Om Sharavanabhava
Homelessness is a large concern in London, with the number of people sleeping on the streets rising exponentially every year. With this in mind, to honour Swami’s birthday the youth wing wanted to aid those who are homeless, as they are often some of the most vulnerable and marginalised people in our society.
Swami often says, Annadhanam (distributing food) is one of the most highest forms of seva hence we decided to participate in a feeding programme for the homeless. We chose to volunteer with a charity called, AMURT UK, a grassroots community development and disaster relief organisation, who work with local communities to help alleviate their immediate suffering and relieve poverty.
From the beginning of November for four consecutive Thursday’s, members of the youth volunteered with this charity to both help cook and distribute food for the homeless. A team of youth members would arrive in the afternoon at AMURT’s base to help assist members of the AMURT organisation to prepare and cook a delicious meal of vegetable curry and rice accompanied with a fresh salad.
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| Youth members helping to prepare food |
Later in the evening, another cohort of volunteers would arrive at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, in Central London to assist the charity to serve the food. A queue of homeless people often will be waiting for the food to arrive, with some people having walked long distances to have a hot meal. When serving the food, we were able to witness and appreciate by listening to these people how this one meal makes a world of difference to their lives and without it they would have slept hungry in the cold.
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| Youth members serving food |
Participating in the programme was a truly rewarding and eye-opening experience, allowing us to acknowledge the difference one meal can make and recognise how many of us often take food for granted in today’s day and age. We would like to show our gratitude to AMURT UK for welcoming us with open arms to participate in their incredible, charitable homeless feeding programme. We are eager to work with them again in the future.
Om Sharavanabhava
