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Volunteers Social Service is a non-profit international agency empowering people through self-development and community building projects. Its volunteers are committed to helping people everywhere develop their full potential. Besides motivating and placing volunteers to projects all over the world, we give special emphasis on a wholistic approach by helping them in their personal growth through interactive games, rites of passage, spiritual warrior, Tai-chi, yoga and meditation programs.
To get in touch with us, or for volunteer opportunities e-mail at volunteerservice@yahoo.com or call our headoffice at 570-289-4580
History : Volunteers Social Service was founded in India in 1959 to engage youth in community service activities. In 1979, Volunteers Social Service was incorporated as an independent organization in the state of California by americans who had met the organization earlier in India. We started as a small community self-help group and have since branched out. Today there are community self-help groups across the USA, Canada and Jamaica, of which the one in New York City was incorporated in 1988. Our volunteer groups assist other organizations in their work or if big enough start their own projects. These projects are typically sustained and funded through the personal efforts of our volunteers. As Volunteers Social Service has grown in experience and maturity, so also have the ambition and scope of our programs. Our volunteer training center in Pennsylvania has been well established and we are focusing now on a nationwide rites-of-passage program to help at-risk youth and ex-juvenile offenders. Abroad we support a vocational training center and agricultural cooperative in Jamaica as well as a rural development project in India, where our organization started.
Training programs : The strength of our training programs lies in the long-term relationship with our volunteers and a wholistic approach to their personal development. We offer a series of training programs with the idea of imbibing the concept of service into all aspects of life. 1.)Spiritual warrior training program: Every man or woman needs to assert him/herself and discover their hidden strengths and potentials within. In that sense the word "warrior" has to be understood. To develop will-power and fighting spirit without anger is the key to fighting the inner enemies of addiction, depression, fear and the outer enemies of falsehood, hypocrisy and hate. This will initiate the beginning to a pro-active and positive contribution of the individual to society. "Spiritual" is opening the connection to our inner spirit or heart and manifests itself in more love and compassion to other people and creatures, which in turn gives high motivation to do service to the world. Designed as a weekend retreat, this program is meant to initiate a transition or a "rite of passage" from a materialistic towards a more spiritual way of life. For more details and schedules : www.innersports.org/spiritualwarrior.htm
2.) One month beginner's internship program: To anyone who is serious about working on their personal development, we offer one month or longer internships with a daily routine of yoga, meditation, Tai-chi and Kung-Fu. Half the day is devoted to individual study and the other half to gardening and other works at the Quest Center. For more information about the location and its activities click : 3.) Advanced training for local full-timers : Presently our advanced training is only available in Los Altos / California, the birth-place of Volunteers Social Service in the U.S. A minimum of 6 weeks training is required, after which the volunteer will be posted to a localized service project or at a location in the Carribean or central America.
Why service ? The concept of service in our view is a fundamentally spiritual one. Therefore we offer and encourage, but do not require our volunteers to practice a daily routine of "silence time", which could be either yoga, meditation or Tai-chi for which we give individualized instruction. We have found that volunteers radiating peace and inner strength are motivated to work tirelessly and with dedication in their projects. In that sense we see ourselves more as a motivating and strengthening force to any volunteer working to uplift society. We also think that through service projects an individual realizes their inner potential, so many volunteers have started by simply volunteering and then they have undergone training programs later on to strengthen their dedication. We see that self-development and service have to be in balance.
Fundraising :
Most of our funds come from many of the volunteers who have entered professional life after volunteering for years or months in our projects. They continually support us and form the backbone of our activities. Also, we have received grants for special projects as the one in Jamaica and other parts of the world. 1.) We are currently looking for sponsors for a boy's camp who could sponsor 20 boys at $ 250 each for a 7 day adventure camp in the summer. We do have requests from Big Brothers / Big Sisters New York to hold summer camps provided they get sponsored, since they cannot afford the tuition. 2.) We also offer the Spiritual warrior /rites of passage weekend training program for at-risk youths and juvenile ex-offenders but we gratiously need help to do it. Tuition runs at $75 just to cover our expenses. 3.) We need sponsors for our assistance to students and libraries in India, Jamaica and central america. We like to ship one container of textbooks to a university in rural west-Bengal, which will cost about $2500.
CONTACTS : We work in close collaboration with various organizations and agencies that we get training from or that we help supply volunteers and that might be useful to you : 1.) AMURT - Our biggest partner and benefactor of our volunteers. www.amurt.net 2.) SSAC - affiliated with VSS, it provides most of the training and follow up to keep our volunteers continuously inspired and motivated.www.innersports.org 3.) Renaissance Universal - one of the philosophical backgrounds to the idea of VSS, and working towards a global renewal or "renaissance". www.ru.org 4.) The Forum - developing compassion through an open forum - learning how to be service oriented through mental training. www.landmark-education.org 5.) New Warrior Network - Worldwide rites of passage organization - recommended as a follow up to the spiritual warrior training.www.mkp.org
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