ACT Foundation Canada

Mohanji says that charity is the compensation that we pay to Mother Earth for our opportunity called life. So, let's utilize this life for a higher purpose. Inspired and motivated by Mohanji, I feel privileged and blessed to be part of the ACT Canada team and am grateful to Mohanji for giving us this platform to serve the needy in the community. With his grace, we are able to serve and donate to homeless shelters, women's shelters, food banks, food drives, and also offer any help to seniors or anyone in need. Life feels precious and each charity initiative gives us a reason to do our best to bring smiles to those who are not so privileged to even have one meal a day. I thank Mohanji, our team, and all our donors and volunteers to make this happen.

During selfless service, a big inner shift can happen when least expected. This is one of my recent experiences. This experience happened during one of our ACT Canada charity initiatives at a food bank. It was raining outside, making it more challenging to handle the food. Nevertheless, we had a good time. We saw a bunch of young volunteers were at work unloading another donation that had arrived, constantly moving back and forth, and taking the stuff into the storage and greeted us with a smile on their faces. While witnessing all that, something happened in my inner space. What happened at that instant is difficult to put in words. I just stood there observing them, literally breathless. They were very organized, moving fast, communicating, and smiling. There was an amazing energy there. it touched me so much, I felt joyful tears in my eyes, and my heart expanded so much. I felt that way for the rest of the day. Whenever I bring back the memory of it, my heart expands. When the coordinator, again a very young lady, approached us, I told her how wonderful they were. She was happy and proud to hear that. The whole interaction was so pleasant and enjoyable. We had a little conversation about future donation supplies, and after giving them information on our organization, we left. The absolute truth is really hard to describe, but I know from the depth of my heart it was the invisible hand of the divine brightening our path. A group of young people of different nationalities, colors, and races were together working hard in a such a harmonious and beautiful way. I am so grateful for this experience. I know that will stay with me for as long as I live. Thank you Mohanji, and the ACT family for teaching me andfor making things to happen.

ACT Canada is one of the best platforms to serve and give back to the community.

ACT Food Seva, just before the Covid pandemic, four of us started out at a meeting point to drop off canned food and pizza. It was so calm and exciting at the same time. Meeting with other like-minded people and travelling in one vehicle was fun. We picked up the pizza and headed downtown. Reaching the center, we all had a warm welcome by the Center manager. She took us to the kitchen where they cooked for the homeless. The cook was very happy for the fresh produce that we delivered. We were very fortunate to serve the pizza to some of the guests who were present for lunch. It was a blessing to be able to serve and to see the humbleness on their faces. I cannot help everyone, but I do the little that I can do, and help at least few people for one meal, or for one day.

As Mohanji says, “We become contented, feel perpetual peace only when we become helpful in the world.“ I feel very happy and blessed to be a part of the volunteer team of ACT Canada team. We collect non-perishable food and donate to different shelters for women and the homeless. Our team is doing different selfless activities with so much love and joy. Whenever I go to these places, I feel overwhelmed with gratitude for being able to contribute to this selfless purpose. It’s a very beautiful experience of my life to see smiles and happiness on the faces of people in need.

The past few months of Covid 19, mankind has experienced one of the most difficult times ever during our lifetime. Fortunately, just before the lockdown, the ACT volunteer group were able to contribute food and other snacks to the homeless shelter in downtown Toronto. It gave us immense pleasure to see the joy of the homeless, enjoying the pizza lunch. During the lockdown, volunteers and others have been contributing in their own way to food banks and other organizations, wherever help is needed - especially to seniors that are isolated in their homes with no interaction. So individually we decided to help in a small way by contacting and talking to many of them and checking if they needed any help. Some of them desperately needed groceries as they could not drive. We felt complete and satisfied, as it helps and makes them happy. We also decided to show our appreciation to the senior drivers of the community centre, who were risking their lives and helping seniors with emergency doctors’ appointments, and delivering food from the community centre to seniors (called” meals on wheels”). We decided to thank them for their service in a small way by giving each of them a Tim Horton’s gift card for $25 each. We have also been giving non-perishable items every month to the nearby food bank.