Home Cooked Meals Program (2022 – 2024)

India occupies the largest undernourished population in the world. To fight and prevent malnutrition and hunger, the Help Empower team started a chapter of the Youth Ambassador Program in Mumbai, India in June 2022. We recruited a team of local volunteers to distribute healthy home-cooked meals every weekend to children living in the urban slums of Mumbai.

The team cooked and distributed healthy nutritious meals to over 150 children in Mumbai slums during the summer from June – Aug 2022 and is continuing the same each month.

Back-to-School Program (2022 – 2023)

We distributed books, stationary, and other school supplies to over 500 underprivileged students studying in Manekji Gajshar Municipal School, Mumbai, Radhadevi Goenka Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Akola, India, and Girls, Inc. in Worcester, MA. Our drives have helped female students living in disadvantaged communities go back to school with confidence and strength for the new year.

Holiday Book Drive for Girls, Inc. (2022 – 2024)

Over the holiday season, we teamed up with Girls Inc. to help provide books for their annual Stocking Up For Books Party. Through their projects, they work to encourage girls to be strong, smart, and bold and discover these strengths through the work of literacy and education.

American India Foundation – Light a Lamp Campaign (2015 – 2024)

AIF is a non-profit organization helping underprivileged and underserved communities in India. AIF has raised more than $118 million and impacted about 5.6 million lives from across 24 states of India( www.aif.org ).

Sanah and Sanya have been supporting and creating awareness for the Learning and Migration Program (LAMP) campaign for underprivileged children’s education since 2015 as AIF Youth Ambassadors

Some LAMP Programs and initiatives:

  • Supporting Adolescent Girls
  • Promoting STEM Education in Learning Resource Centers
  • Nurturing Tribal Children
  • Running Seasonal Hostels
 
Completed multiple fundraisers helping raise over $15,000 which provided education and educational enrichment STEM programs to over 600 children of migrant workers in India.
 
The sisters raised over $2600 in the recent (2023-2024) AIF Light a Lamp Fundraiser –  https://my.aif.org/fundraiser/5100015 
 

As Captains/Team Leaders for the AIF New England Chapter 2021-2022 Light a Lamp Campaign, their team raised $5861.

Their second fundraiser completed in ( 2017-2018 )and they raised $4265 – https://my.aif.org/sanyasanah 

Their first fundraiser raised over $3,200 for the Light a Lamp Campaign (2014-2015) 

Sanya and Sanah also volunteer every year for the New England AIF Gala in Boston which raises nearly a million dollars each year to support philanthropic programs in India.

Every summer the girls have been visiting and creating awareness for the different work done at the AIF ABLE sites in India – like the National Association of the Blind, Deeds Catering Institute, ICICI foundation etc.

Help Educate during Covid-19 & Beyond (2020 – 2024)

The recent coronavirus outbreak has created a lot of uncertainties and disrupted education with school closures for several children nationwide. With schools going online it has become a challenge for parents to multitask with their work and manage their child’s learning. This initiative helps students whose parents are essential workers and those facing hardships during covid-19. This program helps students with their school homework, provides enrichment in a particular subject area they are interested in or just some social interaction outside their home. Currently there are over 28 High School student volunteers who have signed up with the program to provide free tutoring to elementary and middle school children.

Please email sanyasanahgoenka@gmail.com to sign up for free lessons or to volunteer your services to the program.

www.hometownweekly.com/sisters-announce-pandemic-initiatives

www.lokvani.com/lokvani/article

Help Educate partners with Girls Inc. Worcester, MA to provide free remote tutoring services to girls in Greater Worcester area.

After 100 years, Girls Inc. of Worcester continues to inspire all girls to be strong (healthy), smart (educated), and bold (independent).  Girls Inc. provides more than 1,000 girls in Greater Worcester with life-changing experiences and real solutions to the unique challenges girls face.  By offering researched-based programming, girls learn to set and achieve goals, overcome obstacles, resist peer pressure, see college as attainable, and explore nontraditional fields such as STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).  

Book Drive for Biden-Harris Presidential Inaugural Committee National Day of Service ( 2021 )

Help Empower is participating in the Biden-Harris Presidential Inaugural Committee’s National Day of Service ( https://bideninaugural.org/day-of-service/) with a Book Drive for underprivileged children in the Boston area. Accepting engaging and culturally diverse books ( new or gently used ) appropriate for children ages 8-12years.

Help Empower – Book Drive for Children · Presidential Inaugural Committee (mobilize.us)

Help Empower – Book Drive for Children · Presidential Inaugural Committee (mobilize.us)

Food Drive for Centre St. Pantry

The Centre St. Food Pantry in Newton, MA ( www.centrestfoodpantry.org ) works tirelessly  to end hunger and provides households that need help with pre-packed grocery bags of shelf stable food for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Families with children receive an additional “Kids Club” bag of food that includes mini-milk boxes, granola bars, peanut butter, jam, canned tuna and snacks.

This all adds up to about 7,500 pounds of food packed into 500 bags every time the pantry opens!

They are now providing groceries to over 700 families a month. The demand is even higher now as several families are struggling due to COVID.

Our team of Youth Ambassadors and volunteers at Help Empower came together during the holiday season to organize a Kids Food Drive and donated several bags full of treats to the Centre St. Food Pantry.

Making Inspirational Note Cards for Women’s Lunch Place in Boston

About Women’s Lunch Place (https://womenslunchplace.org): WLP welcomes about 250 women each day, most of whom have experienced trauma, abuse, and loss without judgement or requirements for assistance. They provide free meals, medical care, basic necessities, advocates and services to women in crisis suffering from domestic violence, mental illness, addiction or stress of being homeless. Last year they served 104,715 meals to over 1500 women.

COVID has resulted in shifting the WLP meals to take out. All of their services have switched to an outreach model. WLP now passes out meal bags to their guests during COVID. They are always looking for encouraging messages or cards of inspiration to include in these bags to brighten their days.

Our team of Youth Ambassadors and volunteers (mainly 7th and 8th graders) at Help Empower came together and made cards with positive messages, quotes, and poems. WLP is including these cards in the bagged meals as an extra layer of support as many of their guests are experiencing the loneliness of social distancing and are missing the support offered by the usual communal gatherings in the WLP shelter. 

Help Thank our Healthcare Heroes Campaign for COVID-19 (2020)

We are currently fundraising to thank healthcare workers on the frontline by donating meals to Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston Children’s Hospital and workers at other local hospitals. Our medical workers are working tirelessly and putting their own health at risk while taking care of covid infected patients. During this time local restaurants are also suffering from layoffs and closures due to the lockdown. Several local restaurants are willing to provide delicious meals to healthcare workers at the above hospitals for just $10.

Raised over $2800 to provide 250 meals to Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, MA.

Any donation big or small is greatly appreciated! 

You can contribute through this MightyCause page: visit https://mtyc.co/hlebvf to support.

Youth Ambassador Projects

Our Youth Ambassador Mentorship Program & Projects:

Food Drive for Centre St. Pantry
The Centre St. Food Pantry in Newton, MA ( www.centrestfoodpantry.org ) works tirelessly  to end hunger and provides households that need help with pre-packed grocery bags of…
Making Inspirational Note Cards for Women's Lunch Place in Boston
About Women’s Lunch Place (https://womenslunchplace.org): WLP welcomes about 250 women each day, most of whom have experienced trauma, abuse, and…