Events

ZAGBA’s Fund Raising for Kentucky Tornado Victims – Meal Packing (February 2022

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UPDATE 1/13/2022

We are so pleased to announce that so far we have raised approx. $2000.  THANK YOU to all of you who have sent in their donations.  

Our goal is $6000.  Please come forth and donate. 

Dear ZAGBA Community,

Please read the message below and act timely as time is of essence here.

As you all know, in Kentucky (especially some towns such as Mayfield and Benton) there was a devastating Tornado outbreak on December 10–11, 2021, and this has made the situation worse for many families in Kentucky, during this unfortunate Pandemic, where several people have already lost their jobs and small businesses are closing.  While we are all getting ready to celebrate the Holidays and the coming New Year, let’s also spread some cheer by sending in any amount of donation that you can afford for this cause.  No amount is too small or too big. 

In these difficult times we show our strength as a community, and hoping that once again we again come together strong and are able to collectively raise a decent amount – goal being $6000.  Won’t that be amazing?

One meal = 0.30 cents. Each meal packet that is packed contains 6 meals, that can feed a whole family one time, and costs $1.80/packet.  

FUND RAISING GOAL: If we raise say approx. $6000, ZAGBA can pack or donate approx. 20,0000 meals (@.30 cents each). 

DEADLINE:  January 20, 2022 (This deadline is so that we can plan ahead, i.e.. find a venue, etc., or we just donate if it is not safe to do a volunteering event and the Outreach program will also need time to plan sending the meals to Kentucky).  

ZAGBA community, this is a very noble cause and no amount is too small or too big. Please donate generously and send your donations to ZAGBA, with a note written in the Memo section: “Meal Packing – Kentucky TornadoVictims” .  Please help in donating.

How to donate:  

Option 1: Paypal: PREFERRED!

Please use paypal and send payment to treasurer.zagba@gmail.com in paypal. There is NO fee charged to you for this and its what the board encourages you to do. The process is much faster and it’s easier for us to keep track of as well. 

  • Go to https://paypal.com and login with your paypal account. 
  • Choose Send or Request Money and then Send Money
  • In the text box enter treasurer.zagba@gmail.com
  • Enter the amount and then Sending to a friend option.
  • Add a notesaying what it is for: “Meal Packing – Kentucky Tornado Victims”
  • Click Continue and choose How you want to pay. Paypal balance or Bank debit is better for you as you are not charged any fee in that case.
  • Click Next and then Send payment Now.
  • That’s IT!!!!

Option 2: Check to ZAGBA (Please use Paypal, if possible) 

Please make checks payable to “ZAGBA” and mail them to: Pria Sarma, 103 Randlett Park, West Newton MA 02465.  

Yasmin Bhumgara, previous ZAGBA Board Member and a long-standing ZAGBA community member, has with tremendous help of the ZAGBA community held a few meal packing events in the recent past in collaboration with the Outreach Program (Matthew Martin, their regional director/coordinator) to make sure it goes to the right place and Angels Answer, Inc. a non profit organization that does amazing work in delivering these meals to those regions devastated by hurricanes, Tornado, Food Insecurity and other humane situations where there is a need.    In the past ZAGBA has successfully raised large donations for meal packing events for hurricane-stricken areas such as Puerto Rico (2017), South Carolina (2018 ),  and in 2020 ZAGBA raised $6000 dollars for the Pandemic that helped in sending 20,000 meals. ZAGBA has also annually participated in the Harvard Meal packing events during Thanksgiving time. 

Some information on the above names organizationsis below: 

The Outreach Program:  The Outreach Program is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) corporation that organizes food packaging events around the country. With more than 580 million meals packaged to date, the organization’s mission is to provide food, safe water, education, and medical care to those in need at home and abroad.  
https://outreachprogram.org/. 

Angels Answer, Inc.:  Angels Answer Inc. is an emergency food and relief agency for children, families, senior citizens, veterans, and pets, serving Central and Western Massachusetts, and food insecurity needs in locations around the world.  https://angelsanswerinc.com .  

IMPORTANT TO NOTE – In-person Meal packing event may or may not happen: 

Due to Covid-19 social gathering restrictions, we are looking to raise funds only at this point and if CDC regulations permit us to have an in-person Meal Packing event as we have done in the last (last one was 2019), we will definitely do it in February 2022 .  

If a Meal Packing event cannot be done in person due to the pandemic, the funds will be sent to the Outreach Program.  

This is for your information only:   if families or volunteers who are actually looking forward to packing meals anytime of the year, can sign up for any event that is on a daily basis at the OutReach Program’sr Pembroke Facility, where their amazing staff/volunteers are packing meals, while maintaining all the rules of social distancing. Anyone can go and volunteer there at any time: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0945aca828a1fb6-endhunger

However, ZAGBA will do it’s best to hold its own event if it can in February (CDC permitting).

Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Yasmin Bhumgara at ybhumgara@gmail.com. 

She will be happy to answer all your questions. 

Thank you, 

Best wishes,

ZAGBA Board