Circle of Love---Who Started It and How It All Began

[Guest guest]

Circle of Love was founded by Thaila Sunderesan around 2000-2001 as

a way to help devotees within the MA Center satsang community who

needed help at home because of illness. Volunteers would bring

cooked meals to people who were ill. They brought devotees to the

doctor or to the store. Over time volunteers would go to people's

homes who had been sick for a long time and unable to come to the

Center and would sing bhajans and pray with them.

 

This seva was going on for several years before the letter writing

component was added. Those who were being helped needed support in

between trips to the doctor, etc, so Thaila came up with the letter

writing idea and coordinated that for several years. In those years

I was a letter writer.

 

Several years back, Thaila got married and moved to Chicago to

live. The leadership of Circle of Love was taken up by a wonderful

woman who is a pediatric oncologist and she had a fellowship that

year. Oncologists deal with life and death. Not only that but with

the fellowship, she was too busy. The program became inactive for a

year. In teh summer of 2004 Amalia Darling asked me if I'd like to

lead the letter writing part of Circle of Love. I had loved doing

the letter writing. There have been times in my life during which

letters from a caring friend have kept me strong so I knew that this

letter writing stuff was not just Hallmark fluff.

 

After a year of inactivity, all the former recipients were cured, or

adjusted to their loss or in some way had moved on. My first job

was to find new recipients, people who needed letters of love and

support. As I set about looking for new recipients, folks said to

me "Your group should be writing to people in prison." That planted

the seed for what would become Circle of Love Inside less than a

year later.

 

Themba was essential in the beginning months of that program. Many

people we first wrote to were people he knew and cared about who

were in prison. We worked together very closely and formulated

important characteristics of the program. Many things have grown

and changed since those first few months as well.

 

Some people on the list may know Thaila, the founder of Circle of

Love. She is now living and going to law school in Washington, DC.

Thaila has a singing voice to die for. I'm sure the DC devotees

would come to know her because of her singing. When she returns to

teh MA Center as she visits her mom, we get to hear that wonderful

voice again. What a treat!

 

Aikya

 

Aikya

 

 

Ammachi, Ardis Jackson <ardis1 wrote:

>

> Great letter! It was neat that you could set the record straight

> without having to mention Themba. I am sure that the majority of

the

> people on the list and in the MA Center think that Themba founded

COL

> and COLI.

>

>

> On Jun 19, 2006, at 5:56 PM, Aikya Param wrote:

>

> > Hi there one and all,

> >

> > This is Aikya, your friendly neighborhood coordinator since July

> > 2004, for Circle of Love Letters, the community program which

sends

> > letters of love and support to community members who are sick,

> > grieving or isolated. Corynne Wilson from New Jersey is my right

> > hand in this work. Sweta Mitzel helps me stay in touch with

local

> > satsangs about the program. We have letter writers and

recipients

> > from Canada, the US and Aunstralia. I have been coordinating

Circle

> > of Love Letters for since August 2004. Prior to that I was a

letter

> > writer in the program.

> >

> > We are always happy to hear about new recipients and to get help

> > from new letter writers so please contact the program at

> > circleofloveletters to volunteer or to suggest someone

> > who needs love and encouragement.

> >

> > I also started Circle of Love Inside, Amma's prison ministry, in

> > November of 2004. We serve brothers and sisters who are

incarcerated

> > in thirteen U.S. states. Letter writers from the US, Canada,

> > Ireland, Australia, Malaysia and China write to incarcerated

> > brothers and sisters in the US.

> >

> > A mother and her two daughters write letters for us in Ireland.

> > They live in a town with a large maximum security prison. I look

> > forard to a little Circle of Love Inside outpost soon in

Porlaoise,

> > Ireland, some day soon. It would be the first prison outside

the US

> > that we would serve.

> >

> > The M.A. Center gives us books about Amma for free to send to

people

> > in prison. They are sent to individuals in prison who request

them

> > and also to prison libraries, prison chapel and reception

> > libraries. In addition we have a small number of volunteers who

> > visit people in prison.

> >

> > Circle of Love Inside now receives letters from folks who have

heard

> > about our work from other inmates. Family members come tell me

> > about sons, husbands, nephews, cousins and ask if we could

write to

> > them, if we could send them books. A security guard at the

church I

> > attend asked for some flyers about our program.

> >

> > Right now I have seven new names of Amma's tenderly loved

children

> > in prison. They are in the states of Washington (new state for

us),

> > Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey (another new state for us),

and

> > Pennsylvania. They want letters. Some of them want books. They

all

> > want someone to reflect back to them that they matter, that

someone

> > cares about them, that someone wishes them well.

> >

> > How great that everyone is inspired by what has been happening

> > during amma's visit to San Ramon this time. This is real heart

to

> > heart stuff. I am very passionate about the prison work in

> > particular. Why am I so on fire about this stuff? I never

> > understood until this past week.

> >

> > Last week I attended a workshop designed to help families with

> > members in prison express their feelings about what that was

like

> > for them. For me it opened up a lot of grief about my little

> > brother. He never went to prison but he was headed in that

> > direction. He got into all the wrong things, but he didn't live

> > long enough to wind up in jail. All these years, when I would

miss

> > him, I'd think about a nice normal future that he could be

enjoying

> > if he was still alive. When I went to that workhop, I realized

that

> > those were pretty stories and not the truth. In fact, he

probably

> > would have been one of the guys whose names I have who wants

> > somebody to write to him. I realized that my passion about

reaching

> > out to these folks was because of my baby brother. I'm always

> > reaching out to him, sending books to him, wanting him to know

that

> > he is loved, no matter who I'm dealing with in whatever state.

It's

> > really only my little brother, literally.

> >

> > Say, can you write letters to these folks, one of the seven new

> > people? Seven new names all at once is a lot I tell you. My

> > faithful and amazing letter writers, champtions that they all

are,

> > might like me to ask someone else just this time. If you think

you

> > could find it inside yourself to reach out to one of these

brothers

> > and sisters, please contact me at circle.of.love.inside

> >

> > I am thanking Amma right here and right now for lighting the

light

> > of inspiration and love in bright new wonderful volunteers that

she

> > is sending our way so that each of these seven will know Amma's

love

> > through the care of new volunteers.

> >

> > Aikya

> >

> >

> >

>

>