Children's Outreach Project
In June 2014, Amma encouraged a local outreach project to address grave concerns for the welfare and future of local children in poverty. The first blossoming of this initiative has taken place! As Amma has always said, when her children work together, nothing is impossible!
M.A. Center, Santa Fe satsang members have been meeting biweekly to develop Amma's Children's Outreach Project, and initiated the process by first identifying the simple and practical needs of the children.
The first project has been to provide brand new school wear for elementary school children with the greatest need. This project is being managed by M.A.Center satsang members who are already professionals at these schools.
The School Uniform Project has been overwhelmingly successful, raising over $6,000. to purchase school uniform clothing including solid color polo shirts and pants, sneakers, underwear, and socks. Dozens of these items have been provided to a school program called Adelante which currently serves over 1000 homeless children throughout the Santa Fe Public Schools.
More school uniform clothing is now being purchased and is going directly to school counselors who distribute clothing to children with identified needs. This is happening in the elementary schools with the highest rates of poverty, some schools reaching up to 90% of the students living in poverty.
Continuing our focus on the quality of life for these wonderful children - Amma's Children's Outreach project is expanding to include Hooked on Books, an award winning literacy program aimed at getting children interested in reading.
Four years ago, students at Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences, in Santa Fe,NM, became quite concerned about the high school drop out rate in their town (50%) and started the award winning, student-led literacy campaign,"Hooked on Books" after visiting India and being inspired by the service work they saw happening there.
Young Amma followers and admirers like Faridah Ndiaye, Lauren Sarkissian, Diego Suarez, Manohari Dineen and Lucas Weiss helped create this outreach campaign which provides free intensive reading help to children who are behind in reading; exciting reading contests and prizes for students of all ages and 14 free public book swap bookshelves in places where low income families often wait with their children (including two detention centers libraries.)
This program was awarded the National Global Call to Action Award by Peace Jam and our students were honored by two Nobel Peace Laureates and Jane Goodall. We are currently hoping to expand to serve even more children. Children who attend our summer "Reading is Magic" camp make, on average, one year's growth in reading! You can learn more about this program by watching this short 6 minute video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgVrRvU0XFI or visit our website: nmallianceforliteracy.org.
Amma's Children's Outreach will continue to expand, embracing the children of Santa Fe and of the state of New Mexico. We are already looking ahead to the specific needs of Native American Pueblo children, our growing numbers of Spanish speaking immigrant children, and to all the children who need and deserve to receive Amma's Divine Grace through projects that will touch and uplift them.
On Behalf of Amma's Children's Outreach Project,
Kusuma, Upasita, Varada, & Amritapriya