The Houston chapter of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (“HSS”) celebrated the traditional Vijaya Dashami utsav on Sunday, October 9, 2005 at Bear Creek Park. There were more than 150 participants of all ages. This year, the program was organized as a sports meet among the various HSS shakhas, or branches, in the Houston chapter.

The program commenced with a yogasana competition, judged by Rama Rao and Meera Rao of the Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthan USA, or SVYAS, and M.B. Shintri and Daksha Shah.

On Sunday, the 9th of October 2005, Chicago Vibhag celebrated Vijaya Dashmi at the Abhimanyu Balagokulam in Schaumburg. The utsav served the dual purpose of celebrating Vijaya Dashmi and send off to two vistaaraks from the Midwest.

This is the first time that vistaaraks have come out of the Midwest, though lately some Midwest karyakartas got ‘outsourced’ by virtue of their job transfers. It was indeed a matter of pride for the old timers and source of inspiration for the teenagers to see Darshan Soni and Rishikesh Athalye take time off for sangh work.

Ved Mandir Shakha in New Jersey celebrated Vijyadashmi Utsav on a chilly Sunday afternoon of October 16, 2005. Shyam Prandey, International Co-Ordinator of Sewa International, was the chief guest of the program.

The Sharad Shibir (Fall Camp) held on Sept 30th – Oct 2nd in Atlanta, GA started with the invocation of “Sewa bhav” in the minds of everyone by an audio-visual presentation of the relief efforts done by the volunteers of Sewa Bharati in the wake of the Tsunami disaster.  Over 35 families listened in rapt attention to Shri Shyamji Parande, international co-ordinator for Sewa International, about the selfless service performed by thousands of volunteers of Sangh whenever natural/man-made disaster struck.

The Melbourne Chapter of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh(HSS) and Hindu Students Council (HSC) of Florida Institute of Technology, conducted a Yuva Sangam at Florida Institute of Technology today.

The theme of the conference was to promote Hindutva, Hindu philosophy of life, and the preservation of Hindu identity in co-existence with people in a Western World.

On Wednesday, November 23rd, Saraswati shakha concluded the  Annadan seva project (of collecting and donating food) by paying a visit to the Worcester  county food bank in Shrewsbury. Having had a pleasant experience with the food bank last year, the bala and shishu went out and collected food with the thought of Diwali in mind; a time of joy, good company, good food, and sharing. With the Sewa project organized by Shri RamKrishnaji, we managed to raise and donate 317 lbs of food (including sugar, flour, cereal, oil, pasta, canned fruits and vegetables, pasta sauce, etc).

The Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh Balagokulam adds one more sewa project to the already extensive list by presenting a colorful, fun-filled variety show to the elderly at the Blue Hill old age and Rehabilitation centre in Canton. 

The family camp at Vraj in the month of May is a featured and much awaited event for the families associated with the HSS in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware regions. This year's camp started on Saturday, May 13th at 11am and ended at noon on Sunday, May 14th. 

The camp activities began with introductory games, by the end of which the entire group of over 140 people got to know each other at least by name. The morning session ended with Shakha. Lunch was followed by two sessions of intellectual activities.