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Get Involved

Information on Donating >
Information on Volunteering >
Helpers needed for Amma's Programme >
Information on Sponsorship of items for Amma’s visit >

“Those who are engaged in selfless service... may receive hundreds of thousands of dollars but will deliver the equivalent of millions to people in need.

This is because their motives are selfless; they simply desire to benefit society. Rather than take any remuneration for themselves they give all they can to those who are suffering.”
—Amma

Helpers Needed for Amma's Programme

The people volunteering at Amma’s programmes come from many cultures and walks of life but we all share a common inspiration: Amma’s message of service and unconditional love and her tireless efforts to uplift and serve humanity.

We are currently very busy preparing for our beloved Amma’s visit to London in November. All of the tasks that need to be done throughout the visit, from preparing and serving food to washing dishes to greeting and stewarding, are done by volunteers. We have a great need for more volunteers who can commit to giving some of their time in service to others during the programme. In particular, we will need helpers for stewarding and kitchen prep. Other specialist requirements include: doctors for a rota, CRB-checked child minders, health and safety professionals, security professionals and trained chefs or bakers. We will also need as many people as possible to prepare the venue on the day before from 10am (Monday 14 November).

If you would like to volunteer for any of the specific areas listed, or generally, during Amma’s visit, please contact us providing some brief information about which days you will be at the programme and any preference in terms of areas of work, by emailing Vandita/Andrew at seva@amma.org.uk. Alternatively, come along to the Seva (Volunteer) Desk once you have arrived and we will find a suitable seva for you.

Young Volunteers Needed
AYUDH UK is calling all Youth to come and volunteer at the AYUDH Café and Espresso Bar during Amma's programme. As one of the biggest fundraisers at the event, it will be open for the majority of the programme, and will require a dedicated team of volunteers. If you want to be part of this great Seva, please contact Vivek Bhurtun vivek@bhurtun.com telling us when you will be available. If you can be available on Monday 14 Nov, your help would be very much appreciated in setting up the Café for the programme.

Cookie baking for the cafe at Amma's Visit We are asking everyone to bake some cookies to be sold at the AYUDH Café and Espresso Bar at the programme. It doesn't matter how few or how many. All are welcome! Please bake in advance and bring to the programme. It would be very helpful if they could be approximately the same size and measure approx 12cm across (like the cookies available in supermarkets ). This will help with pricing. Chocolate chip, ordinary, vegan, anything you feel like doing will be gratefully accepted! Please contact Vivek vivek@bhurtun.com if you can bake and make arrangements where and when to deliver.

Massage Therapists Wanted
Massage therapists with certificates and insurance are needed for the massage area. Please contact Vandita/Andrew at seva@amma.org.uk in good time (i.e. now), as applying for a licence from the council takes time. Please bring your own massage tables/futons if possible.

Carpet layers from last year
Daniel would like to get in touch with those who layed the carpet in the hall last year, as "they did an amazing job and had a very good technique and we would like them to do it again if possible." Contact Daniel at danielspangle@gmail.com

Sponsorship of items for Amma’s visit

All of the costs of hosting Amma’s visit in London are met by donations. We would like to invite devotees to think about sponsoring the whole or part of some of the major fixed costs we face. Below is a list of some of the items. If you would like to sponsor the cost of these for the visit, either in full or in part, or simply to make a general donation towards costs, please contact Shanker on 0207 603 6868 (6-9pm only) shanker@amma.org.uk for details.

Stage £5000; Carpets £1500; Decorations £1000; Flowers & Fruits £2000; Water & Electricity £1000; Chairs, tables, partitions, etc £5000.

I’d like to help out.. How do I go about it?

There are several ways to help :

Fundraising before the event
Donating your time during the event
Volunteering your skills during the year

OK. What about fundraising?

One way of making a difference is to organise your own event, no matter how small. Every contribution will help. (It could be a jumble sale, a car boot sale, a sponsored walk or run, whatever you feel comfortable doing).

Amma herself has asked us to get involved in raising money for the UK Programme so that more of the funds raised at Alexandra Palace can be sent to India for her charities.

Donations

To make online donations click here.
To set up Give as you earn or for details of one off or monthly donations all the details can be found in the Contact Us Section. To donate towards this years visit go to Raising money for Amma's visit.

Donate to Amma's charities every time you shop online

With the Give as you Live™ shopping App you can send, on average, 2.5 percent of every pound you spend online to Friends of Amma to support Amma's charitable activities. Click here for details (only works with Internet Explorer at present).

Use Everyclick to raise money for Amma's Charities

By selecting Friends of Amma at search engine www.everyclick.com you can raise money every time you make a search on the internet. Everyclick pledges to donate 50 percent of all money raised to charities, shared out depending on the number of times each charity is selected.

Donation Information

» Click here for Online Donations
» Click here for Give As You Earn
» Click here for Gift Aid Scheme
» Click here for Cheque Donations
» Click here for Direct Debit Donations
» Click here for Standing Order Mandate

Seva (Volunteering): taking the initiative

It's very easy to start doing seva, volunteering. You don't have to start a project to start volunteering. There are so many easy ways you can start which require little or no training (see below). Selfless activity (seva) is something that can be done every day of the year. Amma encourages just that (see Amma on selfless service, below).

Opportunities for seva

Bringing help to the needy covers a vast range of activities and issues from the special needs of the elderly (those in sheltered housing, in care homes), poor one parent families, orphans, children with special educational needs, the blind, battered women, the hard of hearing, immigrants, the illiterate, the homeless, the lonely, those with suicidal tendencies, prisoners, ex-prisoners, those in hospices, long term hospital inmates. It's a very long list and there are literally thousands of charities and voluntary bodies dedicated to meeting these needs. But for virtually every one of these areas of need there are gaps in provision. So there are countless opportunities to offer aid and many organisations which exist to channel people to where aid is needed.

Starting to offer seva

You can start now by contacting a number of different organisations, such as: go to the "Volunteering England" web site/"I want to volunteer" section - there is a wealth of information on this site; or contact your local volunteer bureau. Such bureaux exist throughout the country.

Ways in which you can help

Just a few examples of help that requires little or no training:

Singing/ individually/as a group/ singing bhajans in care homes, sheltered housing.
Helping single parents with shopping, looking after children
Taking people (frail elderly, handicapped etc ) for walks to say a park
Corresponding with lonely people, prisoners
Taking blind people shopping, to GP, hospital
Kitchen assistant in soup kitchens for homeless people
Hospital "buddy" (i.e. providing friendship to people in long term care)
Hospital visits with a dog (if permitted)
Assistant in children and women's groups

There are thousands of opportunities like this. Once you have started please let me know via stuart.zwalters@virgin.net. We'd like to know how you find it and encourage others to do something similar. Please contact me if you need any help or advice. When speaking to various organisations it isn't important to bring Amma to people's attention. It is more important to do the work.