishes also provided their complete kitchen facility. It was a delightful and happy occasion to see the spirit with which all the volunteers come forward to work together for this noble cause.
Delicious food consisting of six dishes and two fruits was made ready before 10am on Saturday, Nov 10th. Volunteers were got together to help with serving the food, cleaning and other arrangements. Food was served to 300 homeless guests of ‘Loaves & Fishes’. All the guests enjoyed the new taste of Indian food, this was very evident with most guests appreciating the service and asking for the next such event.
‘Loaves & Fishes’ staff provided great support to make it a very successful event. The remaining food after serving the guest was used to serve in the next meal to the guests.
This was started with an idea of annual event. After an overwhelming response from the local Hindu community, many feel that we could do it more often.
HSS volunteers undertake many such service projects in the local community. This new project, Annapoorna, is unique as it was done collectively involving all the local Hindu organizations.
Thank you for a wonderfully prepared meal”, “Thank you so much for putting together such a fantastic lunch for our guests as well as our staff ” commented by Loves and Fishes co-coordinators! We had so many people tell us that they loved the food and that all of the people were so kind and helpful. Everything could not have been more perfect that day.
Participating organizations:
1) Art of Living
2) Brahma Kumaries Spiritual University
3) Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan
4) Gayatri Parivar
5) Hindu American Foundation
6) Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
7) SEWA International
8) Siddhi Vinayaka Temple
9) Sri Laxmi Narayan Mandir
10) Shri Shirdi Sai group
