Will you be my Valentine?

Last year in 2008 Amma requested AYUDH youth to contemplate this question, "Our whole life we have been taking and receiving from the world, now we must ask ourselves: what can we give back?" Since then AYUDH members have been trying to answer the question.

This month's theme on AYUDH's calendar of change was about spreading Amma's message of universal Love. AYUDH Americas tried to honor this in more ways than one.

For Valentines Day 2009, AYUDH members banded together to make and sell traditional Valentines Day cards with a special twist. Using recycled cards as a base, members cut, pasted, glued and painted hand-made Valentines with Amma's message "May the tree of our life be firmly rooted in the soil of Love... and may Peace be its fruit" printed inside.

Instead of the usual sugar candy heart, or box of chocolates, AYUDH members included with the cards something much more Alive. For a donation of $20, devotees could sponsor a tree to be planted in someone's name as part of Amma's Orchard Expansion project at the MA Center.

Devotees received their card and homemade cookie on Valentines Day which was also the MA Center's 20th Anniversary, all in all AYUDH managed to have over 100

trees sponsored for the orchard expansion project!!

On the 14th, AYUDH members also trekked the muddy hills of the MA Center and helped to planted almost 200 apple trees, many of which had been sponsored by the Valentines project.

May Amma's words come true, that Love becomes the basis of our lives.

Knitting for the homeless

Namah Shivaya,

KnitWits is an organization driven by volunteers which provides warm clothing to men, women and children with HIV/AIDS, Hmong and Somali refugee children, South Asian women touched by violence, poverty-stricken families, and many others who cannot afford warm clothing in this season throughout the US. They provide fleece and yarn to volunteers who can then sew together mitten-shaped cut outs.



We took up the project in the Michigan Amma center as a youth project but soon many members from the ashram actively joined. With over 18 participants, we had a great time sitting as a group and doing something to help the community! We spent the time together sharing stories of our experiences with Amma and other projects we could do. For many of us, this was the first the first experience sewing and knitting so it was also a learning experience. We made and decorated a total of 16 pairs of toddler-sized mittens.

January Soup Kitchen event

On Saturday January 17th AYUDH members helped serve a morning meal to diners at the Saint Vincent de Paul Society's soup kitchen in Oakland . We arrived around 9:30 in the morning and were greeted by the smiley volunteer organizer who took us to a side room where we were shown a short, but inspiring video highlighting the importance of service and featuring the lives of a few of the regular diners. The video was a nice introduction and helped us to feel personally connected to the people we were serving. After the video, we helped set up by counting plates, carrying food, moving ice, filling a big thermos with water, etc. The workers at the soup kitchen then lead all the volunteers in a short prayer service. We then assumed our serving stations and the diners began to arrive.

Most of us were in the family room where woman, children, and men who were involved in some way with the women (husbands, boyfriends, etc) ate. One or two of us were in a more crowded room designated for single men. Some of the members of our team served the food onto trays, others cleaned the tables after the diners finished, and one of us was at the door controlling how many diners came in at a time. All of the guests we served were very friendly and enjoyed chatting and joking with us as they ate. One woman that seemed to be a regular at Saint Vincent de Paul's gave us helpful instructions us on the procedures we weren't familiar with at the soup kitchen. The atmosphere was very open and the diners were cheerful and talkative. Even though they are coping with the effects of poverty, many of the diners took the time to show their gratitude for what they were given. It was very moving to see. In addition, all of the staff at the soup kitchen were very kind and gave good, clear directions. The soup kitchen was very large and there were a number of groups volunteering there that day. We were also able to chat and make friends with the other volunteers, many of whom were high school students from surrounding areas.

We finished serving around 1 pm and after a short clean-up we were done with a fun day of service!

Just Listen

Hello AYUDH recipient,

I am writing you from the library here in Grass Valley. Since this month's message is about LOVE I would like to share a quick story that just happened to me.

I was waiting outside for the library to open when a gruff looking man came out of the bank next to the library singing "the wheel in the sky keeps on turning" really loud. He is the kind of person that most people would likely turn away from, laugh at, or ignore completely. He proceeded to show me a picture that he was drawing with much pride and told me that the bank was going to let him hang it on the wall when he was finished. At this moment I felt love in my heart for this man. I continued to listen to his story about how he quit drinking at the beginning of the month, and how his baby granddaughter was just born on superbowl sunday, and how he has so much to live for. I listened to him when he began to cry as he told me that he knows god loves him even though he has done so many terrible things. I saw hope in his eyes when he talked about his drawings, and so much love when he spoke of his family.I didn't say much throughout this long discussion, but I knew that I helped just by being there and reflecting the love and hope and sadness that he was expressing.
I could have walked away when he started talking. I could have just kept walking to do the "very important" things that I was going to do. But what is more important lending an ear to someone in need, spontaneously on the street? I cant think of anything. It was a great gift.

Power to Love!
Peace to AYUDH.
Om Namah Shivaya,
Leah