May 2022

By Team MMFNewsletters

https://35.239.148.43

MMF Newsletter | May 19, 2022 | Vol 2022.2

Message from the founder

విద్య రంగంలో MMF చేసే వినూత్న సేవా కార్యక్రమాలు గురుంచి మీకు ప్రతీ సంచికలోనూ తెలియచేస్తూ ఉన్నాము. ఈసారి ఆంధ్రప్రదేశ్ సామర్లకోట మండలంలోని ఉండూరు గ్రామ పరిధిలోని ప్రభుత్వ ప్రాధమిక పాఠశాలలోని చిన్నారులకి Abacus తరగతులు మరియు పబ్లిక్ స్పీకింగ్ లో శిక్షణా తరగతులు ప్రతి వారం నిర్వహిస్తున్నాం. అంతే కాకుండా తెలంగాణ మరియు ఆంధ్ర ప్రాంతానికి చెందిన కొంతమంది గ్రాడ్యుయేట్స్ని ఎంపిక చేసి వారికి ఇంగ్లీష్ స్పీకింగ్ మరియు ఇంటర్వ్యూ స్కిల్స్ లో  శిక్షణ ఇచ్చి వారి యొక్క ఉద్యోగ అర్హతల్ని మెరుగుపరిచే కార్యక్రమాలు కూడా ప్రారంభించడం జరిగింది. అలానే  MMF ప్రతీ సంవత్సరం అన్ని తరగతుల వారికి నిర్వర్తించే IEP (Intellectual Empowerment Program) ఈ వేసవి లో మొదలు కానున్నది. మీ పిల్లలు స్కూల్, కాలేజి లేక యూనివర్సిటీ, ఏ స్థాయిలో ఉన్నా మా ఈ IEP ప్రోగ్రాము గురుంచి క్రింద ఇచ్చిన వివరాలు చూసి, వెంటనే రిజిస్టర్ చేసుకోవడం ద్వారా మీ పిల్లల సర్వతోముఖాభివృద్ధికి  దోహద పడగలరని ఆశిస్తూ...

మీ

శ్రీని జి.

MMF Life Skills Initiatives - Abacus/Vedic Math Classes

The MMF has tag-teamed with Unduru Govt. primary school in the Unduru village, Samarlakota, Andhra Pradesh, to help offer Abacus to children in 3rd through 5th grades, and Vedic Math classes to middle school children. This initiative, championed by Sri K.M.M.R Prasad, headmaster of the Unduru government school, has an unparalleled passion for teaching and developmental upbringing in children. In addition to his reputable hands-on teaching methods, Sri Prasad garu is credited for transforming a dilapidated government school into an enviable shape with advanced computer labs and lush green vegetation around the building.

Sri Samba Siva Rao garu, the director of Sparkling Stars from the Guntur district, has been offering Abacus and Vedic Math classes to Unduru primary school children since February 2022. We anticipate these classes will continue through August 2022. The Abacus, as many of us might remember from our early childhood, is a device generally used in learning foundational concepts such as counting and basic mathematical operations.

Abacus Image credit: By Onderwijsgek at nl.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 nl

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15979399

Further, Sri Samba Siva Rao garu will be offering classes in Vedic/mental mathematics, on which the foundational principles learned using the Abacus is reliant. Vedic math is based on 16 rules or sutras established during Vedic times that allow a person to mentally perform complex addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division very quickly without the need for a calculator. Hence, the methods learned are also termed mental mathematics. Interested students that learned the use of Abacus can take up Sri Samba Siva Rao garu’s Vedic Math classes as they enter middle school age.

Currently, about 20 elementary school children are currently being benefited by Sri Samba Siva Rao garu’s efforts in teaching foundational math through Abacus classes. These classes started in February 2022 and are anticipated to run through August 2022. The MMF is providing partial monetary support to the school to pay for the Abacus classes and also sponsoring material supplies to conduct these classes.

MMF Life Skills Initiatives - Public Speaking Classes for Children and Adults

We have come across several adult individuals that wished they had better speaking capabilities so they gained the confidence to either perform better in school or enter the job market and attend interviews with higher leverage. Addressing these needs, the MMF has ramped up efforts to start a new batch of public speaking classes for adults. During these classes, the participants are assigned open-ended topics and encouraged to speak their minds about a selected topic. In a non-judgmental atmosphere, the students are given feedback on their speeches while also allowing them to ask questions about their performance. In this initiative, the MMF has been working with 12 children and 10 adult participants in improving their speaking skills.

The younger-aged participants are from the Unduru Govt. school in Samarlakota. Keerthi Kode and Sreenithya Dasari lead these classes, and Mr. Pani Baruri garu facilitates, coordinates, and provides feedback for students. Mr. Prasad garu, the headmaster of the Unduru school, proctors and provides technical support for these classes.

Mr. Pani Baruri garu leads the adult group session that follows a similar pattern as the one used for the younger group. The topics, however, are more relevant and applicable for people entering the workforce.

The feedback we received from these efforts thus far has been extremely positive, and it encourages the MMF to plan more of these initiatives. The MMF expresses heartfelt appreciation and gratitude for all helpers and volunteers. We wish the participating students the best.

MMF Life Skills Initiatives - Intellectual Empowerment Program (IEP)

Owing to the huge popularity and success in the prior first offering of the Intellectual Empowerment Program (IEP) in 2021, the MMF is continuing the bandwagon in its second iteration this Summer. The IEP ambitiously intends to help with the personality development of students ranging from middle school through college-going youth. Often, students undergoing rigorous academic curricula in schools and colleges focus on solving problems but miss a bigger picture - Where is this knowledge used? What are its practical applications? How can it help with establishing a good career path? The IEP attempts to reduce this knowledge gap through various student-led activities, hands-on experiments, and guest talks from professionals belonging to various fields.

The following are the representative topics covered for middle school through high school students in the program:

  • Live science experiments
  • Power of asking questions
  • Blogging, web development
  • 3D Modeling, CGI Movies, Virtual Reality
  • Bio-fuels
  • Gardening and woodworking
  • Information Technology and the Internet of Things
  • Career options

The following areas are representative topics covered for college-going youth:

  • Microgreens and hydroponics
  • Career options
  • Waste re-use to produce energy
  • Writing a good resume
  • Virtual Reality and applications
  • Mock job interviews
  • Healthy life choices - food and exercise
  • Potential paid internships, resources for earning while still in College
  • Navigating money management, retirement savings, Buying a house/flat, taking loans and amortization schedules, filing taxes, etc.

This year, the MMF has planned to begin a 10-week IEP towards the end of May. This program is offered for free and more details about the program and deadlines can be found at:

https://35.239.148.43/intellectual-empowerment-program/

MMF Blood Donation Drive

The pandemic has directly or indirectly affected virtually every human on the planet in the last two years. Some have lost their loved ones, and others have been burdened with long COVID causing them to carry illness for a prolonged period of time. Although we are not fully out of the woods, vaccines and therapeutics have helped many to put a sad chapter in their lives behind and move on. The MMF would like to offer our sincere appreciation and gratitude to the frontline doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers without whose sacrifices our world would have been in a much more catastrophic place.

In the interest of safety, the MMF has put a pause on the blood donation program for the past two years. As we wade into a more normal life post-pandemic, we figured it was a good time to rekindle our efforts in encouraging blood donations. The MMF’s blood donation drive validates our notion that it is not just the doctors that have the power to save lives, but anyone with a kind heart too. Our volunteers feel that it is a blessed opportunity to have received a chance to save another human life. There is no better way than this to show the inner divinity within oneself.

Why is blood donation important?

  • Someone is in need of blood every two seconds. There is no real substitute for human blood since it cannot artificially be made or produced. It can only come from volunteer donors. One pint of blood donated can potentially save up to three lives.
  • The blood you donate gives someone another chance at life. One day that someone may be a close relative, a friend, a loved one, or even you.

The MMF has partnered with LifeServe in the blood donation drive. If you are interested in donating blood, please use the link below to find out the available locations and times near you where you can stop by to donate blood. While walk-ins are generally welcome at these sites, we recommend you register for your preferred time slot to avoid wait times. If you need help with registration or transportation to the donation site, please reach out to us, and we can make the necessary travel arrangements.

https://donor.lifeservebloodcenter.org/donor/schedules/geo

The LifeServe blood donation centers are located in Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Volunteers outside of these states are still encouraged to participate by checking with a blood donation drive/center close to your location.

Note for volunteers that have upcoming travel to India: Blood donations in the US require that you should have resided in the US for at least a period of 3 years anytime in the past and should be at least one year since you last visited India. If you are interested in donating blood but have an upcoming trip to India, we encourage donating blood before your trip.

Please reply to this email if you have any questions or need any additional information.

Getting Involved with MMF

Interested in volunteering for the MMF? There are many ways you can help. We always welcome new volunteers, and we promise that it will be a fun-filled and exhilarating experience getting involved in our initiatives.

  • Please use any of the following avenues to reach us:

  • Some of the ways we can use your help:
  • Administrative help with the execution of our Life Skills Initiatives (i.e., public speaking, Intellectual Empowerment Program)
  • Instructor for conducting public speaking and/or IEP classes
  • Guest talks to discuss your professional experiences in ways that even school children can relate to and understand
  • Physical or monetary help with various MMF projects and initiatives. Check out our webpage: https://35.239.148.43/projects-and-initiatives/
  • If you shop on Amazon in the USA, we request you to instead use https://smile.amazon.com. Your shopping experience will remain unchanged and there is no additional cost to you. However, Amazon will donate 0.5% of sale proceeds to a charity of your choice. We will greatly appreciate it if you can set the charity to ‘Manaloni Manishi Foundation.’

Outro

Please let us thank you for your patronage and shared values in lending a helping hand to improve the lives of others and hence the society. You will receive a quarterly newsletter with updates on what we have been up to. If, for some reason, you do not want us to write to you, please click Unsubscribe.

MMF is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization under the internal revenue code, with federal tax ID 81-3554636, and any donations you make in the USA are tax-deductible.

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