UNITED STATES, April 2011: The President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge will help magnify, value and encourage America’s religious and cultural diversity. The initiative will engage the rich, pluralistic diverse communities in partnerships for the common good. It will empower them to be innovative in providing services (seva) to communities in need. The Campus Challenge can build social cohesion and bring together America’s increasingly diverse religious society and help advance peace (ahimsa) and justice at home and abroad. It can also foster future collaboration, negotiation and innovation, which can create jobs and promote economic growth and diplomacy.
HASC is working to bridge the knowledge gap to sustain Dharmic faith based approach to development. To impact change and encourage new service ideas, HASC is sponsoring a widespread civic and service participation essay contest as part of a conference Energizing Dharmic Seva: Impacting Change in America and Abroad from July 29 – 31. We encourage all, particularly youth, to participate.
We need to expand community service. President Obama said as much at Diwali, the Hindu New Year: “Diwali is a time for celebration, but it is also a time for reflection — a time when we must remember that there are always others less fortunate then ourselves. This holiday reminds us all that we should commit ourselves to helping those in need.”
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