Fw: Brief Update – Hurricane Ian Relief Efforts

Loving Sairams Dear Sai Family members,

As you are aware, the west coast of Florida took the brunt of the hurricane on October 5th.  Hurricane Ian with Cat 4 intensity literally changed the landscape of Ft. Myers Beach and barrier islands nearby leaving many homeless..  

By Grace of Swami, we are happy to inform you all that all of our members in Ft. Myers, Sarosota – Bradenton, Clearwater and Tampa areas are safe.  On behalf of the SSSGC – USA, I extend sincere appreciation to the SSSGC members of Ft. Myers Group.  As soon as the conditions allowed, the dedicated loving soldiers of Swami got into action tending to the immediate needs of the community.   They served sandwiches, warm meals, water, first aid supplies and more to several hundreds in the last one week.  

Although there has been notable improvement in the area with electricity, water, sewer, and internet restored, there are still many pockets of the community that need help.  Taking the current needs and ground realities into consideration, the SSSGC team devised a multi-phase service activity to help provide much needed relief to the victims of the storm.  

As part of the first phase, the SSSGC will take-up a food and hygiene supplies drive to help support the efforts of the Sai members of Ft. Myres and Centres near-by.   This relief effort will be led by the Region 3 Service Coordinator, Br. Abhay Mohan (service.region3@SSSGC-USA.org) as a regional initiative.  

The later phases of the relief efforts, with Swami's Grace, will be longer term and require participation from all Regions and Centers of the USA.  In addition to the supply drives, these relief efforts will focus on restoration, rehabilitation and possibly adoption of a few affected families until they can stand-up on their own.

All USA members who wish to participate by donating voluntarily to the SSSGCF (Sri Sathya Sai Global Council Foundation) may do so by specifying the purpose of their donation, “Hurricane Ian Relief”.  For more details, please contact me or our National Service Coordinator, Br. Giridhar Jeedigunta, at service@SSSGC-USA.org.

Finally,, please continue to pray for the Grace of Swami on the victims of the hurricane.  May Swami bless the volunteers with strength and ability in their efforts to serve the communities in need.

Thank you.

Loving Sairams,