Volunteer (Stipend/Credit) Opportunities

Please direct resume/cover letters and/or inquiries to:

Anju Bhargava - 973-992-5210, anjubhargava@gmail.com

Stipends and/or Academic Credits may be available.

Opportunity is full-time and goes from August 1, 2010 to July 31, 2011.

Hindu American Seva Charities

Three Projects for 2010-2011

1. Project #1: Help establish at least four (4) Seva Centers in the first year:

a) Document concepts of Seva Centers: what services to provide? who will be the beneficiaries? what resources are needed? what staffing/volunteers?

b) Document best practices from the experiences of various organizations who already provide some of the services

c) Identify candidate organizations who could start a Seva center, discuss all aspects with the leaders of the organization, tailor the services to their community needs and resources

d) Plan specific events at central level by HASC and inform, educate, coordinate the activities of Seva centers.

e) Benefits maximization: researching, finding out and communicating to our network what help and support (resources, funding) is available from various government agencies and private foundations for Seva centers (community centers, senior centers) operations.

f) Seva Centers will be open to ALL irrespective of race, religion, nationality

g) Support/facilitate/coordinate communications, e.g., develop a monthly newsletter, quarterly/ annual report, etc; send periodic communication to all (or targeted contacts) in the database.

2. Project #2: Help settle Bhutanese refugees and low income Asian American/Dharmic communities:

a) Identify refugee communities where they need help -- and we have some resources

b) Identify their needs and skills -- and skill gaps, where they need help to get jobs

c) Devise/facilitate training (eg EASL, driving) for unemployed/underemployed refugees

d) Identify and facilitate attending vocational schools to learn new skills (or brush up on skills they already have, but apply in US environment ; eg car repair, bicycle repair, lawn mower repair, …)

e) Identify opportunities for farming, small biz (cooking/catering food for small parties)

f) Co-ordinate job placement with Asian American chamber of commerce, Hotel owners association, etc.

g) Involve/engage them with Hindu American community/temples in the area so they can develop their own networks

h) Make sure/facilitate children attend local schools at age/skill appropriate level (arrange for ESL in the schools, as necessary, with community volunteers)

3. Project #3: Advancing Interfaith and Community Service on College and University. The President promoted interfaith service as one of the Administration’s goals in his speech in Cairo one year ago. The Administration believes that interfaith service can advance concrete projects to serve those in need and foster social cohesion among diverse groups. College campuses have long nurtured diverse community service efforts and have traditionally been viewed as a vanguard
sector for important social movements. Campuses and Technical services infra-structure::

a) Work with student bodies of Dharmic faiths

b) For targeted campuses identify service capacity of Hindu student associations

c) Develop relationship with students/associations to develop seva centers

d) Develop educational material to help students understand faith and interfaith and how to do community service, etc

e) Create/maintain/update out website continually, as needed.

f) Enable website to collect online contributions, names, address, …, send receipts, …

g) Create a detailed database of all Seva organizations) in USA so HASC can track all the Seva activities they perform by type of services, people benefitted, dollars expended, … (There are several hundred temples/organizations in USA that provide Seva/services to local communities) HASC wants to track that. Maintain/update database continually, as needed.

h) Develop criteria to evaluate/assess performance/efficacy of Seva activities of Seva centers and other organizations in the database > to develop best practices.

i) Support/facilitate/coordinate communications, e.g., develop a monthly newsletter, quarterly/ annual report, etc. and send periodic communication to all (or targeted contacts) in the database.

Thank you!

Thanks to everyone who completed the survey. The report is in!

Subha

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http://www.newswise.com/articles/sahna-2010-south-asian-health-needs-assessment-in-the-washington-d-c-region

Newswise — In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, The George Washington University, School of Public Health & Health Services releases "SAHNA 2010: A South Asian Health Needs Assessment of the Washington, D.C. Region". This report is the first study of this magnitude in the Washington, D.C. area to assess the health needs of a growing and diverse minority population.

The Washington, D.C. metropolitan area is the 5th largest city with a South Asian population, yet little attention has been given to better understand and address the health and well-being of this community. Project SAHNA is a collaborative research project at the GW School of Public Health and Health Services, led by faculty, students, and alumni committed to addressing health issues among South Asians in the United States. “SAHNA 2010 provides critical insight into a minority group that has often been neglected and underrepresented in public health research. The findings in this report provide a foundation for future research and programmatic efforts,” said Dr.Vyas, the lead study author.

Project SAHNA recruited 700 adult participants from the Washington, D.C. region for a survey that assessed perceptions of health, sources of health information, health care access and utilization, and health risk behaviors.

May 19 - National Asian and Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

May 19 is the 6th Annual National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. It is a day to break the silence about HIV/AIDS in Asian and Pacific Islander communities and encourage individuals to get tested for HIV.

Click here for more info

Forget this naan-sense — try roti

http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/food/2283582,roti-indian-flatbread-051910.article#

May 19, 2010

BY ANUPY SINGLA

These days, even Target is in the business of selling Indian food. The big-box retailer offers pre-packaged, microwaveable meals such as tikka masala and curried chickpeas. The fine print on the labels suggests serving the meal with naan, “a traditional Indian bread.”

But it’s in this fine print that some Indian food experts say American grocers, retailers and even Indian restaurants are missing the point.

Naan is what most Americans think of as the traditional accompaniment to an Indian meal. And yes, the flaky, buttery bread, served steaming hot out of a clay oven, is delicious and tempting — but it’s not what Indians eat when they sit down to most meals.

“I’m happy that Indian food is becoming mainstream, but that is not really Indian food,” says Madhu Gadia, a registered dietitian and author of The Indian Vegan Kitchen (Perigee Trade, $18.95).

There are dozens of different breads in Indian cuisine, including naan. Some (such as puris) are deep-fried, some (such as stuffed paranthas) are buttered heavily before being cooked on the stovetop, and others are made from unique ingredients (such as chickpea flour and ground lentils).

But as to the most basic, everyday bread in many Indian households, roti — not naan — is it.

Not a ‘showcase’ food

Also referred to as chapati or phulka, roti is an unleavened flatbread made from a simple mixture of whole-wheat flour and water.

It is rolled out by hand in Indian homes until round and thin like a tortilla, and cooked over high heat on a slightly concave iron griddle called a tava until hot steam blows it up into an air-filled ball. It’s served slightly buttered.

Roti is especially popular in parts of northern India, where the wheat used to make it is grown. It often takes the place of rice at the dinner table. Its simple, basic method of preparation may be why it has been overshadowed by naan outside of India.

“Naan is popular because it is a showcase food in restaurants, which often have tandoori ovens in the window,” Gadia says. “It also tastes good like a white bread, versus wheat bread.”

Naan, made from white flour, is leavened with yeast and sometimes yogurt. Some restaurants even add eggs and oil.

For regular naan eaters, the calories can add up. That’s why Gadia, a nutritional and diabetes consultant, cautions that naan should be considered a “sometimes food” among Indian food lovers and, especially, Indian Americans.

But naan is nearly everywhere these days. Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe’s and other grocers sell it. Even Pillsbury has a frozen version. Most do offer a whole-wheat option, but even that comes with a price.

At Whole Foods, one whole-wheat naan has 260 calories and 7 grams of fat. At Trader Joe’s, one piece boasts 240 calories and 3 grams of fat.

In a restaurant, a typical 10-inch naan can contain as many as 500 calories and sometimes up to 20 grams of fat, says Gadia. A 6-inch homemade roti has about 70 calories and no fat, she says.

It’s all about educating the public to the different types of Indian breads, says Robert Whittaker, bakery coordinator for the Midwest region of Whole Foods.

Though roti or chapati are offered at a few Whole Foods stores in the area, some, including the newest flagship in Lincoln Park, discontinued it and replaced it with their hot seller — naan.

“We were selling a couple cases a day of [naan], and the other stuff, maybe three or four [packages] a day, if that,” Whittaker says.

Kids catch on

Educating the public was the main selling point of my first roti-rolling class at the Kids’ Table, a children’s cooking school at 2337 W. North.

On a recent Saturday, 11 parent-child teams gathered to learn the art of making healthy, homemade Indian flatbread in just a few easy steps, the way my mother taught me and my grandmother taught her.

About half the class were parents of Indian backgrounds who grew up in the United States and never focused on learning how to cook all the amazing dishes that seemed to magically appear on the dinner table.

They say the alternative — eating out — has taken its toll.

“We had fresh chapatis and rotis growing up,” says Trupti Gokani, a neurologist who grew up in Glen Ellyn. She remembers naan being a luxury, not the norm it is today.

Gokani and her husband watched their two young kids, 7 and almost 5, roll out their own spinach-filled rotis and eat them with pride.

“My daughter gobbled them up. It made me feel so good that it was fresh food, that she put it together and then ate it,” Gokani says.

Now if the everyone else would just catch on.

Anupy Singla is a Chicago free-lance writer and author of the blog indianasapplepie.com.

Chicago Play focuses on India-US health & ethics

Opening night is February 23.

Location: I 3408 N. Sheffield Ave., Chicago, 60657.

http://www.stagelefttheatre.com/

“Zach and Abbie are an American couple desperate to have a child. Beena is a 19 year old Indian woman struggling to escape an abusive relationship and provide for her son. When financial concerns convince Abbie to hire a surrogate in India, the two women’s lives become tangled with surprising and dangerous consequences. Here where it’s safe is a new play by award-winning playwright and Stage Left Theatre Ensemble member M.E.H. Lewis (Burying the Bones, andFellow Travellers) that asks what comes of the choices we make and what happens when we run out of choices.”

Smoking Rates Dropping??

According to a recent article in the New York Times, smoking rates have dropped in Massachusetts. Interestingly enough, according the study, smoking rates have dropped from 38% to 28% amongst poor MA residents - - equivalent to approximately 300,000 residents in two-and-half years!

The Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program in MA provided Medicaid recipients from ages 18-64 antismoking drugs such as Chantix and bupropion for 180 days and 16 counseling sessions per year. Co-payments did not exceed $3.

Due to the success of this program, other states are thinking of following!

A great example of the 'gold standard'.

Read More.

CHAI & NAMI offer FREE Family-to-Family Educational Classes

CHAI is collaborating with the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) to offer a FREE Family-to-Family educational program, understanding about mental illness and learning from other family members how to support a loved one coping with a mental illness. The class will will be co-facilitated by CHAI Board member, Asma Shaikh-Stewart.

The sessions will be held in Columbia, MD and will be
held January 7th-March 25th 2010; 7pm-9:30pm.
Call (410) 772-9300 and see attached flier for more details or go to
www.chaicounselors.org for more information