Every Moment is an Opportunity to Serve Others

With infinite compassion, Her Holiness Sai Maa sets an example as an international humanitarian leader. Wherever she goes, she uplifts and supports those around her, creating pathways to relieve the pain and suffering of humanity in numbers great and small.

Always responsive to what is unfolding across our world, Sai Maa focuses where support is needed most at any given time. She encourages her students—and anyone who wants to help—to offer their time, talent, and treasure in the delivery of relief and aid.

SAI MAA’S HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS

Empowerment for Women

Giving abused and disadvantaged women the economic and educational tools they need to reclaim their lives and dignity.

Disaster Relief

Stepping in to restore some normalcy to those who have lost their homes to floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes.

The Gift of Sight

Preventing blindness and performing cataract operations in India, where vision problems are common.

Vulnerable Children

Helping meet the basic needs of children who are suffering around the world.

Hunger Relief

Providing food in India, home to the largest undernourished population in the world.

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Hunger Relief

“Feed one person, just one person. And if you can afford to feed more than one, please do so. Start to realize there is somebody that you know on a soul level who needs to be fed.” ~ Sai Maa

Just One Hunger Initiative

India is home to the largest undernourished population in the world—one-quarter of deaths across the globe of children under the age of five occur in India. More than 46 percent of the children in India suffer each day from a lack of nourishment and live with achingly empty bellies and bodies. Since 2011, Sai Maa and her students have been supporting the Just One Hunger Initiative, serving more than 250,000 meals, alleviating the hunger and suffering of the country’s most vulnerable population. (2011 – ongoing)

Kumbh Mela

As the largest spiritual gathering in the world, Kumbh Mela brings together powerful spiritual leaders, holy men (sadhus), devoted pilgrims, and everyday people. Pilgrims travel from across India to bathe in a sacred river at specific times of astrological alignment said to bestow the nectar of spiritual enlightenment and immortality. Holding the highly revered title of Jagadguru, Her Holiness Sai Maa has the honor of hosting a camp that will serve hundreds of pilgrims free meals every day. Since 2007, Sai Maa and volunteers have served more than 250,000 meals from her camp. It is projected that more than 100,000 meals will be offered at the 2019 Kumbh Mela. (2007 – ongoing)

Margh Mela

This month-long spiritual gathering attracts thousands of pilgrims every year. Over several Margh Melas, Sai Maa and her students have provided warm food and beverages every morning to young children unaccompanied by adults, sadhus (holy men), and spiritual pilgrims. They have also given away thousands of blankets, rice, and gifts of money to physically disabled and impoverished people.

Ayodhya

During the auspicious holy days of Diwali and Hanuman’s birthday, Sai Maa and her students from around the world offered meals to the thousands of poor in Ayodhya, a city of spiritual seekers. In addition to the large bandaras (feasts) held over five days, great gurus, sadhus (holy men), scholars, and priests performed spiritual services and ceremonies to celebrate the divine light of the season. (2010)

Vulnerable Children

Warm Winter for Children

In northern India, many people die during the winter from the cold. During this particularly harsh winter, Sai Maa volunteers donated hats, sweaters, gloves and socks to more than 1,700 very vulnerable children in schools, ashrams and slums, helping them to protect themselves from the harsh cold. (2010-2011)

Helping Children in Haiti

After a devastating earthquake rocked Haiti in 2010, recovery was painfully slow and complicated. In partnership with two non-profit organizations, a team of Sai Maa’s volunteers traveled to Port-au-Prince and distributed donated food and supplies to 100 abandoned children living in an orphanage, more than 50 families living in tent cities, and additional orphaned children living in various parts of the city. (2011)

“Yesterday, we took food and clothing to an orphanage–hot meals of chicken, rice, beans, and juice. The children gathered around a table, a tarp barely protecting them from the deluge, and they waited in absolute silence for everyone to be served before they would touch their food. Eventually, they picked at their meals, saving the rest for later. We drove away, committed to changing the lives of these children. How could we do anything else? How could anyone?” ~ Caroline Thonon, Florida, United States

The Gift of Sight

Cataract Surgery Project

Cataracts are very common among the poorer communities in India, especially in the elderly. Poor nutrition, lifestyle factors (such as the quality of fuel used in cooking), and lack of education all contribute to a higher incidence of cataract disease. Each year, the Cataract Surgery Project sponsors more than 100 operations, performed by a team of skilled ophthalmologists, to restore sight to those going blind. The physicians also provide comprehensive follow-up support for each patient. (2012-ongoing)

Vitamin Angels 20/20

It’s hard to believe that malnutrition can make children blind, but in India, this is not uncommon. Working with Vitamin Angels 20/20 over a three-year period, a dedicated team of Sai Maa volunteers travelled across India to aid in preventing blindness in 70,000 vulnerable children by administering Vitamin A and a complementary deworming agent, providing medical check-ups, and offering instruction on hygiene and nutrition. (2008-2011)

Disaster Relief

Hurricane Relief

Sai Maa’s hurricane relief efforts date back to Hurricane Katrina more than a decade ago. In the fall of 2017, Sai Maa and a team of dedicated volunteers personally offered weeks of seva (selfless service) in Everglades City, Florida after Hurricane Irma. Already an impoverished community, about 100 homes were made uninhabitable due to flood damage from a 10-foot storm surge and an explosion of mold growth. Sai Maa gave generously of time and money in support of the recovery efforts, working directly with leaders in the community, and allocating funds to repair and rebuild affected homes. (2005-2017)

Nepal Earthquake

After a devastating earthquakes struck Nepal in 2015, the Sai Maa Vishnu Shakti Trust, in collaboration with organizations in Nepal, rebuilt an orphanage that had been reduced to rubble. The new facilities include a kitchen, water tank, septic tank, earthquake-safe living and sleeping areas, and a new garden the children help to tend. (2015)

Hurricane Relief

For many years, Sai Maa has led efforts to bring relief and restoration for victims of flooding. Most recently, when the worst flooding in a generation struck large areas of Varanasi, India, Sai Maa’s humanitarian team was immediately in action to provide immediate relief and recovery assistance for hundreds of families. The floodwaters left thousands in acute need of essential items during the crisis as well as long-term recovery assistance. (2005-2013)

Sai Maa's humanitarian efforts - hurricane Irma

Sai Maa's humanitarian efforts - India floods

Sai Maa's humanitarian efforts - Nepal earthquake

Empowerment for Women

Women’s Empowerment Project

A recent survey ranks India as the fourth worst country in the world related to the treatment of women. The United Nations reports that up to 60 percent of Indian men commit violence against their spouse or partner at some point in their relationship. Empowerment and equality for women has been a powerful thread woven throughout Sai Maa’s humanitarian work. Sai Maa founded a women’s shelter and empowerment center in Varanasi, India, to support women and children facing violence. This center offered a way for victims to reclaim their lives and dignity by providing: education in practical and psychological life skills; counseling; medical, police, and legal aid; and vocational training. This was the first women’s center with an associated “safe house” in Varanasi managed by women, specifically for women. (2014-2017)
In the United States, Maa’s commitment to serve women is exemplified by the work of the Light Legacy Foundation and through partnerships with different women’s centers and organizations.

Vocational Training Center for Women

Nandi Hills, in southern India, was a focal point of Sai Maa’s humanitarian work for several years. In addition to establishing medical camps providing basic care, serving patients suffering with Dengue Fever, and providing the elderly with sight-saving cataract surgeries, Sai Maa created a vocational training center where women learned how to use sewing machines. Sewing machines were gifted to many women at the conclusion of their training providing them with the opportunity to become economically independent. (2006-2010)

The Light Legacy Foundation brings to life Sai Maa’s humanitarian vision of serving the under-served, displaced, and vulnerable to ensure their basic needs are met, so they can rise up and live powerfully in the face of grave life challenges. Currently the focus is on those impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Our light uplifting the world remains at the forefront of their mission.

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Sai Maa’s compassionate vision inspired Becky Morrison to found Globetops, a nonprofit that lets people donate laptops to deserving recipients in more than a half dozen countries, including Guinea, India, and the United States. “Sometimes, what gets in our way the most is ourselves,” Becky says. “We may have a great idea, but don’t trust ourselves enough to follow through. Maa has taught me the importance of taking action. Nothing can exist without it. When we align our vision with our actions, anything is possible.”

Donate Your Laptop

Sai Maa’s compassionate vision inspired Becky Morrison to found Globetops, a nonprofit that lets people donate laptops to deserving recipients in more than a half dozen countries, including Guinea, India, and the United States. “Sometimes, what gets in our way the most is ourselves,” Becky says. “We may have a great idea, but don’t trust ourselves enough to follow through. Maa has taught me the importance of taking action. Nothing can exist without it. When we align our vision with our actions, anything is possible.”

Donate Your Laptop

Sai Maa teaches we always have the opportunity to serve, to create, to shift, wherever we go. Hear Swami Parameshwar Das Maharaj share a powerful story of Maa’s selfless service in action. Visiting Betlar, India, she was outraged to learn the women living there were forced to stay in cow sheds when they were menstruating. In typical Maa fashion, she set to work, helping the villagers build new huts for the women, so they could live their lives with dignity.

The more you do seva [selfless service], the more your life is transformed without effort. When you do seva, you are serving the Light, you are serving your consciousness. When you do seva you are supporting others. Do you know who is busy supporting you? It is God.”
~ Sai Maa