The COVID Pandemic driven lockdown posed endue hardship on “International Students”. Their educational institutes were shut down or started on-line classes. At the same time, these students started to face financial hardship due to inability to earn through part time jobs to supplement their daily expenses.
Amity Foundation partnered with an existing & operational food bank (Sai Dham Food Bank) to make groceries available to needy students. The Food Bank has operational infrastructure, incl. food collection, food warehouse (in Mississauga), and distribution network. In building strong partnership, Amity made donation of $5000 (contribution by Sh. Sampat Poddar family charity) towards build-out of a walk-in-cold-storage for perishables. This has further augmented availability of protein rich food storage facilities at the warehouse.
Outcome:
Needy students can now go-in-to-collect or call-in for delivery by (other) volunteers, to meet their groceries requirement.
Grocery Service during COVID-19
(On-going Mentorship Program)
HOLI – Festival of Colours
(Cultural Immersion Program)
Amity Foundation, in partnership with its sister organization of volunteers - RANA Canada (Rajasthan Association of North America – Canada), offers Holi festival of colours as an immersive experience for Rajasthani students.
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Holi celebrates end of winter, arrival of spring, and blossoming of love. It heralds festivity to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and forge new relationships.
RANA Canada holds annual Holi festivity with hundreds of interested families. About 200 people of all ages, incl. students, join this festival of spring in the morning. After a playful and musical cultural celebration, with an excuse to throw dry ecological friendly colours at friends or strangers, a sumptuous festive luncheon follows in the afternoon.
Outcome:
Home sick students reminisce Holi festivity with locals, volunteers, their mentors and buildout new friendships.
Annual Deepavali - Festival of Lights
(Cultural Immersion Program)
Deepavali or Diwali, is popularly know as “Festival of Lights”. It is celebrated to mark “Light over Darkness” or “Victory of Good over Evil”. It provides students, an opportunity to connect with their local mentors, build new connection, and feel-at-home in Canada.
Amity Foundation, in partnership with its sister organization of volunteers - RANA Canada (Rajasthan Association of North America – Canada), celebrates Diwali as an immersive cultural experience for students. The annual Diwali celebration is held with hundreds of RANA members and their families or friends. This evening function includes cultural performances, dance, drama and sumptuous dinner to mark finale for Diwali. Many students also get invited to homes of their local mentors or other Diwali events spread over number of weeks during this period.
Hon. Amrit Mangat, MPP, (1st LHS) being formally welcomed by Amity
​Directors, and Sh. Mahendra Bhandari, President RANA, at Diwali 2018
Outcome:
An opportunity for home sick students to renew connect with their local supporters, volunteers, mentors or make new friendships.
Rejuvenating Physical & Mental Health with Dr. Dayashanker Vidyalankar, Canada - Feb 09, 2020
(On-going Mentoring Program)
One of the key contributions towards empowerment journey is to achieve good physical, mental and emotional health. Amity Foundation was privileged to have couple of sessions with a highly respectable, and an internationally recognized personality, who has immense wealth of practical knowledge to maintain well balanced radiant personal health.
We had the honour of having Yogacharya Dr. Dayashankar Vidyalankar, Ph.D., visiting Toronto from February 8 to 10, 2020. During the weekend, Dayashankarji undertook a Yoga session, conducted Vedic Havana, gave a discourse on the Vedic philosophy, and shared benefit of Yoga practices in our daily life. In addition, Dayashankarji also gave hands-on demonstration to manage chronic pains via Yoga postures or herbal message practices or his deep knowledge of Ayurvedic holistic approaches.
The attendees were thoroughly captivated by his broad knowledge on maintaining good balanced health, yoga practices, and his radiant Vedic personality. Along with his tremendous command of the Vedic literature, Dayshankarji’s ability to synthesize the deeper meaning of Veda in a simple language enabled people to get a better understanding of ancient Indian scriptures. His Yogic ability in releasing chronic pain of many of the attendees within a few minutes was remarkable. This certainly brought smile and a relief on the face of these people, which they will relish for many years to come.
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Outcome:
The knowledge imparted by Dayashankar ji on Vedic philosophy, Ayurveda and the benefits of regular practice of Yoga in maintaining physical and mental health were well received by the attendees with immense gratitude.