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her like this for the past 5 years. Believing in my cause, my friends are still supporting me
by donating even as little $25 every year towards helping my friend cover her medical
expenses. I am thankful to all my friends and family for the support I am getting every
day.

When I told my friend that she was the inspiration behind my 40 birthday celebration,
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she told me,“help people if you can- it doesn’t matter how big or small.” It was an“aww”
moment for me and the best advice I got for my 40 birthday. Wow! What a beautiful
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way of seeing life. Seeing her, I realized that I am so blessed to walk and do what I want,
and so started to think about what I can do to make a difference in other people’s lives.

While crossing my fingers to support my friend until her last breath, I also decided to
add one more charitable focus this year and start, “senior socials”for elderly people.

When my parents came to the U.S. to visit me, I noticed they were excited for the first
two weeks and after that they started feeling lonely. My parents always wanted people
around to chat with and started missing their hometown after some time, even though I
tried my best to be with them. It made me wonder how I could keep them busy. I wanted
to do something to fill their loneliness and add a little cheer to their stay. After they left
think. I realized that
and my kids moved to college, I had some time to think.I realized that I can fill my empty
nest again with seniors and help them reconnect with people their age, so that parents
can enjoy their visits to the U.S. So, I came up with this idea that every 3 Sunday I will
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invite my friends’ parents who are visiting the U.S. and have a senior social gathering.
I would arrange picnics or play games so that they get to connect to this country, meet
new people, and make new connections here too. Hopefully these small steps will aid
my big vision for what I am planning after a couple of years.

I hope to open a senior daytime activity center in Mysore to spread love and bring
happiness into the lives of elderly people. It will be a beautiful gathering place for
parents, and everyday they will engage in a lot of activities with others of the same age
group. This center’s mission is to fulfill their little wishes and celebrate their special days
that they miss from their younger days. Through this center I want to add color to their

lives and try to fill their emptiness.

Whenever I see my grandmother living within her four walls eagerly waiting for
someone to come and give her love and attention, and how upset she gets when often
nobody shows up, it breaks my heart. She says that no one has time for her and she is
right- how much time are we giving our parents or grandparents while we are running
around every day building our nests and busy with our own lives? When parents wait for
someone to come visit or wait for phone calls and they are counting their days, my heart
goes out to them. For many reasons, it’s not possible to spend time with parents every
day. Instead of being alone, parents will look forward to coming to this senior activity
center every day and making their life’s journey more cheerful. Life will be a blessed

and joyful journey when they have loving and caring people around them. There is a
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