Namaste,
We successfully conducted a day long Hindu Heritage Family Camp in Wheeling, IL targeting some of the Northwest suburbs in Chicago area. In the below email, forwarding report & pictures of the HHC. Also adding a summary of our preparations towards this camp.
Highlights of the camp preparations -
- Started preparations 8 weeks back (late June) with 5 karyakartas - Vineet ji, Guruprasad ji, Indira ji, Sreevidya and myself - in a baithak
- Targeted suburbs: Arlington Heights, Des Plaines, Wheeling, Buffalo Grove
- Identified strong Hindu pockets within these suburbs - Apartments, Sub Divisions, public places
- Sampark stats:
- Personally reached out to: 160+ families (handed over Fliers)
- Got contact details of 80 families
- 36 families attended the camp
- Out of the total participation, 80% are completely new to HSS
- Almost all the sampark was done 1-on-1: distributed fliers by walking around in apartment complexes, sub divisions...
- 3 Sample Shakhas were conducted in 2 apartment communities to give a glimpse of the HHC and Shakha
- In each Sample Balagokulam, we had separate activities for children and adults. We had warmups, yoga, khel and discussion for adults while children did warmups, suryanamakar, khel, shlokas and story.
- 1st sample shakha had 30 attendees, 2nd sample shakha had 40 attendees, and 3rd sample shakha had 18 attendees
- lot of participation in the HHC came from this.
- Chiraag Hebbar was Vistarak in this area in July and helped in Sampark and sample Balagaokulams.
Take Aways/Next Steps -
- Sample Balagokulams really helped new people understand what Shakha/HHC would be like and helped encourage more people to join in
- Announced starting of a new Shakha at the end of HHC with the venue, date, time. Starting on this Thursdays @ 6:30 PM.
- Developed huge contact base for the new Shakha - these contacts are our pat list for the new Shakha to start with
- In the feedback forms several of the new participants signed up to volunteer in the weekly Shakha
HHC Detailed Report -
"Hindu Heritage Family Camp, NW Suburbs" took place on August 20, 2016 (Saturday) in Wheeling Park District. This camp was conducted for introducing Sangh to new families of NW Suburbs and potentially start a new Shakha.
- It was a day long camp from 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM
- Total 134 participants (12 as Shikshak+Prabandhak) from 36 families participated.
- Participants were divided into 4 Ganas (Ati Shishu (Below 5), Shishu/Bala, Tarun Purush, Mahila) for most of the activities.
- Camp began by lighting Diya and Welcome note.
- Everyone enjoyed a sumptuous lunch; Most of the lunch items came from Karyakartas' houses.
- Special highlight of the camp was when families came together to make their very own murti of Ganesha out of clay
- We ended the day with concluding ceremony and distribution of certificates for children.
- Tarun Gana had following activities:
- Ice-Breakers
- Warm-up & Surya Namaskar
- Pranayam
- Workshop on Shlokas (Gana was divided in 8 teams)
- Discussion on Hindu Identity (Separately for Swayamsevak & Sevika Gana)
- Khel (Separately for Swayamsevak & Sevika Gana)
- Ganesh Murti making (Family-wise)
- HSS Presentation (all participants together)
- Prarthana (all participants together)
- Children had following activities:
- Ice-Breakers
- Warm-up & Surya Namaskar
- Shloka
- Niyuddha
- Video time
- Khel
- Ganesh Murti making (Family-wise)
- HSS Presentation (all participants together)
- Prarthana (all participants together)
- Celebrated Raksha Bandhan before Samarop
- Apart from the key karyakartas who have been involved from the beginning, shikshaks included Sudharshan Dwarakanath from Urbana Champagne, Girish ji Pambhar, and Ma. Shridhar Damle ji from Chicago area.
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