Apna Sapna Club
Apna Sapna club meets the second Tuesday of every month from 11am to 2pm at Sai Temple on Western Row in Mason. The volunteers from the Indian community provide transportation and other support.We run a support group format, for the first half hour, with the group with the goal of developing self-sufficiency and interdependent support system with the other seniors in the group. This is followed by a guest speaker on topics ranging from medical (hypertension/ arthritis etc), to spiritual, alternative medicine and nutrition, chair yoga, acupressure therapy etc. The topics are age and culture specific with the presenter speaking in the national language of India- Hindi. Games and raffles are integral part of this club. Seniors look forward to an afternoon of laughter and fun which the element of age-appropriate games bring along. Seniors are given opportunity in every event to present their expertise, wisdom and talent which causes the seniors to reconnect with their passion and their hobbies.
Food is a must in Indian culture. Eating meals together bonds the seniors in an informal heart-centered way. We begin with snacks and chai (Indian tea without which any Indian gathering is truly incomplete). Later we provide lunch which is mostly provided by a community member who sponsors lunch for that month.
Core team consists of Geeta Mehan ,Sangeeta Jain, Vishakha Manek, Vandana Bhardwaj, Kavita Sharma and Anita Raturi along with a team of dedicated volunteers .
Our games are planned by Sangeeta Jain (KAMLAJI KA KHAZANA) which is dedicated in the memory of her mother, Kamla ji who was a dedicated social worker.
We had 48+ seniors and 5 volunteers this month! Our special speaker this month was a highly qualified Acupressure Therapist from India. She was a huge hit with the attendees. They were full of questions which she answered very patiently.
In May we celebrated Mothers and Fathers Day together since a lot of people were going to be away in June.
We will now have monthly lunch sponsors for our club. This way, community members who otherwise can not come or volunteer but wish they could pitch in, will now have an opportunity to be part of Apna Sapna Seniors club, and can be lunch sponsors for $200 (lunch is $5 per person so far, and we need food for roughly 40 people). A monthly sign up sheet will be released.
With the numbers growing,the room at the office was becoming too small. So we moved out of that space to Sai Temple. They have been very supportive and have allowed us the use of their cafeteria. That works well because there is enough seating and the kitchen makes it very convenient to serve lunch.
We have an amazing team of volunteers who put their heart and time into making each meet very special.
