Hinduphobia Awareness Discussion With Village of Schaumburg on June 14, 2022
In the past one year, a few groups/individuals are travelling nationally and appearing randomly in many cities' council meetings in the Chicago suburbs just to spread negativity for Hindus.
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS)'s Schaumburg chapter volunteers presented their local community involvement work from last 15 years in the Schaumburg Village Board meeting on June 14, 2022. Such presentation educates attendees to understand the true nature of Hindu Community - "selfless service and sense of civic duty - and help to create positivity in local communities.
"Vasudeva Kutumbakam" means, the whole world is my family and "Sewa" means selfless services are two fundamental principles of Hindu Dharma. Volunteers' families meet every Sunday for 2 hours, to build strong personality and character through various physical and mental activities like yoga, playing team games and interactive discussions. From last 15 years, throughout each year the HSS volunteers conduct events to foster a sense of civic duty, responsibility, and volunteerism to practice these two principles.
The Health for Humanity - Yogathon in January, aims to create awareness about yoga and its advantages in achieving a healthy body, mind, and spirit. HSS Schaumburg chapter is performing this event for the past 12 years and made a positive impact on 10000+ participants from its start.
In April 2021, HSS Schaumburg chapter helped for the township COVID-19 vaccination drive. HSS Schaumburg's 30+ volunteers engaged in township assigned tasks from parking control, registration, queue management, vaccine database entry to achieve township target of 900 vaccinations in a day.
In Oct/Nov 2021, for "Sewa Diwali" program the HSS Schaumburg chapter volunteers have collected 3000 pounds of food items from Hindu community families and donated to Schaumburg Township Food pantry. This contribution helped food panty to meet increased demand during Thanksgiving.
HSS has integrated many programs in a year to foster the commitment of our young volunteers towards community engagement. In Schaumburg Village Adopt-A-Highway program, volunteers have been doing 4 cleanups in a year for the stretch of Schaumburg Road between Springinsguth and Barrington Road.
In the month of March, we participated at Schaumburg's Feed My Starving Children organization by preparing food packages which helps to meet the hunger needs of underprivileged kids globally.
HSS has organized the "Guru Vandana Event" for the past 15 years to facilitate teachers across the United States. In the Schaumburg area, HSS celebrates this Teacher appreciation event in the month of May during which teachers were introduced to the cultural significance of Gurus in Hinduism followed by cultural events. In Hindu culture, teachers are parallel to God status with a very special role in imparting the knowledge and wisdom to students who are the key architects of future nation building. in 2021 alone, about 100 such events were conducted in 73 cities across the United States.
Last August, we had the Rakshabandhan event which has the cultural significance of celebrating brotherhood in our culture. During this event, HSS volunteers visited first responders and civic leaders to express gratitude for protecting our communities and tied Rakhi on their wrist. This way, HSS young volunteers celebrated Universal Oneness Day with pride to reflect harmony in "safety" and "bond" with the first responders.
HSS is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, organized under the laws of the United States for the purpose of education and community service. HSS mission is to bring together the American Hindu society, pass on our Hindu culture to our future generations, and collectively contribute to and serve our local communities in the US.