April 2019 – Newsletter
April was a month of great celebration for EnE! We marked our 4th anniversary with notable accomplishments by our volunteers. Congratulations to all our award winners including PVSA, County of Santa Clara and EnE Special Achievement Awards. We are very proud of you all for your commitment and dedication to the community!
Heartiest Congratulations to our very own Ayesha on winning the “2019 Community Hero” award from CA State Assembly. We thank you for inspiring us young volunteers to serve our community!
Last but not the least, what an honor for EnE to be recognized by County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors for its dedication and service to improving the quality of life for the residents of Santa Clara!
by: Tanisha Tol
Here is a snapshot of our April 2019 activities:
2019 Volunteers & Supporters Appreciation Luncheon
2019 Award Winners
- PVSA Gold: Abhilash Gogineni, Anika Agarwal, Arjun Dasari, Arun Kunigiri, Ashika Gogineni, Gursimar Rana, Mrudula Chodavarapu, Nikita Raj, Pranav Eranki, Ravi Polisetti, Santosh Madhav, SriAditi Yellamraju, Suraj Madhav, Varun Sunkavalli and Kamal Narayan.
- PVSA Silver: Bhargava Eranki, Sohini Pillay, Trisha Sengupta
- PVSA Bronze: Aaditya Krishnamohan, Anjali Jindal, Mrudvika Sirineni, Spoorthi Vallamkonda, SriVibha Yellamraju, and Nehaa Anumolu.
- Stanford Toy Drive: Abhinav Balla, Anjali Jindal, Arjun Dasari, Arshnoor Bhatia, Barath Ragav, Bhargav Eranki, Arun Kunigiri, Gursimar Rana, Keya Kadakia, Ravi Polisetti, Santosh Madhav, Suraj Madhav, Nihar Charagulla, SriAditi Yellamraju, SriAditi Yellamraju, Mehar Bhatia, Pranav Eranki, Rishi Dasari, and Siyona Suresh.
- EnE Volunteers of the Year: Santosh Madhav, Arun Kunigiri, and Spoorthi Vallamkonda
- County of Santa Clara, CA, Special Awards:
Most Hardworking Volunteer of the Year Abhilash Gogineni Rookie Volunteer of the Year Ravi Polisetti Spirit of Community Award Sohini Pillay Most Inspirational Volunteer of the Year Mrudhvika Sirineni and Akshaj Sirineni for Campfire Relief Most Dedicated Volunteer of the Year Mrudhula Chodavarapu Distinguished Leadership Award Spoorthi Vallamkonda for Jagruti project Most Committed Volunteer of the Year Shuvam Sinha Most Enthusiastic Volunteer of the Year Sasha Mason Most Dependable Volunteer of the Year Tanisha Tol Most Passionate Volunteer of the Year SriAditi for Share your passion Volunteer Family of the year Madhavan’s - City of Santa Clara Awards: Arun Kunigiri, Pranav Eranki, Bhargav Eranki, Vikram Jangid, Renuka K, and Radhika K.
- 2018 Summer Internship Program at Healthcare Startup LightedRoad Insurance : Abhishek Ganga, Abhilash Gogineni, Keya Kadakia, Pranav Eranki, Rahul Grover, Siyona Suresh, Spoorthi Vallamkonda, Tanisha Tol
Serving Our Community
- Sunday Friends: Played games, reading and drawing with children from low income communities. Also, cooked and served meals and did cleanup
- Feeding Friends: Cook and Serve at Family Supportive Housing, San Jose, CA: Thank you Kavitha Durgi for your generous contribution to feed the needy and giving an opportunity for volunteers to cook and serve
- City Team Shelter: helped with all kitchen work including food preparation, pantry organization, cleanup etc.
- Meal Sponsorship to HELP-AshaSadan: Thank you very much Dr. Byravan Viswanathan, Kumar Balabhadra, Alpa K, Aradhana Grover, Seema Aggarwal, Kavitha Arunarthi, Lakshmi Cherabuddi, Padma Mullapudi for sponsoring meals during April 2019. Your generous donations helped to provide nutritious food to children rescued from human trafficking, prostitution, sexual slavery, forced drug taking and violence. If you are interested in sponsoring a meal, you can signup at:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090948afae2aaaf49-2019 - For more info on Asha Sadan, please contact EnE – info@empowerexcel.org
We Love Our Seniors
- Project Knitbuds: Volunteer Mrudula launched this program this month to knit beanies and scarves to donate to the homeless and patients getting chemotherapy. Got seniors involved to help out with this project
- Conducted ‘Music for Seniors’ program and ‘Tech Help’ Sessions
- Conducted Bollywood Fitness session for the community at public libraries
- Helped with laundry chores
The Lovely Bond That We Share With Our Special Friends
- Infuse Arts and Crafts: helped special needs children with arts and crafts activities, setup and cleanup
- Friends Together – We love spending time and bonding with our special friends. We meet every month on fixed days
Helping Kids on Various Projects
- Newark, CA Library: helped kids build hovercraft and balloon cars using balloons and CDs
At Various Community Events
- SpaandanB 2019 Boishakhi Mela for supporting needy in Bangladesh: helped with setup, cleaning, ushering, raising funds by selling food/clothing/crafts, etc.
- Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood Library Opening: helped with welcoming, minding lines and serving cake
- Our City Forest: Did nursery work
- 2nd Annual Alum Rock Park Earth Day: helped on projects run by the Alum Rock Park Rangers and the Youth Science Institute
