February 2020 – Newsletter

Our volunteers are doing a wonderful job of carrying forward EnE’s mission of giving back to the community in a meaningful way and helping our vision of making the world a better place to live in. We are very proud of our volunteers and now the time has come to account for their hard work and efforts and appreciate them for their commitment and dedication to serving our community.

Yes, you guessed it right! We are soon approaching our year end in March and audits are in place so that we can reward our volunteers appropriately. Please save the date, Saturday, 16 May from 10:00 AM-1:00 PM for our Volunteer Appreciation Event. All volunteers will get the EnE Certificate of Appreciation. Qualifying volunteers will also get the Presidential Volunteer Servicer Award (PVSA). For this, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE UP TO DATE ON RECORDING YOUR VOLUNTEERING HOURS WITH US AT: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/14aCCBe74pU2ZQP2gdxXMGD3m0-8tKklzazClDQaB2rA/edit OR, you can record your volunteer hours in a google sheet and share it with us at: empowerandexcel.np@gmail.com. To learn more about hours required to earn PVSA awards in each age group, go to: https://www.presidentialserviceawards.gov/eligibility

If you are few hours short to qualify for PVSA by end of March and would like to catchup on making up for those hours, please let us know. If you have volunteered outside of EnE without our approval, you cannot enter those hours. We do audit each volunteers’ record and we cannot certify for something we did not arrange.

We are extremely happy to inform you that our anonymous generous donor is doing a “Meal to Meal” matching gift up to 150 meals towards AshaJyothi – Shelter for Special Needs Orphan Children in India. If you sponsor one meal, we will get one more meal from our anonymous donor. You are doubling up your contribution in helping to feed special needs children with nutritious food. Please block your dates and help us to make your contribution more impactful. Sign up at: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090948afae2aaaf49-2020.
Our anonymous donor family has been supporting us for past four years so we can fulfill our gaps and profoundly impact the lives of those we serve. We cannot exist without their support. We are honored and privileged to have such donors for EnE.

Our EnE volunteers together logged in 285 hours of volunteering in February 2020!

Important Announcements and Reminders:

• CORONA VIRUS: The health and safety of our volunteers is our topmost priority. Please exercise caution, utmost precautions and due diligence in preventing the spread of contagious respiratory illnesses including common cold and flu.
• Congratulations to Pareeni Shah for getting volunteer of the month recognition. She goes to Allen high school, TX and she has spearheaded a group of girls to start academic tutoring for Bhutan refugee kids in Fort Worth, Texas.
• Photos from our super successful New Year’s Eve Fundraiser Event are available at https://photos.app.goo.gl/3M3iNHvM2FkL4f4Q6
• Please use the following link to shop on Amazon.com: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/47-3656395. When you shop using this link, Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to EnE.
• Stay tuned to EnE’s new website at: https://empowerexcel.org/
• Finally, if you sign up, please show up for your volunteering commitment.

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by: Tanisha Tol

Now for a Sneak Peek into Our February 2020 Activities:

Serving our Community

• Cook and serve at JW House: A big THANK YOU to Ravi, Swapna, Radhika and Rahul for volunteering on Superbowl evening and preparing a scrumptious lovely spread in record time of one hour for families facing medical crisis. These families truly appreciate what you are doing for them and they have been very generous in expressing their gratitude for our volunteers.
• Science Experiments:Our volunteers conducted a very successful science experiment session for kids in their community! It’s wonderful to see them sharing their knowledge and doing great things.
• Sew for Love (https://simplylovetosew.webs.com/sewforlove.htm): Our volunteer helped by sewing different things for people in need. Great Job, Swara!
• Hayward Shoreline Trash Takers: Our volunteers helped collect trash at Hayward shoreline which is a vital part of the San Francisco Bay-Estuary ecosystem! It’s great to see their efforts to make their community cleaner. Keep up the great work, volunteers!
• Alum Rock Party & Trail Crew: Our volunteers helped clean up the parks and maintain a safe trail! Keep up the great work!
• Urban Farms (http://www.taylorstfarm.org/volunteer.html): Our volunteers helped out at a garden to table today. Great job for making a positive difference in the environment!
• Nursery Work at Our City Forest Nursery: Our volunteers helped out at a local nursery with gardening work.

Bonding with Our Special Friends

• Jeena Academics Program (www.jeena.org): Our volunteers spent time with their special needs friends and helped them reading, writing and math and also played some fun games with them. Keep up the great effort!
• Robotics Program (https://education.lego.com/en-us/products/wedo-2-0-core-set-by-lego-education/45300): Volunteers helped special needs children to work on their weekly project.

Sponsorship Opportunities at Shelters

• Meal Sponsorship to SNEHA RIDES, Children Home for Kids affected by HIV etc :Sponsorship opportunities available to feed ~85 abandoned HIV positive children and orphans. Cost: $200 for full day meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner), $80 for just Lunch or Dinner, $40 for breakfast. Sign up at: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090948afae2aaaf49-20201
• Meal Sponsorships to AshaJyothi, Shelter for Special Needs Kids:Sponsorship opportunities available to feed ~70 abandoned special needs children (Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation, Speech & Hearing Impaired, Polio, Down Syndrome etc.). Cost: $200 for full day meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner), $80 for just Lunch or Dinner, $45 for breakfast. Signup at: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090948afae2aaaf49-2020
• Payment Info: For sponsoring at these two centers, you can make payments online at https://empowerexcel.org/donate/ or by mailing the check, payable to ‘Empower and Excel’ at: Empower and Excel, P.O. Box 21555, San Jose, CA, 95151 U. S. A or even by cash. Please note that online transaction fees are charged to E&E, so please include those fees as well. Please do company matching wherever possible. (Tax-id: 47-3656395)
• A BIG Thank You to: Alka Poddar, Ramani Cheruvu, Reeva Randeri, Sonu Kaul, Trisha Garud and our anonymous donor for sponsoring meals at ASHAJYOTHI and to Chitra Chandrasekaran, Manju Tirumala and Prasad Kunigiri for sponsoring meals at SNEHA RIDES during February 2020.