Sai Cares: A Service Initiative to Assist Sai Center Members in Need

Sai Cares, a new region-wide service initiative in the Mid-Atlantic Region, aims to provide Sai Center members the opportunity to assist fellow Sai members who are confronted with personal crises. During the region’s annual retreat planning meeting in February, the Regional President Douglas Gaum announced the launch of the project and described it as a hotline service for Center members who are undergoing personal challenges or have unmet life needs.

According to Gaum, “The Sai organization does a great job providing service to others outside of the organization, but we have Sai Center members who need help themselves. Many seniors may need help with transportation to a doctor’s appointment or help with buying groceries. Others may not know where to go to get help for issues like immigration problems, or what to do when they sustain property damage or lose electricity during storm disasters.” 

The project will be launched in phases. First, e-mails will be sent to each center announcing the project and each member in the region will be asked to complete a questionnaire that will enable the development of a skills database and determine availability to provide service to other members.  The information will be used to match members with specific needs with those devotees with the appropriate skills to address the needs.

This vital initiative, which is being undertaken by several teams, is a reflection of the commitment of the SSIO to ensure that, while pursuing with much time, energy and dedication the many worthy service projects in the larger society, we do not overlook and let fall through the cracks our fellow pilgrims who may be struggling in their own lives. Sai Cares is a reminder to Sai Center members that in practicing Sai Baba’s dictum “Love All, Serve All,” one should not just limit our expression of selfless service and compassion to needy individuals in the larger community outside the organization, but that there are also many fellow Sai devotees in our midst who are very much in need of assistance, and that charity, after all, begins at home.