25th September 2011: The City Hindus Network (CHN) organised three projects for Sewa Day at various locations across London. Over 50 volunteers volunteered their time to helped to improve their communities. They were also joined by people from 15 other countries from across the globe in other Sewa Day projects. The CHN is a non-profit organisation for professionals mainly from the Hindu community working in London.

The first of the CHN events took place at Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets, where members helped to clear flower beds in the park and plant new beds in what was an arduous day’s work. The second project took place in the Holborn area. Following a tour of the St Mungos homeless shelter, the volunteers split into groups to source supplies for homeless people that attend the shelter. The supplies were then sorted and distributed, and will benefit the homeless for the weeks to come. The third project took place at the Queens Hopital in Romford. The group of volunteers spent the day entertaining 4-9 year olds with developmental delay and learning disabilities. The children were given gifts and group games were played. The parents were also very appreciative and commented on the raised spirits of the patients.

On the day, volunteers of all ages will be doing Sewa – which means ‘be of service’ – in London, the UK and in countries as far away as Kenya, UAE, Australia, South Africa and Indonesia, and their combined efforts will improve the lives of many more thousands of people.

Celebrities, politicians and businesses are also backing the event and are calling on people to volunteer a few hours of their time on 25 September as part of Sewa Day (www.sewaday.org).

Lizzie Cundy, television presenter, fashion & beauty advisor and model, urged people to come together on Sewa Day. Lizzie says: “After all the troubles, Sewa Day is the ideal opportunity to show the good in our communities. People can take part in many projects to help protect and preserve the local environment and at the same time rebuild community spirit”.

Pratik Dattani, a local Sewa Day organiser said: “Contrary to all the recent negative press that has focused on those responsible for the civil unrest we saw in August, we believe in the concept of helping others in need and that this should be encouraged whether we are in the midst of a recession or not.

“There are many opportunities for all members of the family to take part in local activities and there is genuinely no better sense of fulfilment than putting a smile on somebody’s face – especially the vulnerable, the poor, the sick and the needy. This is the real power of sewa.”

Arup Ganguly, chairman of Sewa Day added: “Last year, Sewa Day saw volunteers from over 50 organisations undertake over 130 projects and following on from last year’s phenomenal success we want to treble the number of those taking part. We are especially pleased to such positive community support from other countries.”

“Sewa Day aims to deliberately stay away from fundraising activities with the belief that hands-on volunteering is one of the most important and effective ways for individuals to increase their positive impact in the community and leverage a key resource beyond cash.”

Sewa Day is not about raising funds but about volunteers giving up to take part in projects that help relieve hardship, promote environmental preservation and bring joy to older people, children and the disabled – indeed everyone within our communities.

Many well-know celebrities and personalities are also backing the campaign, such as:

1. Meera Syal – http://www.youtube.com/user/nationalsewaday#p/f/0/3Jwx_rpRSb4
2. Kulvinder Ghir – http://www.youtube.com/user/nationalsewaday#p/f/9/6W3vuj2MU88
3. Raj Ghatak – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33TvCe8pzWA&feature=related
4. Arti Halai Sewa Day Video – http://www.youtube.com/user/nationalsewaday
5. Tony Blair – http://www.youtube.com/user/nationalsewaday#p/f/3/OkccDtWH3gM
6. Boris Johnson – http://www.youtube.com/user/nationalsewaday#p/f/2/1oicinwvT0Y
7. Yuvraj Singh – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp08mwVqQF4

Partners include:

1. Croydon Borough Council, the first local authority to fully embrace the initiative
2. Lloyds TSB
3. Tata Consultancy Services
4. Polaris Software
5. Vascroft Contractors

For more information, please contact Amar Purohit on 07711 958 801

Attached are some photos of the day.

ENDS

Notes to the Editor:

The CITY HINDUS NETWORK (CHN) is a non-profit organisation with a membership of around 1,000 professionals who mainly work in the financial services and related industries in the City of London and Canary Wharf. Its activities include organising major networking and education events each year, consultation with local and national governmental bodies and other non-governmental organisations, running a mentoring scheme for its members and promoting volunteering and charity work. It was founded by Dhruv Patel and is currently chaired by Pratik Dattani.

The aim of SEWA DAY is to provide people a chance give back to the community through volunteering on a single day to make a difference as such each event organised was based on at least one of the guiding principles below:

1. To relieve hardship and poverty
2. To bring a little joy where none exists
3. To help the environment

Sewa Day is an initiative of Sewa UK, a secular, non-political UK registered charity, which is a registered charity (no: 1135425). Office address: 110 High St, Edgware, London, HA8 7HE, UK.  www.sewaday.org.

Video content and high resolution images of volunteering projects available upon request.