Sai Centre: Ontario Region 1
‘Annadhanam’- Seva Food Bank Drive
Mississauga, in the Greater Toronto Area. Around 900 families depend on this food bank every month and this number drastically increased during the pandemic as a lot of people had been laid off their jobs. It was the Ladies wing who proposed this initiative; however, there was a lot of coordinated support from all the wings during the coordinators meeting. The idea of picking the items from the members’ houses on specified Saturdays came up during the meeting. Once the plan was agreed upon, a broadcast email was sent out to all the members to take part in our first ‘Food Bank Seva – via pick up’. The email included the hand washing, hygiene guidelines and informational poster which had items the Food bank needed with recommended guidelines for volunteers. A spreadsheet was prepared to help the teams in having a record of names and addresses. Tremendous support and enthusiasm marked this initiative. The Seva and the Ladies Wing coordinated to pick up the food items from the members’ homes. Many members who were not able to personally buy the food items donated money to the service coordinator. The food items were picked were weighed after the first and second pick up. The first Saturday pick was 550 pounds and the second pick up came to 40 pounds. which was later dropped off by the coordinators of the Ladies wing and the Seva Wing to the Food Bank location at Slough Street, Mississauga. The Cooksville Sai Centre’s “Food Bank Seva-via pick up” is a humble offering towards Aradhana Day Mahotsavam.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre of Cooksville – Annual Centre Picnic
With Swami’s grace, the Cooksville Sai Center has been hosting a yearly event, a picnic to facilitate a coming together of all members.
Unity Bhajan @ Mississauga Sai Centre
With our Beloved Swami’s grace, we were able to hold a Unity bhajan. A first of its kind, it brought together devotees from the four to five Sai Centers that operate individually under the umbrella of Region1. Mississauga Sai Centre was blessed to be the first center where the first Unity bhajan was held. Singers from all centers were given an opportunity to sing for our Beloved Bhagavan.
Walk For Values 2019
The 17th Annual Walk For Values was held in Toronto, Canada on Sunday May 26, 2019 in the heart of the city at Nathan Phillips Square in front of Toronto City Hall. Under a beautiful blue sky, the opening ceremonies commenced at 10 am with the Canadian National Anthem and the Walk For Values Anthem to a crowd of over 2000 participants standing together in unity to spread the message of the five Human Values of Love, Peace, Truth, Right Conduct, and Non-Violence. The walk called upon fellow Torontonians to share their vision of a world where all are unified by human values.
SSE ‘Go Green’ Exhibition
On Sunday, April 7, 2019, the Group 4 Girls from the Toronto-York Centre held an exhibition showcasing various ways to become more environmentally friendly and the importance of conscientious recycling; which tied into this year’s theme of “Go Green”.
Father’s Day Celebrations @ Cooksville Sai Centre
In Canada, we have an opportunity to greet and treat our Fathers on Father’s Day. Every year in June we make it a point to celebrate this with all the fathers in the neighbourhood and all the members of the Sai family and friends. This year it was on Sunday June 16th, 2019 between 10 am to 12 noon at the Cooksville Sai Centre.
“Melody of Divine Love” – Musical program for Senior’s Home
March is a celebration of green and yellow, so we had the children wear green and yellow for St. Patrick’s day. We chanted opening prayers which was followed by a Ganesh bhajan called Gauri Ganesh sung by the youngest children of the group. Next a bhajan called The Lord gave the World was sung. This bhajan reminds us to be grateful to the Lord for the gift of this beautiful world.
Aradhana Mahotsavam at Cooksville Sai Centre
Aradhana Mahotsavam for the year 2019 was commemorated by the Cooksville Sai Centre on Wednesday April 24th day, a day when our beloved Bhagavan left His physical form and became omnipresent.
Sharing, Caring & Knitting for God organized by the Ladies Wing
Swami has taught us all the importance of “Love all Serve all” and Swami has often said that service (Manav Seva) is service to God (Madhava Seva). In support of Swami’s mission, on the 19th of May 2018, the Ladies wing initiated a Sadhana called “Sharing, Caring and Knitting HIS Love Together”. The goal of this Sadhana was to serve the less fortunate ones through knitting needy items while engaging in Swami’s namasmarana.
“Melody of Divine Love” – Musical program for Senior’s Home
Our monthly performance for the residents at the Erin Meadow retirement home was on October 28, 2018. We celebrated Thanksgiving and Navaratri with the residents. The evening started with a small introduction to the significance of “Thanksgiving”. We elaborated on the importance of “giving thanks” and continued with an opening prayer.