this section will include volunteer activities:

summary

As a Lexington resident since 1988, I am invested in serving and contributing to Lexington.  As a committed Town Meeting Member for four years, I have never missed a single session and I always make certain to immediately respond to any constituents who reach out to me. I have also served as an officer in the Town Meeting Members’ Association Executive Committee. Town Meeting is one of the oldest forms of direct democracy in the world, and I feel privileged to be a part of this democratic tradition and help move Lexington forward. 

When voting, I carefully analyze every article and bring in perspectives from my life experiences.  The 4 major issues which I feel most strongly about are protecting the environment, serving the aging population, preserving social justice and enhancing education.

For environmental issues, although we have considerable conservation land in the town, we can do more to preserve our wildlife and biodiversity by having pollinator gardens, planting trees and avoiding harmful chemicals.  To bring more awareness, I am a board member for both the “Lexington Living Landscapes” and “Citizens for Lexington Conservation”.  I grow many native plants and have a composting area and an apiary in my yard.

I realized the issues surrounding the aging population when I was a nursing home Ombudsman in Lexington. This made me acutely aware of the condition of some of our seniors.  Our community center organizes wonderful workshops and trips for seniors. I was able to lead many of them before the pandemic.  I think more should and could be done to improve the quality of life for our seniors who have contributed so much to this town.

As an Indian American, I believe there should be more opportunities to share and understand different cultures.   In 2018, I co-chaired - “Dance Around the World” through the Town Celebrations Committee. This event brought many different cultures together to perform.  In the Town Celebrations Committee, we are trying to create more of these events to increase multicultural awareness.  I have also been teaching the course “Beginning Hindi- a Language and Culture Sampler” at the Lexington Community Education to share language and Indian culture with the community.

 Lexington does a great job of educating our children. All three of my children are successful products of the Lexington School system.  Recently, I retired as the Assistant Director of the Harvard Secondary School Program after 26 years where I worked on projects to make education equitable and accessible.  I hope to provide more educational opportunities to the students of Lexington.

•Donating money to organizations seemed distant.  The amount of paper, stickers and unnecessary gifts received from them made me wonder.

•I realized, I needed human connection. So, I used my lunch hour.  Through Harvard Bridge Program, I provided on the job training, tutored English and basic computer. 

•On the weekends I helped at the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter and Mass Ave Baptist Church Pantry.

•Perkins School for Blinds and helped with job interview held at Harvard Radcliffe

•And volunteered for as a Book buddy until the program was cancelled.  This was connecting with someone assigned to me and reading the description of the book based on their interest and finally submitting their request to Perkins.

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•I tried recording textbooks for blinds in Porter Square.

•Be my Eyes app-helping a blind person find something or reading something for them

•FBI language

•Ekal vidyalay

•Parents helping parents model

•I need something challenging and joined Empower Success Corp

•They accept people after interview and provide intensive training of three days. 

•This organization trains professionals regarding the structure and function of non-profit organization as well as tools and techniques to provides customized assistance. 

•They match group of individuals with the organizations based on their expertise.

•Pre-Covid, I worked on two projects: Massachusetts Farmer’s Market and Framingham Public School

•Boston Cares is connected with different organizations and have many different options available to select from knitting to making phone calls during Covid.

-They provide training to volunteers to become leaders. Here is some options

-Prepare immigrants for Citizenship, polish their interview skills by mock interviews, co-teach at Boston Public Schools, Become a mentor for water purification science course, lead a course to develop 21st century skills specially for middle school girls, and prepare them for career readiness and life skills in after school.

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•++ Going to Boston, exploring new places

•-- distance

•++ training/ learning

•-- distance, too much talking/writing, no action

•Needed something in town Nursing Home Ombudsman- completed three-day training offered by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs.  I was trained to advocate for residents and resolve their problems. I was assigned to a floor where mostly dementia patients were placed.

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•The facility had a lot of problems and not managed well. Finally, the place was closed and Covid began

·The Money Management Program offered by Minuteman Senior Services helps people maintain their independence at home.  I was trained to help and work one-on-one with the consumer to establish a list of monthly income and expenses, set up a budget as needed.  Training finished in 2016 but unfortunately, they could not find any assignments for me. 

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·Neighbor Bridged- helps people in crisis with meals, doctor appointment and light housework.

realized there was no human connection

•finally,

Trip Chaperone with Michelle

•Town meeting member and member of Town celebration committee.

•Board member of Citizen for Lexington Conservation, and Lexington Living Landscapes

•Co-chair of the Sensory Garden.

•these opporunities:

Gave me satisfaction and gratitude

•Meaning and purpose

•Connection with people

•Opportunity to keep my brain active and use my skills

•Kept me physically active

•Helped with my depression.

•each person has to go on their own journey to customize their own set of giving-back opportunities that resonate with their personality.