Giving is more pleasurable than receiving.

In Texas, the local Bunts are getting very involved in many humanitarian activities. We urge all the member families to get involved in some cause of their choice. We would appreciate you all letting us know of such activities so we can share ideas among the members. Once you get involved in these activities, it becomes a habit that our children will hopefully continue.

Depending upon each person's interest, some are supporting causes locally in the US and some in other parts of the world. All of us have been doing charity work in one way or the other. Most of us have been supporting our families in need of financial help, supporting neighbors to get their daughter married, helping schools in small villages to buy books, uniforms, mid day meal and support salary for the teachers, help children in their higher education, help widows and orphans in India. Also many of us have helped people during natural disasters all over the world.

Star Of Hope

Some of us do lot of community service in our neighborhood. Recently one of our 13yr old boy from Houston, with the help of his parents conducted a drive to help the homeless people in Houston. He gave flyers in his neighborhood and collected many bags of gently used clothes, toiletries and toys. All the collected items were donated to "Star of Hope" to help the homeless people in Houston. He is planning on expanding this project and include all the Bunts in Houston to help as many homeless people as possible.

Bone Marrow Drive

Houston Bunts have started doing Bone Marrow Drives to help save Lives. Goal is to get as many Asians to register with National Bone Marrow Registry. Recently we have done bone marrow drives at India House and also at Meenakshi Temple during Diwali Mela. This was initiated after a friend of ours contacted us when his 18yr old son was diagnosed with myelodisplastic syndrome and was in need of bone marrow transplant. These children can be saved if they get bone marrow transplant in a timely manner.

Houston Food Bank

On January 21st Houston Bunts spent an afternoon at the Houston Food Bank. Houston Food Bank is the nation�s largest size Feeding America food bank and source of food for hunger relief charities in 18 southeast Texas counties. It is a 308,000 square-foot facility. A network of nearly 500 food pantries, soup kitchens, senior centers and other agencies, feeding a total of 137,000 people each week, provides more than 70 million pounds of food and prepared meals annually. We were a group of 20 adults and 15 children as young as 6 yr old. We participated in a program called a Backpack Buddy program. Food is given to hungry kids to take home from school over the weekend. Houston Bunts were able to pack a record breaking 1100 backpack packets in less than 3 hours.

Helping the Bhutanese Refugees

Dallas Bunts are supporting the Bhutanese Refugees. They are in very sad state and are in need of practically everything starting from basic needs of cloths and food, education, moral support, spiritual support just to name few.

Local Health Fair

Some Dallas Bunt members, at personal level, are actively involved in organizing Health Fairs locally under the auspices of the local Texas Indo American Physicians Society:North East Chapter (TIPS:NEC), a registered non-profit organization. They are also active in administering the Free Health Clinic run by the North Texas Indo American Physicians Charitable Foundation and TIPS.

Spreading Free Education

In addition, Dallas Bunts are active in raising funds to support education to the needy in India through non-profit organizations such as VidyaDaanam ( www.VidyaDaanam.org). Other organizations we have supported include Ekal Vidyalaya, Amma.org and others.

Susan Komen Race for the Cure

Austinites support the community in various ways - individually as well as with groups within and outside of the Bunt community. On a personal level, Austin Bunts have volunteered at our children's schools, Temples, Dental clinics, Girl Scouts, Special Olympics, Soup Kitchens, Hospitals, Food Banks, supported victims of the Texas fires, created an Apna Austin Facebook site to provide information about volunteering, donated to the uglyindian.com to help clean up Bangalore, and helped in a myriad other ways.

As a group, we have combined picnics and parties with donation drives to collect money/food/toys for food banks and victims of abuse.

Most recently, the Austin Bunts participated in the Komen Austin Race for the Cure. The Race, a fundraiser to provide breast health services for underserved men and women in the local communities as well as for national grants for breast cancer research is held every year by the Austin affiliate of the Susan G Komen for the Cure. We have participated in and volunteered with the Race for the Cure for the past 8 years or more, with members being part of the Race Committee, volunteering before and on Race Day, getting educational materials together and making key chains through the year. Most of us have had people in our lives who have had breast cancer or are fighting it right now and we feel very strongly about volunteering with the Komen Austin affiliate.

As the ApnaAustin Facebook quotes, 'Our opportunities to do good lies in our talents ~ Cotton Marther', and we, in Austin hope to continue using the talents to give back to our community.

India House - Womens Wellness Clinic

A charitable Well Woman Clinic was established in the India House Medical Clinic in April of 2009 by a member of our bunts community, who acted as the Director from inception till April of 2011. India House Houston is a 501(c)3 entity, aiming to unite the Indian community ,creating programs and services that bring together members of various regional and socio-economic subgroups of the Indian community, and creating a bridge with the local community, exposing them to the Indian culture and tradition. http://www.indiahouseinc.org The first phase of India House was built at a cost of 6 million USD and amongst other things houses a state of the art India House Medical Clinic with three examination rooms. A group of 12 volunteer OB-Gyn physicians were recruited from the Medical Staff of the Woman�s Hospital of Texas to staff the clinic. The clinic serves uninsured patients every Saturday. PAP smear and routine lab tests are also offered. The Clinic coordinator made arrangements with Harris County Hospital District staff to assist deserving patients seen at the Well woman Clinic to obtain a Gold card allowing them to obtain additional testing or surgical procedures as needed at the HCHD facilities.