Quiet Hands prepares and delivers care packages to the homeless and less fortunate, across the UK and India. Given freely, in person where we can, expecting nothing in return. This is Vand Chhako, sharing what we have, lived out in the simplest way.
ਘਾਲਿ ਖਾਇ ਕਿਛੁ ਹਥਹੁ ਦੇਇ॥ ਨਾਨਕ ਰਾਹੁ ਪਛਾਣਹਿ ਸੇਇ॥
Ghaal khaa-ay kichh hathahu day-ay, Naanak raahu pachhaaneh say-ay
"One who works for what he earns, and gives some of it away with his own hands, O Nanak, he alone knows the true path."
Guru Granth Sahib Ji, Ang 1245Giving with your own hands, hathahu day-ay, is the heart of this seva. Not sending money and looking away, but carrying something real to someone who needs it, and meeting them as an equal.
Packages are put together around what people actually need, and what dignity asks for. Depending on who they're for and where they're going, they may include:
Blankets, gloves, scarves, hats and warm layers for those sleeping rough through cold nights.
Everyday hygiene and toiletry essentials, the small things that protect a person's dignity.
Non-perishable food and drink to carry someone through the days ahead.
Sanitary and female-care products, often the hardest to come by and least talked about.
Baby-care essentials for families and mothers doing their best in hard circumstances.
Packages grow and change with the need, and with what the Sangat is able to give.
Right now, this seva runs in two places, each with its own need:
Quiet Hands is a grassroots, Sangat-led seva initiative, not a registered charity. We do not ask for or accept donations. Every package is prepared and delivered by unpaid sevadars, giving their time and hands as seva, expecting nothing back. What is given, is given as seva, start to finish.
If you run a charity, shelter, Gurdwara, or organisation, Sikh or otherwise, that houses or supports the homeless and less fortunate, and you could use care packages or specific supplies for the people in your care, please get in touch. Helping you serve them is exactly what this seva is for.
We ask for nothing back, because the seva itself is the gift, to the one who receives it and the one who gives it. This is what it means to serve in Chardi Kala.
What Seva Means