WELCOME TO SAYVA
Northern VA, MD, DC
SAYVA TEENS: 8th - 12th Grade
JUNIOR SAYVA: 3rd - 7th Grade
Learn more about SAYVA from our Executive Team
SAYVA'S MISSION
Service. Awareness. Leadership.
With small, and sometimes large, acts of kindness, everyone can make a difference!
WHAT IS SAYVA?
South Asian Youth Volunteer Association
(residing in VA, MD & DC )
SAYVA is a nonprofit, community service organization (501 c3) founded and led by teens serving others in the community to make a difference. "Seva" is a Sanskrit word meaning to serve selflessly and with dedication. SAYVA teens & ambassadors make a difference in their community through service and advocacy.
Cofounded in 2011 by former director Sumedha Mongia, MD.
UPCOMING EVENTS
summer:
Ambassador Applications Now Open: Deadline to apply July 31st
Sponsorships Now Open: Our Fundraising Director will be reaching out to you this month with Sponsorship opportunities for families and businesses. Deadline July 31st.
Website Updates: Our Website Director will be updating our website. Please be patient while we do this.
Communications: Our Communications Director will be in touch with all members about upcoming events and applications.
PVSA: President's Volunteer Service Award Hours due by July 31st. Any additional hours for August can be submitted by August 31st.
2024-2025:
All 2024 dates are now confirmed!
AUGUST 15 (6:45-8PM): Party Project @NCCF, Bethesda, MD
SEPTEMBER 8 (3-5PM): SAYVA Launch Event @ Mclean Holy Transfiguration Church (Community Hall and Outdoor Back Space). Mezeh catering!
OCTOBER 13: Walk for Breast Cancer @ Old Angler's Inn, Potomac, MD
NOVEMBER 7 (6-7 PM): Senior Friends Bollywood dancing
NOVEMBER 16 (4:30-9:30PM): Diwali Mock Wedding @ Lakewood Country Club, Rockville, MD
DECEMBER 8 (4-7 PM): SAYVA Holiday Party (w/ Cookie Making & Gift Wrapping) @ McLean Firehouse, McLean, VA
JANUARY 9 (6-7 PM): Senior Friends Indian food tasting
JANUARY 2025: Game night
FEBRUARY 2025: Rise Against Hunger
MARCH 2025: TBD
APRIL 2025: HOLI + EARTH DAY
MAY 2025: End of Year Banquet
Sept 2024-May 2025: NCFF Cares Birthday Parties for children in homeless Shelters (once a month)
Sept 2024 - May 2025: Senior Friends (events held with Teens + Elderly (once a quarter)
our 2024- 2025 leaders
OUr CEO's
Riya Budhrani: COO
Arav Madan: CAO - Chief Administrative Officer
Dhillon Ruparelia: CFO - Chief Financial Officer
Neha Parameswaran: COO
Souren Sharma: CTO - Chief Technology Officer
Aryana Bajaj: CCO - Chief Communications Officer
OUr Committee leaders
Shivani Jain: Party Project Coordinator
Krishna Gupta: Outreach Director
Natalie Dhillon: Director of Health & Wellness Committee
Devan Charaipotra: Director of Fundraising
Riya Wedam: Cultural Committee Director
Alisha Durbhakula: CMO - Chief Marketing Officer & Cultural Committee Director
Saanvi Lamba: CMO - Chief Marketing Officer & Director of Advocacy Committee
Kriti Hota: Director of Advocacy Committee
Tara Bansal: Website Director & Editor-in-Chief - SAYVA Speaks Blog
Shaan Khanna: Director Health and Wellness Committee
Kanav Kachoria: Community Service Director
Avni Patel: Community Service Director
Jaiden Bhargava: Marketing Director
Neera Vyas: Director of Junior Ambassadors
Shreya Kella: Director of Junior Ambassadors
Diya Khetan: Director - Senior Friends
OUR IMPACT LAST YEAR 2023-2024
SEPTEMBER 2023
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Collected Supplies and donations for homeless at The Lamb Center
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SAYVA Juniors Made 304 SANDWICHES, of which 182 sandwiches went to Martha's Table, and 122 sandwiches went to So What Else.
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SAYVA Teens Volunteered at the World Cultural Festival in DC.
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Thank You to Ledo's Pizza Falls Church, North Italia in Tysons, & Bollywood Bistro
OCTOBER 2023
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SAYVA Alumni College students mentored teens on the college admissions process, study abroad programs as well as Q&A about the college experience.
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SAYVA Giving Day: National Center for Children and Families (Bethesda). Teens organized a Halloween birthday themed party for 30 children and their mothers who are currently living in a shelter.
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51 SAYVA teens, juniors and families participated in the Race For Every Child, raising a whopping $5311 towards research and treatment of childhood diseases. Congrats to top fundraisers J&J Dayal, Aria & Jaya, Alisha and Asha. Congrats to Jaiden B. (15 yrs old) completed the race in 21 minutes coming in 4th place for boys aged 15-19 yrs. So proud of team SAYVA!
NOVEMBER 2023
SAYVA Giving Day:
National Center for Children and Families (Bethesda). Teens organized a special Bollwood Diwali themed party for 30 children and their mothers who are currently living in a shelter at the National Center for Children and Families. We donated South Asian clothes, played games, taught dance, had Henna tattoos, made Diya lamps, and tasted new Indian sweets with the children at the center.
DIWALI MOCK WEDDING:
This year's Diwali Mock Wedding was an incredible celebration! It was filled with decorations, speeches, food, dancing, and celebrating this joyous event! 🎉 We learned how to dance garba, learned about the different parts of an Indian wedding, and developed an understanding of the celebration of Diwali. We are so incredibly grateful for all of the sponsors and families for supporting this event to help us raise funds for Rise Against Hunger. Thank you to to all of our sponsors for making this event possible. (see images below and on IG!). Funds from this years event will go towards feeding 16,000 families with food insecurity.
DECEMBER 2023
SAYVA Ugly Sweater, Cookie Making, Gift Wrapping Holiday:
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This year, we had our annual holiday party, cookie making, and gift wrapping holiday celebration. This year, SAYVA was able to donate, wrap, and deliver 60 gifts for Children at NCCF. Additionally, we made and delivered 220 snack treat bags for Seva Truck at the SAYVA Holiday party. SAYVA's holiday party was a great success and we are so grateful to all the families and sponsors that helped organize this event.
FEBRUARY 2024:
SAYVA GIVING DAY
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Valentine's Birthday Party at NCCF
SAYVA Pajama Party Game Night + Shoe Drive
- Thank you Aryana Bajaj for organizing!
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We learned how micro-enterprises help alleviate poverty in developing nations from student ambassador Jaiden Bhargava.
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We learned from our guest speaker Dr. Bajaj how radiation masks were turned to works of art to help cancer patients.
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We collected 250 lbs of shoes for Funds2orgs and St. Jude's Children's Hospital.
MARCH 2024:
SAYVA Rise Against Hunger Flagship Event
Thank you to Community Service leader Riya Budhrani for organizing!
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SAYVA Teens packaged 15,120 meals!
APRIL
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SAYVA GIVING DAY COLOR THEME: HOLI/EASTER Party at NCCF
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Annual Holi Event + Olympic Games
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Raised $TBD towards the National Center for Children and Families shelter.
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Leaders organized Olympic events for all attendees. Members learned about the importance of sustainability and Earth Day.
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MAY
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05/19/2024: 11:30-1:30 pm SAYVA END OF YEAR EVENT
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We honored our graduating seniors, and announced next years leaders and CEO's.
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KICKOFF EVENT
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Collected Supplies + Clothing Donations for women in poverty with Stepping Stones Shelter.
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SAYVA Juniors Made 120 SANDWICHES for Martha's Table
BREAST CANCER AWARENESS WALK
Raised $44,800 !! for Breast Cancer. RANKED #4 IN THE NATION
on the leaderboard for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer More Than Pink Walk.
DIWALI MOCK WEDDING
We learned about traditional South Asian weddings, participated in a garba dance and learned about Diwali. Ticket funds for this event help to purchase supplies for 15,000 MEALS that will be packaged for the Rise Against Hunger Event in March 2023.
TOP CHEF - SAYVA STYLE WITH TIK TOK CHEF MILAN
Baked and packaged 550 cookies for children living in food-insecure households with Sevatruck Free Meal Food Truck.
GAME NIGHT
Collected HUNDREDS OF COATS and warm clothing donated to Afghan Refugees with Famil USA.
SAYVA GIVING DAY: Participated in a service day volunteering and donating to help families struggling with food insecurity in collaboration with non-profit organization So What Else?
RISE AGAINST HUNGER: This year we packaged 16,000 meals in less than 3 hours! Our Rise Against Hunger Experience events provide a fun, educational way for SAYVA youth to lend a hand to people facing hunger across the globe. Kids as little as 3 years old participate in an assembly line process to measure and package bags of rice and soy helping to end hunger making a huge impact worldwide.
HOLI: SAYVA youth, teens and parents celebrated Holi while learning about ways to help protect our planet (check out this blog!) and donating clothing supporting So What Else?.
END OF YEAR BANQUET: At our end of year banquet, we celebrate the teens and honor the graduates that work hard all year who give back by volunteering many hours of community service. Chris Michael provided entertainment, mixing magic, mentalism and comedy - captivating both kids and adults throughout the entire evening. The graduates shared the impact we have made this year, and passed the torch to next years leaders.
OUR IMPACT IN 2022-2023
PAST EVENTS
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Support provided by corporations and businesses help to offset costs with event planning, ticket registration and to raise funds for various charitable organizations that we are supporting.
Thank you to all of our Partners & Sponsors.
For more information on the opportunity to become a Sponsor, please see our Sponsorship Packages.
Over 116,000+ meals packaged and sent to impoverished countries
$152,800 raised
for our community partners
20,000+ teen service hours and counting!
SAYVA'S COMMUNITY PARTNERS
