HASC has requested Hindu temples across America to plan their individual seva events anytime between June 22 and September 11, 2009. The seva projects can be in the form of health events, food drives, walk‐a‐thons, etc. Furthermore, HASC has set primarily the August 1stt weekend to have temples hold a focused seva event on health. HASC will facilitate the event with the support of various health organizations including the National Association of Indian Nurses of America
(NAINA), South Asian Total Health Initiative (SATHI) and American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI). “This is the first time that the entire Indian American community is coming together in the spirit of seva (Seva Bhava)” said Anju Bhargava,“thus, making a concerted effort to undertake widespread seva activities in a coordinated fashion in response to the clarion call from President Obama.”

To date, more than 60 Seva Centers have confirmed Health Seva projects for the August 1st weekend. Examples of these include full comprehensive Health Fair with medical screening, testing et al at Sri Siva Vishnu Temple in Maryland; Hindu Society of North‐East Florida; Vedic Cultural Center of Washington; and BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS Charities). There are also Health Awareness programs scheduled across the country at Bharatiya Temple in Detroit; the Hindu Temple of St. Louis; Hindu Temple of Central Indiana; Hindu Temple of Minneapolis; Laxmi Narayan Spiritual Organization in California and Ganesh Temple in New York City. Many, such as the Sai Center in Atlanta, have already held the Health Fair in June and others will schedule it on later dates in August and September. Other projects include assisting Bhutanese refugees (Sewa International) and educational forums on home foreclosures/preservation and stimulus package strategies for survival (NY Temple).

Hindu American Seva Charities (HASC) is a registered not‐for‐profit organization. Its aim as a coalition of Seva Centers within temples, ashrams and service‐based organizations, is to promote the development of social services for our growing community. HASC was developed with the guidance of Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (OFBNP) and is a service partner with Serve America Program (SAP). The seva work carried out by participating temples and organizations will be recognized accordingly. Anju Bhargava is a member of President’s Council on Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.