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A PERSONAL JOURNEY OF CHANGE
I grew up in a household where my parents constantly reminded me that every action I take leaves a mark on the world. Influenced by this perspective from a young age, I have taken numerous trips and participated in various events aimed at making a positive impact on the lives of people, animals, and our planet. This page offers a glimpse into those experiences.
Our family visited the newly opened PreetiRang Sanctuary in 2013. Spanning 40 acres of pasture and wetlands, the sanctuary is a compassionate haven for rescued farm animals. The sanctuary is designed to offer a tranquil, stress-free setting for animals often treated merely as economic assets.
In 2019, I visited a Wildlife SOS elephant rehabilitation center in India. The experience was profoundly eye-opening as I witnessed blind, elderly, injured, malnourished, and dehydrated elephants, many of whom had suffered under illegal and exploitative conditions.
For my 10th birthday, my parents gave me the chance to attend a foster parent orientation with HSSV. The experience was so moving that I ended up fostering 10 rescue dogs, addressing their emotional, physical, and behavioral needs. We also adopted our first dog through the program.
I volunteered for Vibha, an organization that initiates, develops, and amplifies solutions to systemic issues affecting children. Their core mission is to elevate public education by scaling successful models in motivation, learning, training, and technology, driving meaningful improvements across the education system.
As a volunteer for Vibha, I helped out at the Art and Craft booth during The Dream Mile, a Run/Walk fundraiser organized by Vibha. The event was highly successful, attracting a little more than 1,000 participants from the San Francisco Bay Area. The first Dream Mile was held by Vibha volunteers in Atlanta in October 1998.
I visited the Rock Garden in Chandigarh, a creation of the artist Nek Chand. He spent 18 years collecting rocks and stones from his bicycle journeys, repurposing waste from trash heaps and debris from villages demolished for city development. His work transformed recycled materials into a stunning artistic space.
Cupertino’s Annual Earth Day & Arbor Day Festival is an engaging event for all ages, focusing on environmental education and solutions in a family-friendly setting. Drawing thousands of visitors and numerous partner organizations each year, the festival offers interactive activities, live entertainment, and tasty food from local food trucks. In 2022, I volunteered at the FabMo booth.
I had the opportunity to educate the public at the FabMo booth, which supports environmental stewardship by diverting discontinued designer fabrics, tiles, wallpapers, and similar materials from landfills. We provide these resources to the community, encouraging creative reuse and promoting sustainability while reducing waste through innovative repurposing.
At the 2024 Cupertino Earth Day festival, I led creative reuse activities for all ages and engaged young visitors by reading Wangari Maathai: The Nobel Peace Prize Winner’s Journey. This highlighted her Green Belt Movement, which successfully planted 30 million trees and empowered women, creating significant social change and fostering a deeper appreciation for environmental activism.
Concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the elderly, our founder, Laura Steuer, leveraged her experience in phone outreach and compassionate communication. She rallied volunteers and collaborated with social workers and senior service agencies, and founded Friendly Voices to combat senior loneliness and isolation. I have been their Social Media Manager since 2022.
As the video editor for the YouTube channel @rsculturalcafe, I assist with recording, editing, and producing content for the channel’s stories. Below is a sample of a story I have worked on