In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Amma has urged us to re-dedicate ourselves to selfless service and sincere prayer. Please click here to read Amma's message to Her children on the subject of Hurricane Katrina, and please consider supporting the following local relief efforts. All are welcome, and every penny raised at these benefit events will reach those in need.
(If you and your satsang are inspired to initiate a Hurricane Katrina-related relief project, fundraising event, or prayer group, please contact Iswari with details at iswari@nyc.rr.com.)
Many children displaced by Hurricane Katrina are or will be starting school in their new locations and need of backpacks and school supplies. On Tuesday, September 27th at 9PM, you are invited to gather after satsang at 241 Central Park West, #3A to stuff backpacks with school supplies. Twenty four backpacks have been donated and we will likely be receiving more between now and Tuesday. If you would like to participate, please bring supplies (listed below) to fill a backpack for an elementary school student or a middle/high school student. Please RSVP to Karuna (karunaji@msn.com), so we can ensure that there are enough backpacks for everyone.
Elementary School Supplies
Crayons (24-count box)
Erasers (2)
Folders (5 with pockets, 5 different colors)
Glue stick
Kleenex (4-6 individual packets)
Markers (washable)
Notebooks (3 wide-rule, spiral-bound, in different colors)
Pencils (at least 6, #2)
Pencil Sharpener (small, hand-held)
Pens (3-4 in blue/black, 1 in red)
Pencil case or box
Protractor
Ruler (12")
Scissors (child size)
Middle School or High School Supplies
Assignment notebook
Colored pencils or markers
Folders (5 with pockets, 5 different colors - best if they match notebooks)
Glue stick
Graphing Paper
Kleenex (4-6 individual packets)
Notebooks (5 spiral-bound, in different colors)
Paper (1 package, loose-leaf
Pencil Sharpener (small, hand-held)
Pens (3-4 in blue/black, 1 in red)
Protractor
Ruler (12")
Scientific calculator
Scissors
Additional Items
Art supplies (plain/colored paper, brushes, watercolors)
Hygiene supplies (soap and washcloth, toothbrush and toothpaste, socks)
OCTOBER 2ND - HURRICANE KATRINA RELIEF DANCE CONCERT (NJ)
Amma's NJ Satsang will present a dance concert in the classical Odissi style to benefit the MA Center's Hurricane Katrina Relief effort on Sunday, October 2, from 4pm - 6:30pm, at the Basking Ridge High School, 268 South Finley Ave, Basking Ridge, NJ. For those unable to drive, rail transportation from NY is available. Shuttle service will be provided from the station to the school.
For ticket information, directions or to make a donation, please contact Deepa (973) 786-7874, Sulekha (973) 343-6026, Padma (973) 895-6233, Roopa (908) 755-0810 or Remya at (732) 776-9804.
NOVEMBER 11TH - BLUES BENEFIT CONCERT FOR KATRINA SURVIVORS (NY)
The Eli Yamin Quartet presents "The Different Moods of The Blues" at 8pm at the Advent Lutheran Church/Broadway United Church of Christ, located at 2504 Broadway (at 93st Street). Suggested donation is $10, $15, $25 or $___. Please save the date. If you would like to help with this event, please contact Nancy at 914-980-6407 or at ncmoshe@yahoo.com.
For anyone interested in writing letters, this may provide an immediate outlet. It is from Aikya Param who coordinates Circle of Love.
Om Namah Sivaya,
Nancy
I have made the commitment that Circle of Love will send letters of encouragement and support to hurricane survivors. Now I am seeking new volunteers to write these letters. I will ask people outside Amma's organization to join us as well. What's happening right now is that Amma satsang members in areas where displaced people have been sent in sizable numbers are identifying shelters to which letters can be sent. Thatinformation should be available in this week. I'm making a database of all interested devotees and other letter writing volunteers so that I can send out Hurricane Katrina Letters guidelines. The letter writing guidelines that we use for Circle of Love will be changed slightly to fit this situation. I am also prayerfully asking Amma and others how to handle return address of your letters. Some of the people may want to stay in touch with us as their emotional life raft. There are several possibilities. One is to use Waves of Compassion website which is being redesigned to serve Hurricane Katrina relief.
Another is to use the Circle of Love post office box. We also do not know and probably cannot/should not gather names of people who are in the shelters. Perhaps we should not have their names until they wish to send them. Most likely we will write on the envelope the family role and age range for adults, such as "Mother 25 to 30" or "Grandfather, age 60 to 65" and the gender and age for children such as "Girl, age 10" and the letter can go to a matching person. If you are an adult and would like to write supportive, encouraging letters, please send me at aikya@y... your name, spiritual name if you have one, city and state of residents. Please make the subject of your email "Katrina Letter Writer." I will send you information later this week about the details.
If you are a parent of a child from 6 to 17 who would like to write to a child who had been displaced by the hurricane, please send your name and the child or children's names and ages with your city and state to Aikya@y... Make the subject line "Youth to Youth Letter Writer." For the kids we may have suggested themes or activities to make it more fun for both sides. I will add you and your child to the database of letter writers so I can contact you. To get ready you can look for or make a card or pretty stationery that you would like to use to send some color with your loving message. After I send out more specifics, it's okay to say you don't want to participate if there is anything about what we are doing which makes you feel uncomfortable.
With hurricane Rita (now a category 5) heading towards the coast, let us contemplate once again on Amma's words "Amma still sees dark clouds enveloping the world. Only the cool breeze of sincere and innocent prayers can lift these clouds and turn them into a shower of Divine Grace. Remember, only Divine Grace will help us."
Let us respond by following Amma's instructions to pray. I would like to invite all satsangs & centers to hold prayers every day (atleast once during the evenings). Pray for the peace and happiness of all beings (Lokah Samastaha Sukhino Bhavantu). Chanting of the Sahsranamam (1000 names of the Divine Mother), Amma's 108 names & the Mahishasura Mardani strotram could also be done in unison.
At M. A. Center in San Ramon, our prayers to Mother Nature will be offered from 5:30 am till 9:00 pm non-stop on Thursday (9/22) & Friday (9/23).
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, some survivors have had no choice but to wear garbage bags, because the available donated clothing was too small for them. In order to address this need, we will be taking up a collection of plus-size clothing, which will be delivered to Katrina survivors in Texas shelters. Please help by bringing new or clean used clothing in larger sizes to the Tuesday night satsang (Manhattan). For more information about the plus-size clothing drive, contact Sujata at 212-362-0416.
