HACSI celebrated its 2018 annual event on December 1,2018 at Chinmaya Somnath, Chantilly, Virginia. A little over 200 guests participated in the program which was filled with superb professional cultural events followed by sumptuous dinner. Important HACSI’s activities were highlighted.

Million meals in DC kitchen

Food for the Needy: For this Flagship program, HACSI and its affiliates work in DC Central Kitchen (DCCK) to prepare-5,000 meals/day on 24 days in a year. About half the meals are served in DCCK's facility which operates from the largest homeless shelter in USA: and the remaining distributed through shelters housing the homeless, battered women and the needy seniors and school children. HACSI and two dozen religious, cultural and social organizations provided more than a million meals in DCCK during 2007- 2017

Helping Hindu Families in Distress: HACSI helps members of the Hindu community who face calamities such as death or protracted illness, and domestic violence. Our volunteers provide food, transportation, and arrange for medical or legal help. So far, HACSI has provided about $50,000 to a dozen families to tide over financial hardships. Government agencies and hospitals have started referring cases needing assistance to HACSI. The need for such services is increasing, and so also our need for funds and volunteer resources.

Rehabilitation of Bhutanese Refugees: From 2009 through 2015, HACSI helped 1,750 Bhutanese Hindu refugees who were resettled in the Washington-Baltimore region. HACSI’s support consisted of: (i) donation of groceries, clothing and utensils to new arrivals; (ii) holding job fairs; (iii) funding driver education and driving permits; (iv) arranging computer education and donating computers; (v) free medical check-ups. Happily, by now, most of the families are well-settled, and HACSI‘s role is limited to providing religious and cultural link.

Free Medical Checkup

Health Fairs and Blood Donation Drives: HACSI, jointly with Sri Siva Vishnu Temple, has been conducting health fairs for the last several years. In addition to a general check-up and specialty consultations, free flu shots, blood sugar testing, dental and eye examinations are done. Since 2017, diagnostic Doppler study to evaluate blood circulation is also being done. Since November 2017, three blood donation drives have been conducted jointly with SSVT and The American Red Cross to motivate Indian community to donate blood.

Dharmic Religions Educational Outreach: To facilitate a balance presentation of Eastern religions, HACSI presented a copy of the PBS documentary “Asian and Abrahamic Religions - A Divine Encounter in America” to 350 high schools in D.C, Maryland and Virginia. It also funded workshops to train social studies teachers nation-wide to use this documentary in their classrooms. HACSI also provided funds to InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan to market its publication: Teaching about religion which discusses the beliefs and practices of all major Faiths. More recently, HACSI has become a significant provider of funds for a project to digitalize Indology books and articles which are out-of-print.

Flood Relief

Disaster Relief: While being conscious that it can only play a limited role Because of its limited financial resources, HACSI nevertheless funded relief activities at times of natural calamities in India and in USA. In 2015-16, it provided $22,000 to victims of Tamil Nadu floods; and $15,000 to victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in 2017. It is, now in 2018, collecting funds to help victims of unprecedented floods in Kerala.

Invitation for December 1, 2018: It is our intention to continue and expand on these activities in the future starting January 2019. To facilitate this, we are seeking financial and volunteer support from a wider group of individuals and corporate entities of our community. We would greatly appreciate your support to achieve our goals,

We invite you to our Annual gathering and Event on Saturday, December 1, 2018 at CHINMAYA SOMNATH, 4350 Blue Spring Drive, Chantilly, Virginia 20151. The Program will start at 5.00 PM and will end at 8.00 PM followed by dinner. It will include presentation on HACSI’s Strategic Plan for the Second Decade and a Cultural Interlude by the young and talented artists from The Sapan Institute. (www.sapanarts.org)