HMM president Megha Ozarker handing over the check to Sewa Project coordinator Kavita Tewary.
HOUSTON: As we go about enjoying our life every day, there are children and families suffering in Jammu and Kashmir, struggling in cold weather, looking for food and shelter. To most of us in Houston, lives of those children mean nothing but a news item. But, it meant more to some wonderful men and women at Maharastra Mandal.
Sewa International a leading Hindu faith based nonprofit with humanitarian focus and worldwide reach.When the recent J and K floods happened Houston Maharashtra Mandal’s (a leading nonprofit) board members particularly Mridula Lele and its President Megha Ozarker and Ravi Ozarker,undertook the noble endeavor of raising funds for this disaster.
Mrudula Lele from HMM collecting funds for J &K
Mrudula Lele said that as citizens of India they felt a responsibility towards helping Indians in need. With this attitude in mind, Houston Maharashtra Mandal decided to organize a fundraiser for the J &K floods. HMM WAS researching for organizations which were helping for this cause and came across Sewa International. Sewa is a reputed organization in the Houston area and they also have their sister branch Sewa Bharati, in India, which is working for this cause on ground level.HMM contacted Sewa and they explained the intensity of the flood situation and how they were helping the people affected. Apart from sounding genuine, the empathy with which they work for people in need was the factor which made HMM decide to give the collected fundS to Sewa.The effort put in by the HMM president Megha Ozarker was commendable.Houston Maharashtra Mandal 2014 Committee members had a phone conference with Kavita Tewary, Project Coordinator|Sewa International. She gave an excellent talk about the situation in Kashmir and also supported HMM’s intention to help. She had in-depth knowledge of what was happening in Kashmir.
After the meeting, HMM sent an email blast to all its members to raise awareness for this calamity,an appeal was posted on HMM website ,and a donation box was set up at the Diwali event in Katy. Appeals were made several times during the event to raise funds.Overall, the response was great.According to Ravi Ozarker any donation big or small is very important and builds community strength. Strength and confidence that we are there to help out our community and other communities when any need arises. It showed how much people cared for our communities in India and were willing to help. We witnessed love for country, love for our people, love for our communities and above all love for humanity.
If you want to help or if your organization wants to do similar efforts for flood hit Jammu and Kashmir or states hit by Cyclone Hudhud, email at Houston@sewausa.org or call -Kavita Tewary@ 713-303-4253.
