Wing: Ladies
Sai Mask – Hands that Stitch
The current COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it despair and uncertainty; however, in true Sai tradition the Ladies Wing decided to undertake a significant service project. Although a lot of activities had come to a halt and there was no opportunity to meet and discuss, the Ladies Wing was able to complete this service of stitching face masks for the East Toronto community by coordinating with skilled ladies and other devotees via phone, Skype and email.
‘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.