News & Events

Collecting Food for the Homeless
Saturday 15 October 2016

Young members of The Swaminarayan Sunday School at BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir joined BAPS Charities to collect food for the homeless.

They collected four large trolleys of food for Sufra, a community food bank and kitchen based in the London Borough of Brent. Sufra aims to support disadvantaged families suffering from food poverty in the local area, including the more than 29,000 children in north-west London who are living in severe poverty.

The initiative was one of various activities organised by BAPS Charities in support of International Sewa Day, an annual event where “thousands of good-hearted people across the world come together to perform sewa and experience the joy of giving in its truest sense.”

Hitesh Jethwa, one of the lead volunteers for the programme, explained, “His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj lived by the ethos ‘In the joy of others lies our own.’ This message really motivated the young children to help support local families who simply don’t have enough food to eat.”

Anjali Patel, 11, shared her experience saying, “The Mandir always teaches to help others and this is something that is in our hearts. We really enjoyed the day and learned a lot about helping others. I hope this food stops families going to bed hungry.”

Mohammed Mamdani, Director of Sufra, thanked everyone for their efforts. “I am very grateful to you and your team for your noble efforts in raising food for local families in crisis for International Sewa Day. I was also very glad that some of the children who took part in the collection were able to visit the food bank on Sunday and see where the food they have collected will be distributed.”

To learn more about Sufra and International Sewa Day, please follow the respective links.

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