Dear Friends, Namaste ! Ganapati Bappa Moraya !

There are multiple opportunities to offer your sewa at HIS feet, and a few such opportunities for your awareness are mentioned below.

1. Finance: 

We request you to donate generously in order to celebrate this Ganesh Festival. Information on donations is available on Bharatiya Temple’s website or by clicking on the following link: Information on donations

2. Ganarang:
PGF is pleased to bring back Ganarang again as part of its 20th year celebrations. This is a group dance competition that provides competitive opportunities to showcase your best talent, win trophies based on judging combined with neutral judge and audience poll. There are
● 2 dance forms: 1. Indian Classical Dance form 2. Folk & popular dance form.
● 3 Age Categories: Bala Gana (Age 5 to 11), Kishor Gana (Age 12-18), Tarun Gana (Age 19 and above)
Guidance Info: link to guidance info, Signup: link to Ganarang Signup form

3. Volunteer Drivers needed for Parking Shuttle:
We are reaching out within our community for volunteer drivers to drive 12-passenger and 15-passenger vans. The hours for driver volunteers are generally between 6 pm to 10 pm on weekdays and from 11 am -11 pm on weekends. We will provide some training in advance, and all volunteer drivers will be covered under Temple Insurance. If you are interested in volunteering as a driver, please click on the following link to fill out your information: Volunteer Shuttle Driver Signup

4. PGF 2024 Volunteer Signup:
PGF being a Sarvajanik (Public) festival runs entirely on the shoulders of volunteers. All festival committees need a lot of help during pre-festival planning and in-festival execution. Please sign up using the following link to volunteer in committees of your interest: General Volunteer Signup

5. Participate in Ganesh Procession:
We warmly invite children from Balvihars, students of Indian classical dance schools, youth groups from local Indian cultural associations, college students, and young adults to participate in and perform dances during the Ganesh Aagaman (Arrival) and Visarjan (Immersion) Procession events.

These events are scheduled for Friday, September 6th and and Monday, September 16th respectively.

The registration deadline is June 18, 2024. Please note that spots are limited and tend to fill up quickly! Please click on the following link to sign up: Procession Participant Signup Form

6. Sponsor and participation in key Religious events:
As part of the Religious Events, we invite all community members and their families to come forward and sponsor / participate in the auspicious poojas held during the 10-day Ganesh Festival.

● Gauri Pooja - Dates TBD
● Ganesha Maha Abhishekam - Dates TBD
● Ganesha Pooja by Children (FREE) Registration Required - Dates TBD
● Ganesha Vivah/Kalyanam - Dates TBD

To sign up for the various poojas, please click on the following link: Religious Events Sponsorship Form

7. Perform Sangeet Sewa, Nritya Sewa in Deity Hall:
We invite young students of Indian classical music and dance to offer Bhajan, Kirtan, Sangeet Sewa, and Nritya Sewa to Lord Ganesha in the main temple hall on the 2nd floor on selected days (days will be communicated in advance), as a group. Young students interested in participating are encouraged to fill out the form
by June 25th, 2024. Please click on the following link to sign up: Sangeet Sewa/Nritya Sewa signup Form

8. Join the PGF Youth Committee (YCOMM):
Become YCOMM LEADS or join YCOMM as a volunteer: The 2024 Festival Youth Committee (YCOMM) is looking forward to selecting up to 16 Youth leaders (from 10th, 11th and 12th grade) to 7 YCOMM subcommittees. We will select 2 Overall Youth Lead Coordinators, 7 Leads (Mostly 12th or 11th graders) and 7 Co-leads (mostly 10th/9th/8th graders). Each Youth subcommittee will be assigned to 1-2 PGF committees to help execute the tasks. The selected youth leaders will lead youth teams, in offering set-up & sewa tasks during the 10 days of PGF 2024 festival. Volunteer effort Certificates for the hours spent by Youth members will be provided at the end of the festival.

There are two forms:
1. Form for those youth who are interested in leading/co-leading two committees as a youth coordinator - please click on the following link to sign up for this: Lead/co-lead as a youth coordinator
2. General volunteer interest form for those youth interested in joining as a volunteer (not necessarily committee lead) - please click on the following link to sign up for this: General volunteer sign up

Please send an email to pgfcoreteam@gmail.com and CC - pgfyouthcomm@gmail.com. DEADLINE IS JUNE 18, 2024. We will also have our Annual YComm Fun Day at a date to be announced soon.

9. Host and Hospitality (H&H) Committee:
The H & H Committee takes care of all Artists, their stay during performance, their food requirements , transportation, and other needed details during the actual performance day! We are looking for families who can host artists, help in transportation to and from the airport as per their schedule, and help on actual performance day. Hosting Artists is a unique experience where you get time to interact with them, and give Artists a feel like a home! Transportation details we get to know as we come closer to the festival date. On Actual performance day help in getting felicitation Thalis ready, serve Artists dinner post-performance, and take care of Artists needs during performance. Please send your interest to support the H & H committee at PGFHostAndHospitality@gmail.com

 

Ganapati Bappa Moraya ! Mangal Murti Moraya !!

Sincerely In service to Lord Ganesha,

Adwait Palsule, Raja Gali, Jayessh Parmar and Rajesh Tambe

Philadelphia Ganesh Festival 2024 Core Team