MA Center Chicago ABK Donation Drive Helps Area Shelter

Amma says, “Lending a helping hand to a neglected soul, feeding the hungry, giving a compassionate smile to the sad and dejected - this is the real language of religion.”

The Amrita Bala Kendra (ABK) program at MA Center Chicago officially turned 10 this year on January 31, 2019. Since ABK is structured to teach spiritual values to children through the application of Amma's teachings, we decided to celebrate this milestone anniversary with a donation drive to benefit Hesed House, a local shelter. Hesed House serves as a comprehensive homelessness resource center to hundreds of individuals, families, and children in our area. Of special significance to our ABK children, the shelter provides a safe place to sleep and warm meals for over a hundred homeless children every year.

In the weeks leading up to the tenth anniversary of our ABK program, dozens of donations were collected at MA Center Chicago for Hesed House, with a goal of providing urgently needed items. These donations included everything from necessities such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, reading glasses, and food, to Chicago winter weather staples like cough/cold medicine, hand warmers, cough drops, and tissues. With no home to call their own, the individuals, families, and children served by the shelter have many needs that can only be met through the kindness of others. Fortunately, MA Center Chicago satsang members responded to these needs with tremendous enthusiasm, donating generously to support the needy in our area. 

We all feel closer to Amma when we are putting Amma's teachings into action, and so it was with much joy that our ABK students gathered on February 2, 2019, to pack dozens of bags full of donated items so that they could be delivered to the shelter. MA Center Chicago ABK gratefully acknowledges the generosity of the MA Center Chicago satsang members who contributed to the success of the donation drive. As a result of our collective efforts, we were able to deliver 100 bags full of much needed items in the name of Amma's Embracing the World charity to a deserving shelter in our area. Shelter staff were deeply touched by the generosity of our ABK students and MA Center Chicago.