Seva Projects in USA
Sai Prasad came to The United States for the first time in 2017 and since then, Sai has travelled the lengths of this large country giving series of lectures from west coast to east coast in various organizations, corporations and communities. His talks are focused on the principle of "Love for Humanity" while propagating the philosophy of "Ceiling on Desires" that serves as the answer to current world's problems that stem from greediness and utter nonchalance of people over the suffering of their surroundings. Sai's lectures are filled with his experiences of encounters with Syrian kids, Sudanese children and leaves a lasting impact with the audience about how Love unites people and heals even the toughest of wounds. He also shares about how Sai Aashraya grew from a small group of volunteers to its current state, and how they are creating such a huge impact in India. This has inspired scores of The United States citizens to plunge into selfless activities. Many volunteers joined Sai in his mission to serve and Sai started the first Oakland Breakfast Service Project in Bay Area in Nov-2018. Since then, Sai Aashraya has touched thousands of people in The United States, and by Sai's lectures and Sai Aashraya USA team's service activities several homeless and underprivileged peoples lives have been transformed.
The Story
"The service of man is the only means by which you can serve GOD."
As Sai travelled from the Silicon valley of India (Bangalore) to the America's Silicon valley (Bay Area), he observed that the problems of humanity remained the same. In fact, its much more magnified in the Bay area due to the difference in wealth and quality of life in the United States. While one section of people live in mansions and travel in Tesla's, there is an ever growing homeless population right under the highway bridges. Based on guidance from Sai, a group of Sai Aashraya volunteers started serving Hot and Fresh Oatmeal to the slum the dwellers and in encampments living near the 24th and MLK in Oakland. This street has several dozens of camps that are forgotten and dilapidated. People eat frozen and packaged food, if at all they get, and they sleep in the streets and camps and tensions are always on the high. Sai Aashraya volunteers apart from serving everyday meal, sit and talk to dwellers showing them that they are there to care for them and they can be approached for any help needed. Sai Aashraya takes care of the medical needs of these people, counseling them and taking them to hospitals. Sai Aashraya also celebrates birthdays and festivals with these homeless population and periodically provide them with clothing, toiletries, hygiene kits, potable water, bedding and other essentials.
One of the main missions of Sai Aashraya is to make people empowered, and enable them to have a self sustainable living. To achieve this Sai Aashraya collaborates with various Bay Area organizations including government entities like WJORC, Contra Costa County, Alameda County, and many more to provide career building trainings and work with private staffing agencies to provide stable jobs with benefits to people. Through such collaboration Sai Aashraya has been instrumental in giving homeless people full time jobs in organizations like USPS, Amazon, Tesla, GoodEggs and several other companies. Sai Aashraya works closely with the needy people by providing free job trainings, creating resumes and applying for jobs.
Sai Aashraya also works with the county to provide free housing in tough sheds, shelters and work to provide other housing assistance to get them into stability and safety. Apart from these activities Sai Aashraya is in constant touch with the Oakland people by providing fresh healthy lunches on the several weekends and by outreaching to the low income and homeless communities of Oakland.
What we do
Since beginning in Dec-2018, several thousands of breakfast have been served by volunteers of Sai Aashraya in Bay area, California. Going everyday and meeting the people at the encampments providing them hot fresh breakfast makes them open up and talk freely about their problems to the volunteers. This helps in understanding their real situation and needs so the right help can be provided. Due to this, the Sai Aashraya volunteers are popularly christened as the OATMEAL GUYS as the homeless people are woken up every morning with hot tasty oatmeal.
Sai Aashraya helps by applying for social security cards, registering people in tiny homes, shelters and other county provided housing for low/no income program. Volunteers also help in applying for jobs, preparing resume, coordinating with staffing organizations and training programs. Sai Aashraya has helped several homeless people to be TAKEN OUT OF HOMELESSNESS PERMANENTLY through jobs and housing. Amazon, Tesla, USPS, Goodeggs are some of the companies where we have successfully placed our homeless and needy friends. Most importantly, several people are taken care on a daily basis not just by providing food and medicines, but just by spending time and making them feel loved, a therapeutic care is provided and several have shown signs of reduced drug consumption. Counselling and relieving of stress have made a greater bond between Sai Aashraya volunteers and the people served. Sai Aashraya is recognized in this community and is invited to setup tents during the county job fairs to collect registrants for jobs and housing. There are many experiences and stories that has impacted not just the lives of the needy but also the lives of volunteers who come together as family and serve selflessly creating a beautiful bond among their family as they follow the principle of ceiling on desires and carry out these loving services.
To learn more about how Ceiling on Desires, the core principle based on which all of Sai Aashraya's Seva Projects are carried out, lead to the start of the Seva projects in the USA, please do watch this video: -
Impact
Current Jobs
We work with several Bay Area staffing organization and help in placing people in need for jobs. There are several jobs that are actively open in several leading companies in Bay Area. Most notable job categories are as follows,
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Chef / Sous chef, Restaurant manager, Server
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Assembly Technician / Manufacturing Support
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Warehouse / Material Handler / Fork Lifter / Equipment handler
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Clerk / Manager /Book Keeping
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Programmer / Software Engineer
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Electrician / Plumber / Security
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Senior Support Living assistance
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Office Administrator / Office Assitant
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Packager / Mail Sorter and many more...
Different jobs have different requirements from the employer. All of them will require the applicant to have ID, social and there will be a background check done by the employer. Even if you have done prison time or taken drugs in the past, many employers have openings that still hire for certain jobs that you may be applicable for. Salary varies based on the job the applicant is chosen for and most of the employers provide medical and other benefits too.
If you are interested please contact us at OatmealGuys@gmail.com
Feel free to text or call us (510) 686-3330 and leave a message for us to get back to you. We will help you in preparing your resume/job application, applying for ID, housing support and any other ways by which you will be able to apply/pass the interview and get the job, thereby improve your current living conditions.
You can join our Whatsapp broadcast group by clicking here
We keep updating this group with latest information on where we are serving breakfast, what jobs we are actively hiring for and other critical information.
Our volunteers doing Manicure and general grooming
Celebrating their birthdays with their neighbors and our volunteers
Under the bridge is a preferred spot for putting up tents as it will shield people from rains and extreme weather
Our volunteers doing Manicure and general grooming
Experiences
Duane
The oatmeal guys are extremely friendly and show so much care to us by feeding us everyday and taking care of our essentials. Just talking lovingly to us is very therapeutic as no one really cares for people living on the streets. People don't talk to us at all and they treat us very badly, even if people give food they throw it on the streets as if we are animals. Oatmeal guys are so loving and treat us like equals showering so much love. They provide us warm clothing, tents and sleeping bags, we are so overwhelmed by their love.
Video Testimonials