Sewa International Bay Area Chapter Distributes Hot Meals, Masks, and Supplies to 700+ Families

Sewa International's Bay Area Chapter distributed hot meals, groceries, masks, and hygiene kits to more than 700 families in a drive-through distribution event held in Oroville, CA on Saturday, May 30, as part of its extensive COVID-19 relief efforts.

In addition, Sewa International also donated 500 masks to the Oroville Hospital and distributed goody packets to kids which included wipes, school supplies, and snack bags of cereal.

"Our cadre of volunteers are working hard to support the underprivileged sections of our society in these trying times. Our aim is to achieve the well-being of all by providing a stable support structure by developing overall cooperation within society," said Sewa International Bay Area Chapter President Jayant Somani.

"Through this event, we coordinated with homeless shelters and senior citizen homes across the Concow and Oroville areas to ensure that their important work of feeding the homeless and supporting senior citizens. Sewa is grateful for the enormous support it received from many of the local community organizations in fighting this COVID-19 pandemic together," said Somani.

Tiny Home Donated

As part of the Campfire relief initiative, Sewa International, in partnership with the Tiny Homes Organization, donated the third tiny home its volunteers built to Casey, a veteran who had lost his home in the fires that ravished his area last year. Three more tiny homes are being built to be donated by Sewa.

"This is amazing. I had basically forgotten how people should live. It had been so long that I got so used to this tent (that I was living in). I had basically lost hope. This gave me hope. I can become human again… What you all are doing is amazing — your loyalty and everything. Please keep doing it, if you can," said Casey in appreciation of receiving his new home.

625,000 Masks Distributed

Prior to this event, the Bay Area chapter had distributed almost 57,000 KN95, N95, surgical, face shields and hand- made masks to the United States Postal Service, Valley Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente, San Ramon Police Department, City of Sunnyvale, and City of Cupertino, and many other city, medical, and emergency service responders.

Nationwide, Sewa International has donated over 625,000 masks, 1,000 liters of sanitizer, 63,000 hot meals and food, and over $100,000 to food pantries during this COVID-19 crisis. Through the hard work of more than 3,000 volunteers across 43 chapters and in collaboration with over 800 organizations across the country, Sewa International has committed itself to supporting all essential workers and service industries in these trying times. In addition, Sewa International has set up 10 national helpline centers to field and monitor all calls for help and information. Through the information received via these helplines, Sewa International launched the Plasma Registry Drive which led to successful registry matches for four COVID-19 patients.

Partner Organizations helping Sewa International's efforts

Working with and helping Sewa reach out to the community are several partner organizations. They include the Annapoorna USA Foundation (Sacramento), Bengaluru Voice, Bharati Tamil Sangam, Feed My Peeps, Hindu SwayamSevak Sangh, IINDIA-SC, Maheshwari Mahasabha of North America, Makers for COVID-19, My Support for Kids Foundation, Posh Textiles, PrinterPrezz, Raja Sweets and Catering, Rajasthan Association of North America, Rotary Club of San Ramon Valley, Sleeping Bags for the Homeless of Silicon Valley, Tiny Homes, Tri-Valley Kannada Sangha, Vishnuji Ki Rasoi.

About Sewa International

Sewa International, a leading Hindu faith-based Indian American nonprofit organization, has extensive experience in disaster rescue, relief, and rehabilitation operations having responded to 24 disasters in the US and abroad. In 2017, after Hurricane Harvey struck the Houston area, Sewa volunteers helped in the rescue of nearly 700 people and have served thousands of affected families since then through their case management service. Sewa raised over $3 million for Hurricane Harvey recovery, Sewa continues to rebuild homes, and greenhouses that serve as a means of livelihood. It has also rendered relief in the wake of hurricane Maria in 2018 and Hurricane Imelda in 2019. Sewa teams in the San Francisco Bay Area continue to build and donate tiny homes for those rendered homeless in California Camp Fire of November 2018.

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Among its other accolades, Sewa International has been recognized by Charity Navigator – the premier nonprofit rating agency – as the number five among the "10 Highly Rated Charities Relying on Private Contributions." Sewa has for the last three years continuously scored the topmost-rated 4-star from Charity Navigator, and has earned perfect scores for its Financial Health and Accountability & Transparency.

For more information on Sewa International and its activities, please visit www.sewausa.org.

For more information on Sewa International's efforts to support communities nationwide during the COVID-19 crisis, please visit https://sewausa.org/covid-19