Are We Inward-Looking? Reaching Out to the Local Community

1. Are We Inward-Looking? Reaching Out to the Local Community Padma Kuppa, Outreach Chair Bharatiya Temple of Metropolitan Detroit September 11-13, 2009

2. Aspects of Integration • Participation in various community organizations • Helping locally through service (Seva and HASC) • Education and tours: lecture series on Hinduism • Connect to our youth: Interfaith Families

3. Serve in Community Organizations •  City Volunteer Boards – Civic engagement • Planning Commission • Library Board – ensure books on Hinduism are accurate • Ethnic Issues Advisory Board – Hindu holidays on city calendar • Historical Commission • Check with City Community Affairs or City Manager, websites are a great source of info! • School Board and School District: • Parent Teacher Organizations (media/library/cultural festivals) • “Cultural Connections” Panel/Training Workshops • Band Boosters – support issues • Other • Troy Community Coalition: Faith Community Prayer Breakfast (Agency to prevent Drug and Alcohol Abuse) www.troycoalition.com • Macomb County Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers www.mcivc.org

4. SEVA – Helping Locally • Christmas In Action: Youth Committee participated in weekend service projects for elderly in community; stopped after discovering the practices of churches leading the initiative, and discussion with other minority faith communities • Habitat for Humanity: • Providing breakfast to volunteers, participating in building projects, donating money • Issues: Building on Faith logo and Bible provided at dedication • CROP Walk: Youth Committee part of annual 3 mile walk, initial donations by older members of community, Issues with participating churches, but money goes to feed the hungry locally • Health Care Seva Project: Referral service for Basic Health Care for Temporary Unemployed/Uninsured Families • Hindu American Seva Charities: Anju Bhargava on President’s Council – HMEC presentation www.hinduamericanseva.org

5. Education and Tours •  Education at the Temple to Local Community • Offering tours – making sure guides know major questions to answer – create an audio tour on voice recorder • Inviting to appropriate Temple events • Create regional voice, promote awareness of national issues • Partner with Higher Educational Institutions in the region • U of M Dearborn Worldviews Seminar – 2 hr tour following class • Interfaith Scholars Colloquy through MI Roundtable • Course offerings in univ/colleges in the region (for credit) • Maximizing Interfaith Understanding • Ecumenical Theological Seminary: enrolled in the MA program • Educate myself on how theology is taught, how faith community can be more organized, more helpful in the American context • Provide analogies for classmates and interfaith partners on Hindu beliefs in way that they can better understand– check my blog padmakuppa.blogspot.com for entries in Feb.-March 2009 regarding these experiences

6. Interfaith Families • Looking to the future – who will support temples? • Children “outmarrying” – anecdotal evidence within my age bracket, younger friends from temple community • Each Committee asked to find a New Membership Category – Interfaith Couples • Interfaith Family Forum on Nov. 8 at Bharatiya Temple • Panel with discussion followed by tea/coffee hour • Jewish panelist: MI Board of Rabbis • Immigration panelist – Census info • Interfaith Couple willing to support this • Optional – anthropologist/psychologist

7. Conclusion • Sanatana Dharma has evolved over time – ability to stay relevant to the current context • Similarly Hindu Temple Communities in America need to evolve, taking pride in our identity while adapting into and enriching the society in which we live through interaction and by looking outward.