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We at Hope B~Lit are elated to share with you a quick update on our Values Initiative, “Connections Across Borders”. With our latest project - “Linking by Inking”, we are connecting children in the USA with children in India through letters. We are now a step closer to creating a new breed of "Citizens of The World" - beyond classroom walls, beyond the local community and beyond borders. “To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart.” – Phyllis Theroux Watch this space for more on the letter writing fun! 
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We have initiated a Composting Program at an Elementary School of the Los Angeles School District. The students were very excited about composting, and we spoke to them about being responsible consumers by thinking about what happens to the waste once it disappears into a trash can. But we were pleasantly surprised to learn how much they already knew! As the Roman philosopher Seneca once said "While we teach, we learn".
Students are at the cynosure of a successful composting program, and it is important to encourage them to feel ownership of the program. With this in mind, in our interactive session, we discussed about how the things we use on a daily basis impacts the environment. We taught them concepts of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. The children were also involved in the logistical aspect and putting up posters. It was amazing to see their excitement to put together the composting bins. They worked like a team of efficient engineers on a mission! We at Hope B~Lit created some awesome stuff in order to prep for this program (every once-in-a-while, we love bragging!) We customized compost bins (we'll share a post on "the making" soon) and created original composting posters for the Elementary school students. We are extremely happy with the results because they look so good - our team of inspired and dedicated artists made this possible! No act of kindness and generosity is ever forgotten. We are grateful to the company who printed the posters for us at no cost. All for a good cause! And they inspired us to share our original posters and the making of the bins with anyone who would like to initiate a composting program - anywhere. For sharing never goes out of style! Priyanka Banerjee Communications Coordinator Hope B~Lit  While we've been 'quiet' on the social media scene for a while, we've been making waves in the 'real world' by bringing about a positive change - one child at a time.
Recently, we conducted our Values Workshop (with a twist - or two!) with a group of children between 8 and 16 years in Los Angeles. This was the first time we incorporated ALL the Core Values of Love, Peace, Non-Violence, Right Conduct and Truth with our very own SONG and MUSIC in the workshop. Yes, kids (and us alike!) happily singing and learning our way to 'goodness'. Another first for us was that we adults took a backseat for this workshop and let 13-year old Divya coach the little ones. She made it real simple too. She shared stories on each of the values and encouraged others to do the same. The results were amazing! The experiences shared were richer, more open and honest. We were overwhelmed to see the wealth of wisdom in the kids - coaching each other, suggesting ideas to deal with difficult situations faced by them, and just opening their hearts wide to share and learn. Perhaps if we adults learn a thing or two from children, there would be no borders and no wars. For them, it really is all about LOVE...Plain and simple. Priyanka Banerjee Communications Coordinator Hope B~Lit Los Angeles
We at Hope B-Lit believe that small steps take you a long way. With an ambitious aim to bring light and life to walls of the classrooms at the 93rd Street Elementary School, Hope B-Lit volunteers provided assistance and worked in association with the youth of Sri Satya Sai organization to initiate the project. We all reached the school bright and early on a Saturday morning armed with paint brushes, rollers and paints. (Yes, we had paintbrushes, and we weren't afraid to use them!). The brown and pale green classrooms were painted with shades of Pink and Purple, and with each brush stroke, we could see the smiles on the faces of the children. The school principal Victor Sanchez was around constantly lending his support, proving his commitment to the school and the kids. A special mention once again to the youth of Sri Satya Sai organization for donating the supplies and sharing their time & expertise on the task at hand. The delight on the faces of the young students at the sight of their transformed classroom is our greatest reward. United in harmony people from different walks of life came together to accomplish this beautiful task. Such selfless acts by volunteers and the community reinstates the message in our heart - "Where there is HOPE, there is Light" Let HOPE Be Lit In every Child's Heart  We ARE EXCITED !!!
A Vision is coming true of being able to provide the Education and Human Values concept to teachers in a school district and be able to give them Professional Development Credits! This SATURDAY FEB 22nd '2014 Hope B~lit is conducting a Hands On EHV workshop in the UTLA " Lets Talk Common Core Conference " and this gives the attending professionals " One salary Point and 12 Pre-Approved Professional Development hours " UTLA is the second largest teachers union local in the nation and one of the most influential. { http://www.utla.net/about} We thank the numerous people who have always stood by us and believe in the Education and Human Values Initiative !!! We celebrate our very first Official Workshop Submission to the LA School District on invitation for presenters. Having functioned for a long time by word of mouth this is a huge step for us. We thank our tireless team for their precious support for this cause and loving work to see the benefit of every heart our program touches.
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