Check Out Team Sai Aashraya’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Team Sai Aashraya

Hi Team , so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
GENESIS:
In 2017, Sai Prasad, the visionary Founder of Sai Aashraya, set foot in the United States, and since then, he and his Co-founder wife, Sarika, traversed the nation, delivering powerful lectures from the west to the east coast. These captivating talks, centred on the principles of ‘Love for Humanity’ and the transformative philosophy of ‘Ceiling on Desires,’ provide a potent antidote to the world’s woes stemming from greed and apathy.

Infused with personal stories of encounters with Syrian and Sudanese children, the couple’s lectures resonate as a testament to the unifying and healing power of love. They passionately share the inspiring journey of Sai Aashraya, evolving from a modest group of volunteers to a force creating a profound impact in India.

Their call to action goes beyond financial contributions, urging communities to make a difference locally. This call led to the initiation of serving hot, fresh oatmeal to the homeless in the forgotten camps under highway bridges and footpaths in Oakland. Witnessing the dire conditions, Sai Aashraya took a bold step, committing not only to provide a healthy breakfast but also to empower individuals towards self-sustainability.

This compassionate spark ignited a movement, inspiring many Americans to join Sai’s mission of selfless service. The inception of the Oakland Breakfast Seva Project in November 2018 marked the beginning of a transformative journey, sowing the seeds of positive change in the heart of the Bay Area.”

WHAT WE DO:
Every day, our dedicated volunteers at Sai Aashraya serve hot, fresh oatmeal and coffee, made at home, accompanied by fresh fruits, juice, and water, to over 300 individuals living in slums and encampments near 24th and MLK in Oakland, Downtown Dallas, and San Francisco. More than a meal, it’s an expression of love.

Beyond Food & Nutrition, our volunteers take the time to sit and talk, offering a listening ear and letting them know they are cared for. Sai Aashraya goes a step further by addressing the medical needs of these communities, providing counselling, arranging hospital visits, and celebrating birthdays and festivals with the homeless.

Our mission extends beyond immediate relief. We aim to empower individuals for sustainable living. We assist in obtaining social security cards, registering individuals in tiny homes, shelters, and county-provided housing programs for low/no income. We work closely with the authorities to provide housing solutions, including tough sheds and shelters, striving to transition people into stable, safe living conditions.

Collaborating with Bay Area organizations, government entities, and private staffing agencies, we offer career-building training, secure stable jobs, and facilitate access to essential resources. Beyond these initiatives, we maintain a constant presence in Oakland, offering fresh healthy lunches on weekends and reaching out to low-income and homeless communities.

At Sai Aashraya, our commitment is not just about providing assistance; it’s about fostering dignity, empowerment, and lasting change in the lives of those we serve.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Smoothness or hurdles/struggles depend on where you are seeing the road from. From a 10,000 feet level, all bumps are just equal. When our hands are in the society and love is in our hearts, and we do service, the universe comes together to support us. For every challenge, the team figures out a way to solve it.

We consider the struggles of our brothers and sisters as our own struggles.
Our major challenge is to motivate the unhoused and help them live a self sustaining life. It takes us several tries to convince our Brothers and Sisters on the streets, on what is good for them. After several conversations, we would setup time to take a brother/sister for an interview and they would not show up. When we knock on their tent, they would say, how about another time. However after seeing such hurdles, when we finally see the brother or sister go out of the street, and find a home and live a good life, and call us for a dinner at their home, our heart is filled with love and gratitude for the opportunity we got to connect with such an uplifting person.

Our heart truly breaks, when we see our brother or sister takes up drugs and get into mental health challenges. Someone whom we would be working with for several months, would one day show signs of mental health challenge and our hopes of having them live in their own legs would get shattered. Our only wish is that we would be able to meet them much ahead, before they get into drugs.

One support we would love to get from the readers is, if you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, and would love to do Selfless service, please joins us. We are looking for more volunteers to serve especially in San Francisco. When more like-minded people, including employees from companies in San Francisco or Oakland, can partner with us, we can support more to get out of homelessness and live a self sustainable life.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Team Sai Aashraya volunteers live in the Bay Area and are employed in several Bay Area Silicon Valley companies, from being a Program Manager, to Software Engineer to Software Architects, to Network Engineers and more.

In spite of any meeting in the morning on a working day, when it would be our turn to serve breakfast, the team has a way to figure out how to NOT miss out on the Breakfast service. Even if there are vacations planned, the team works as One Team working to fulfill the One Dream that all of us have – to realize our True Nature and that we all are one.

Since 2018 December when the team first started its Breakfast Seva to serve in the streets of Oakland, we are so proud to say that, not one day of Breakfast has been missed for more than 6 years now.

Our efforts are to figure out what brings us all together, as one humanity, and not what sets us apart.

As Sai Prasad, our founder reminds us,

There is only one caste, the caste of humanity.
There is only one religion, the religion of love.
There is only one language, the language of the heart”.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
The credit truly goes to Sai Prasad, the founder of Sai Aashraya, who taught us how to serve, and showed us Love in Action. And to see everyone as our own Brother and Sister. His inspiring talks and conversations with him on how they serve for the underserved in India, is what brought several of us together. The service here in the US was initiated mainly by him.

More details about him are in this blog post written by him:
https://www.indiaspora.org/blog/journey-of-a-heart-sai-aashraya

Or listen to his Video podcast here, as he takes us on a heartfelt journey through Sai Aashraya’s Mission of Love & Service: https://youtu.be/n-DZV51d0Jg?si=BwEmy8vz7B-7aHU1

Contact Info:

• Website: https://saiaashraya.org/usa-service-projects
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SaiAashrayaOfficial
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-DZV51d0Jg