Dana - Selfless Giving
To make a contribution to Ramana's Garden, send a check to "Friends of Ramana's Garden" in care of John Hurley at 809 Sligo Creek Parkway, Takoma Park, MD, 20912.

In March, 2004, John Hurley presented the Willow Street community's donation to Ramana's Garden in person. Click here to read John's letter and view pictures. Thank you for your support! To learn more about Ramana's Garden, please read Suzie's letter about her visit in December 2003.

Seva - Selfless Action
Several Willow Street Faculty members generously donate their time to N Street Village in Washington DC. N Street Village, a "Home, Family and Community" for homeless women, offers many services including a day center, night shelter, Wellness Center, addiction recovery programs and community living for those with mental illness. Free yoga classes are an important component of N Street's vision:

We are rooted in the ancient biblical concept of hospitality — “welcoming the stranger” — that brings mutual blessing to both guest and host. Each of us has a gift to give: the opportunity to assist another person in their journey back to wholeness and well-being. In this way, we complete ourselves and make our community whole.

How you can help N Street Village
Throughout the year, Willow Street students donate yoga clothes, props and other items. We are not accepting material donations at this time, but keep your eyes and ears open at our studios to find out when we will begin accepting items again. To make a monetary donation, please visit the N Street Village website or click this link (to Helping.org) to donate online.

John's Letter (March 13, 2004) Hi to all who so wonderfully supported our donation to Ramana's Garden. This morning, Saturday morning here, I went up to the orphanage, along with Prem, my guide, and Alojan, our offical photographer. We walked up the hill on the main road out of town, hung a right down a very narrow concrete road that meandered past houses and through fields for a quarter mile to the gate of Ramana's Garden. There are several brick and stone buildings, all built in the last nine years by Prabahati and her dedicated crew, housing the orphans in her care, providing school rooms for the kids, and surrounded by gardens in which they grow their own organic food. Prabahati believes that the whole program for her kids begins with healthy, nourishing meals. While Prem went to get Prabahati, Alojan and I were shown to a simple covered veranda, open on two sides to magnificent views of the mountains and up the Ganga. When Prabahati arrived, glowing with smiling energy, we sat and began to chat. I reminded her, not that she needed it, of Suzie's visit and how moved she was by Prabahati's work with the children. I told her that Suzie came back with a mission of asking the kula at Willow Street to help support Ramana's Garden. I then handed her the beautiful certificate that Mary made up, and as she read the amount of our donation, $3,000, she broke into tears. She looked up and said, you have no idea how much this will help. This, she said, is enough to feed and clothe our children for 3 months. A little later, as she showed me around the grounds, she said that she had an inspiration for a different use for our donation. There is currently a stone building with 3 school rooms on the first floor, and a covered veranda on the 2nd floor for dance and other things. With your donation, she said, I will raise the building another story, and put three more school rooms on the 2nd floor, and now have the veranda on the 3rd story. It will start when the children are through school, and be done by September when they come back. She and her staff provide the highest standard of education available in India, and they are the only school in all of India providing it for free. I stayed for 3 hours and heard so many stories. First, the stories of the children. So many of her care are Nepali refugees, forced out of their country by the terrible things happening in the countryside now. They are considered the lowest of the low in India, with no other resources available to them. Many of the young girls, as young as seven, have been rescued from a terrible life in the brothels. Some have been horribly abused and mistreated, even by their families. Lalitha was gang-raped at seven and found walking in the road, with no one to turn to, until a passer-by rescued her, and ultimately put her in the care of Prabahati. Second were the stories of the obstacles Prabahati has faced, and still faces, in trying to care for these children. Not everyone in India believes in her mission. But, there are many who do. This afternoon, as luck would have it, the woman who rescued by Lalitha visited Ramana's Garden. She wanted to see Lalitha, but her real reason is that she has accepted Prabahati's request to become the newest member of her board. In India, all foundations must be controlled by Indian citizens, and it is critical that people who truly believe in her mission are on the board. This woman, Kusum Raway, is the District Coordinator for an organization which fights for the rights of women in the villages of this state, and a very strong and powerful person. Without allies like Kusum, all of Prabahati's work would come to an end. We took pictures, and I will be going back to take more. Some, we may be able to send soon. The best of the rest we will put on the website when we return. I told Prabahati that we considered this to be just the start of a continuing relationship between Willow Street and Ramana's Garden. Actually, there is one teenage boy, Ruma (Sp?), who is an aspiring yogi. Prabahati proposed that we extend our Willow Street Outreach to Ramana's Garden, and Ruma will be our first student there. She plans on travelling to the US in late June - early July, and if we can arrange it, would be very pleased to stop at Willow Street to thank everyone personally, and to tell some of her stories directly to you. I hope we can make it work. It was such an inspiring visit. The children are so bright and friendly. They all wanted to know my name, and tell me theirs. Even those who have received the worst kinds of treatment are now flourishing in Ramana's Garden. It is a miracle of life how resiliant children are when they are loved and cared for. Know that your contribution will make a critical difference in their lives. It's truly a joy to be your representative in bringing it here. Namaste, John

Pictures from John's Visit (click for larger image) More images from Ramana's Garden are available here.

Suzie's Letter (Jan 2004): Ramana's Garden in Rishikesh, India One of the most profound and poignant experiences I had in my month long retreat to India was meeting Prabuvati. She is a 59 year old American woman who has lived in India for 25 years and has devoted her life to taking in, caring for, and educating abused, neglected, and forgotten children of all ages. Prabuvati, a seemingly incarnate Katherine Hepburn type, and a former Hollywood actress, is one of the most inspirational and amazing women I've ever met. With nearly no help, and relying solely on volunteers and the Grace of God, she has built a beautiful school and home for children who would have had no other chance to even live in most cases. She now has nearly 50 children under her care, and she still reads to them all before bed, sings to them, hugs each one, and teaches them to read, math, music, and art throughout the days. She gets them all fed, clothed and educated somehow on $30,000 a year by raising money when she travels through Europe giving conferences and workshops. This year because of the change in the euro, she didn't make what she needed, and even with donations, they are in dire need. After they gave our Sangha (the spiritual community I was with), the most wonderful Christmas show, I talked with Prabuvati for more than an hour. She told me stories about many of these children and her fight to save them in the face of resistance from the government and many of the local organizations that want her land to build new hotels and tourist traps. I told her about Willow Street and my desire to help through raising money from donations from our students, with Willow Street matching those our students’ funds. My intention is to send $2,000 in cash back to Prabuvati in early March when my husband John will go to India. Please help. If we all just give $1.00 it will make such a difference to these children. I gave Prabuvati $100. when I was there, and she just looked at me in amazement, hugged me Hepburn style, and told me that amount would feed these children for a month. John will make sure the money gets safely to her. Thank you all so much, With Gratitude.