Participating in the National Gandhi Day of Service, the South Asian Society at Hopkins (SASH) sent a volunteer contingent to the Baltimore County Community Waterfront Festival to gather supplies for the local victims of Hurricane Isabel, which hit the area in September of last year.
About 30 people from Hopkins went as part of SASH's volunteer group.
Participants were present at the festival from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., handing out festival information and brochures, greeting and directing visitors and manning booths.
SASH also helped to collect donations for hurricane victims from festival-goers. Around 10,000 people attended the all-day event.
"It is a great opportunity to help those in need," SASH President Nabila Rahman said, "and I am really glad that we choose to participate in this festival."
SASH has been doing community service projects for the past five years. Last year they volunteered at Race for the Cure.
This year SASH was able to collect a sizeable amount of money at the Waterfront Festival.
Although Hopkins found itself in the path of Hurricane Isabel last year it did not receive a great amount of damage as compared to other areas in Baltimore City.
SASH members who attended the Waterfront Festival were able to get a better picture of the true scope of the damage that Hurricane Isabel caused.
Senior Murtaza Diwan said, "The event allowed us to get to meet some people whose homes were destroyed or damaged due to the hurricane.
It came to a surprise to many that the hurricane could do so much damage all the way up here in Baltimore."
"We can only imagine how much damage it did in southern areas," Diwan added. "Talking to the people made us realize how much of a help we were, as they were very grateful."
Junior Apoorva Jadhav mentioned the personal benefits, in addition to the benefits for the community.
"This event turned out to be a great social event because everyone basically got to hang out together and got to know each other apart from the normal Hopkins setting," Jadhav said. "Freshmen got to know the upperclassmen a little better, and it was a really good bonding time."
This was the first-ever Baltimore County Community Waterfront Festival. It took place on Martin's Lagoon in Middle River.
In addition to recognizing Hurricane Isabel's victims and heroes, the festival included all-day music performances, a boat show, an airplane show, and fireworks.
This volunteer project was SASH's participation in a nationwide volunteer event called the National Gandhi Day of Service. The purpose of the Day of Service is to remind people of Gandhi's ideas and unite people through serving those in need.
This Day of Service is organized and run by a national group called the South AsianAmerican Leaders of Tomorrow (SAALT). SAALT's goal is to encourage and stimulate community involvement and leadership.
