Source: www.statesman.com
AUSTIN, TEXAS, October 2, 2010: Hundreds of volunteers joined members of the local South Asian community Saturday for the city’s second annual Be the Change Day, a day of service and celebration modeled after observances marking the birthday of leader Mohandas Gandhi.
The day is named for Gandhi’s famous quote urging individuals to embody the change they wish to see in the world. Gandhi, better known to those who follow him as “Mahatma,” or “the Great Soul,” influenced the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and South African leader Nelson Mandela with his ability to free India from British rule with nonviolent protest.
South Asian Americans Leading Together, a Maryland-based nonprofit, organizes the service day annually in several cities nationwide. The organization chose Austin as one of its core sites this year because of a local effort to have a statue of Gandhi placed in Zilker Park.