Residents volunteer with Sewa International

Sewa International USA

Area volunteers clean up parks and help underserved communities

By Andrea Iglar

Plastic bottles and empty potato chip bags shouldn’t be discarded on the ground.

That’s why local adults and teens with Sewa International USA volunteered to clean up litter in Fairview Park this spring.

“Being a resident here, we use all these trails and parks very often,” said Ajit Paranjpe, who has lived in South Fayette for 23 years.

“My kids play lacrosse at Fairview, my older son likes to ride his bike on the Panhandle Trail or just go on a hike. So that’s why they were interested in helping with the cleanup.”

Students Arnav Chaturvedi, left, Sohum Paranjpe, Rohan Paranjpe and Pranav Sindhe hoist a long piece of debris during their litter cleanup at Fairview Park in April.

Submitted photo

About 20 volunteers from the Pittsburgh chapter of the Hindu faith-based service group collected litter in the park as part of the township’s Earth Day activities.

The effort was the tip of the iceberg for the nonprofit, whose members work year-round to serve local communities and promote volunteerism.

The organization name borrows from the Sanskrit word “sewa” (pronounced SAY-vah), which translates to “service” and embodies the concept of selfless service performed without expectation of reward or repayment.

The group largely includes people with roots in India, but all adults and high school students are welcome to volunteer.

Local volunteers with Sewa International USA include, from left, Hasmukh Patel of Peters, Ajit Paranjpe of South Fayette, Shweta Chakradeo of Pine and Tejas Pawar of South Fayette. The volunteers, whose hands are formed into a namaste gesture as a greeting, organize a variety of service projects.

Photo by Andrea Iglar

Tejas Pawar of South Fayette, an IT consultant, previously taught math at a nonprofit and joined Sewa for more opportunities to serve.

“They gave me the structure to push my volunteerism forward, so that’s why I became part of this organization,” he said. “It’s just part of my daily life now. I don’t do it to get satisfaction. This just has to be done.”

"Once you see these things, you really know that people everywhere need some help."

—Ajit Paranjpe of South Fayette, volunteer with Sewa International USA

Pittsburgh chapter coordinator Shweta Chakradeo of Pine helped launch the local branch after the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, when volunteers emerged to sew 500 masks, donate 300 meals and send 17,000 medical oxygen concentrators to India.

“The main goal is to give back to the community that we live in and show our kids by our own actions that this is how we serve,” Chakradeo said. “The passion should be there to help someone.”

The chapter includes a volunteer pool of about 80 adults and 35 teens, including 15 youth who live in South Fayette.

Teens who serve for 100 hours in a year can earn the President’s Volunteer Service Award from the White House. Last year, 10 students qualified.

“The certificate is one part of it, but the actual goal is planting that social entrepreneurship seed,” Chakradeo said. “We let them take lead; we let them arrange the programs; we let them take the leadership roles.”

Focus areas of Sewa International include supporting family and child welfare, promoting volunteerism and helping with disaster recovery.

Chapter treasurer Hasmukh Patel, a real estate consultant from Peters, said projects stem from individual volunteers.

“It’s organic,” he said. “When somebody gives us an idea, we’re there to help out.”

Last year, Paranjpe, an IT professional, applied for and received a grant from his employer to purchase baby supplies, winter clothing and hygiene products.

He stacked the items in his garage in The Berkshires neighborhood prior to distributing them to three Pittsburgh-area nonprofits: the Latino Community Center, Foster Love Project (for foster children and families) and Living in Liberty (to combat human trafficking and support survivors).

“We were able to spend up to the last penny,” Paranjpe said. “We don’t have any administrative expenses because all our volunteers have full-time jobs, so we don’t get compensated.”

Sewa volunteers deliver winter garments and hygienic items to the nonprofit Living in Liberty in November 2022.

Submitted photo

Other group activities have included constructing a community garden, helping at a medical camp for refugees and collecting baby diapers. Pawar organized a women’s cricket tournament earlier this month to benefit a Sewa program for girls.

Paranjpe said his family’s first experience volunteering with Sewa was a food drive.

“I really liked the idea that donating a small amount of food is not a big deal for a family, but together we were able to collect 15,000 pounds of food,” he said.

Founded in 2003, Sewa International USA is part of a larger movement that started in India in 1989. The 5,000-volunteer nonprofit is based in Houston, Texas, and includes 43 chapters across 25 states.

When there is a disaster anywhere in the world, volunteers band together to help. But local chapters routinely focus on serving neighbors.

Paranjpe, who was born in India, said the popular portrayal of America was that everyone was rich. But volunteering with Sewa, he witnessed local poverty and struggles up close, and his perspective changed.

“Once you see these things, you really know that people everywhere need some help,” he said.

Chakradeo, a trained pharmacist who serves as a volunteer firefighter in Cranberry, said volunteering helps teens understand that many people are not as fortunate as them.

“When they step out of that bubble, they grow and their perspective changes,” she said. “The empathy goes a very long way.”

Sewa International USA, Pittsburgh Chapter: Facebook @SewaPittsburgh; sewausa.org