Hindu Nonprofit Donates Food, Hygiene Supplies To Pantry

BUFFALO GROVE, IL — Last month, Hindus from around the world celebrated Diwali. The festival of lights is one of the most important religious holidays of the year for devotees.

For SVG Charity, a Hindu faith-based non-profit organization serving "humanity with spirituality," this year's celebration also presented a chance to give back to those in need. Having raised more than $18,000 during the spring to help fight the coronavirus pandemic, the organization wanted to also make a difference during the Thanksgiving holiday season.

As part of a charity drive, SVG Charity, along with some partners, donated a total of 944 pounds of food and over 100 pounds of hygiene supplies to the Vernon Township food pantry in Buffalo Grove. SVG partnered with local nonprofits Sewa International USA, HSS Buffalo Grove, and Shree Swaminarayan Temple Wheeling. The drive was part of a national-scale Sewa Diwali Food and Supplies Drive. The Vernon Hills food pantry serves residents in Arlington Heights, Bannockburn, Buffalo Grove, Half Day, Indian Creek, Lake Forest, Lincolnshire, Long Grove, Mettawa, Mundelein, Riverwoods, Vernon Hills and Wheeling.

"Diwali symbolizes the victory of light over dark, or good over evil. It is a time when we bring light or happiness into our homes to celebrate new beginnings," Keesan Patel, of SVG Charity, told Patch. "However, we understand that not everyone is as fortunate as we are in being able to live a happy and peaceful life. Thus, it felt appropriate to do something to help bring light and happiness into the lives of the less fortunate."

For the drive, SVG Charity collected food items like coffee, snack bars, breakfast cereal, dry pasta, noodles, rice, canned fruits, canned soup and veggies, sugar, salt, pasta sauce, mac and cheese, peanut butter, jelly and condiments. Cleaning supplies and baby products were also collected.

Jonathan Altenberg, Vernon Township supervisor, thanked the organizers for the donation collection.

"Your kind donation of 500 pounds of groceries to the food pantry allows us to distribute this nutritious food to our Township families, seniors, men, women and children who need assistance," Altenberg said in a letter of appreciation.

According to Patel, SVG Charity is based in the town of Vadtal in the Indian state of Gujarat. From there, it has expanded to having chapters across Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, and North America.

The organization serves all people irrespective of age, race, gender, nationality, or religion. SVG Charity has helped aid communities affected by national disasters and has also provided educational services, organ, blood, and plasma drives, food and clothing drives, and military relief funds. In the United States, SVG Charity has chapters in Scranton, Chicago, Houston, New Jersey, Richmond (Virginia) and is currently working on expanding.

"Many times, we hear about people struggling in the inner city, so we forget that there are people in similar circumstances in our own backyards," Patel said. "Assisting the Vernon Township Pantry would allow us to serve our local community directly, and since they have also put out messages encouraging people to donate because the pantry is in need, we felt it would be helpful to donate a lot of supplies to relieve some of the burden on the township."

To donate to SVG Charity and to view events from all over the world, visit svg.org/charity.