Charity Worldwide

There is a saying, “Charity begins at home.” No doubt there is an unfathomable need for charity in less materially advantaged countries such as India and the developing world where poverty and disease abound. However, even in the richest and materially most developed nation in the world, poverty, vulnerability, insecurity, homelessness, and unhappiness have not been eradicated. When it comes to caring for others, any contribution and every act of kindness, however small, is truly a gift. Kriya International Centers located throughout the U.S.A. have found many projects to become involved in.

Feeding the Hungry
In Austin, day old bread is collected from a grocery store and delivered to E.A.T. (everybody ate today). Day old left over food is also delivered to homeless people sleeping on the streets, to orphanages and church groups. In Dallas, on one Sunday per month, a group cooks and serves food to underprivileged families, whilst in Kansas City, members provide lunch once a month to the Shalom House, a homeless shelter where people stay until they find some type of work. The Cleveland group serves meals at a women’s shelter and in Fort Wayne, volunteers cook and distribute food to the needy. In Albuquerque, volunteers serve at a local food bank, one of the largest of its kind in the West. New Mexico is one of the poorest states in the U.S., where 1 in 6 residents face hunger at least once a year. The ashram in Florida grows organic food and gives the surplus to the homeless shelter in Homestead, which provides meals to 300 people (100 of the residents are children) in Homestead and 450 in downtown Miami, as well as several other partner organizations in need of produce. Currently only 15% of the homeless shelter's food requirements are met by in-kind donations.

Teaching the Students
In the Kriya Yoga Albuquerque Center, members are involved in a repair project, constructing fencing around a surface aquifer to keep grazing cattle from further damaging the stream banks. It is a multi-year project which will bring back water fowl, wildlife and indigenous plant species back to the region. The project brings together high school students, naturalists, community volunteers, neighbors, and people fulfilling court-mandated community service. All agree the work is physically hard, but all have learned a great deal about the high desert habitat in the process. Also in Albuquerque members are involved in a literacy project for children, and have become mentors to, “at-risk youth” in a state-wide project that is neighborhood and school based.

Some of the centers have been teaching In Dallas, weekly meditation is held at the Children’s Medical Center, bringing peace, love and healing to the children, their families and staff. The group in Milwaukee provides ESL (English as a second language) service (tutoring) to a group of Somalian Bantu refugee families that have recently been transported to the USA and settled in the Milwaukee area through a cooperative arrangement/ agreement between the United Nations and the USA. The aim is to assist the adults in learning to read English and the children in math, science, and other school subjects.

Nursing the Sick
In Austin, a member was publicly honored by the City Council for his dedicated work in counseling and befriending patients within a hospice setting. Volunteers have also been helping in palliative care in hospices in Albuquerque while others in the same city are involved in an organ transplantation awareness program, which aims to improve the quality of life for transplant candidates, recipients, their families, and donor family members. Members also help to increase the awareness of the need for organ tissue donors by staffing the organization’s information booth during the annual State Fair. In Denver, loving care is given to children with disabilities as well as the elderly in nursing homes.

Giving Solace to the Distressed
Transition House in Santa Barbara, California serves homeless families by providing meals, overnight lodging, and a variety of support services. Volunteers help with childcare and homework while parents attend classes, meetings, or group sessions held at the center. A group went to HUG (Humanity United in Giving) in Dallas, Texas to sort through donations for the families who suffered losses from Hurricane Katrina. Similarly, during the hurricane season in Florida, the Kriya Yoga Institute, in collaboration with Hand in Hand USA, raised funds to help the victims of Hurricane Charley. A group of volunteers helped those greatly affected by the disaster by bringing and distributing food, freshly baked ashram bread, water, and other essential supplies to them.

Fundraising
Many of the Kriya Yoga centers have organized fundraising dinners to help support the residential school project for underprivileged children in India. Other centers have organized financial contributions amongst themselves for the charitable work in the U.S. and in India, for which we extend our heartfelt thanks.

Some areas in the Peruvian rainforest are extremely impoverished. Since these areas are cut off from a more centralized administrative process, it is extremely difficult to accommodate the immediate needs of such regions needing urgent, if not critical economic and medical supplies, support and assistance. Iquitos is one of the regions needing assistance. The children suffer from severe malnutrition, worm infestation, and other health concerns. In 2000, Hand in Hand was requested to start a project in collaboration with local doctors and volunteers to provide aid to an underprivileged school and orphanage for girls. Medication, crutches, wheelchairs, orthopedic supplies, and medical aid were shipped and distributed to the orphanage.