Alka Aneja, a leading realtor by profession, is a very humble and kind person we all know. She has that instinct to think and take immediate meaningful actions towards situations.
It all started when she was made aware about a family affected by COVID. Within a spur of a moment she kindled immediate support and a responding team that consisted of her friends, clients, acquaintances and local citizens. They came forward and volunteered to provide home cooked food for the family- until they recovered.
The family says - “We were very fortunate to recover from Covid-19 and could not be more thankful. While we were going through the tough time either in hospital or at home with four confirmed positive cases for Covid-19 and two young kids, the help we received from people we absolutely did not know was beyond amazing..”
Having seen the impact of Covid to this family, and - seeing the wide-spread duress during the unforeseen pandemic times, there was a rapid urge in the volunteers to continue providing support to the community and give back in any possible way.
Alka spearheaded the efforts and a group called “Humbled By Your Service” was formed.
The initial goal of the group was to help the front liners during COVID, and then continue into other areas to provide an assurance of positivity from the community.
Very proud to say- the group executed many missions successfully.
Quick rundown of missions executed by the group:
Mission 2 through Mission 4 - Alka along with her network reached out to several hospitals like JFK, RWJ and Seven (7) Nursing Homes and offered to provide Food, Water, PPE - Face Shields, Wipes, Hand Sanitizers, Gloves, Gowns, Baby Monitors etc. To meet these requirements several people were approached and they reciprocated.
*Hundreds of front-liners’ and medical staff’s requirements were received and fulfilled.
Mission 5 - As Alka always quotes: “when you start something noble the universe aligns to help you and that’s what happened”. This mission was to help and make sure no one goes to bed hungry. Instead of limiting donations to a handful of local food pantries – Alka, coordinated with McFoods Network of Middlesex County that serves around 130 food pantries.
*Non-perishable food worth around $5k, over 3,500 pounds of groceries including rice, peas, snacks and more was put together and provided to McFoods Network of Middlesex County.
Mission 6 - Make an attempt to put a smile on children’s faces – especially at foster care homes. This became unanimously the next mission, with CASA for Children of Middlesex County. The idea was simple – let us try to fulfil children’s Wishlist and not just donate something on our own. The idea also struck as the number of kids at foster care are increasing during / post pandemic.
*Thus far the group- with Alka’s initiative and leadership has been able to provide gifts for 35 kids, and it’s still an on-going mission.
Mission 7 – Provide water for thirsty: as the next mission - the group donated 13,000 bottles of water to United Methodist Church at New Brunswick.
For a simple reason - “These wonderful people continue to serve the homeless through this pandemic and we want to be a small part of their service.”
Mission 8 – Also an on-going mission focuses on women suffering from Domestic Violence and providing support to them and theirs – including grocery, Medicare support, education etc. the group is helping Manavi South Asian Women's Organization and Dina’s dwelling.
The group’s efforts have been recognized by local chapters, news/media channels, and community groups.
Alka Aneja- is not only an active volunteer, leader but also someone who leaves no opportunity to serve those who deserve the most. She also runs a very strong community talk show – “Soul Talks with Alka”
We are proud to have her as the leader of the group. We along with her are – Humbled By Your Service !!
Chandrashekhar