Today, April 6th 2011, is Seva Canada's 29th Anniversary. By coincidence, it is also the 80th birthday of Ram Dass, one of Seva's founders. To mark this day and the 52 weeks leading up to our 30th Anniversary, we're launching a "Commit Random Acts of Seva" campaign. Join us in the spirit in which Seva was created. Seva means "service to humanity". Commit random acts of seva and share your stories with us. Email fundraising@seva.ca or call 604-713-6622. Each week we'll post a blog or share a story, either from our supporters or from the field, about acts of kindness and compassion. Here's our first story about how two Vancouverites with green thumbs rescued plants from destruction and raised funds for charity, including a Seva eye camp in Tibet, with a plant sale and garden tour. Nagib Padamshi and his neighbour, Cyrus Jagosh, have been collecting plants for months, rescuing them (with permission) from building sites where they would otherwise be destroyed.

Cyrus, Susan and Jean at the plant sale and garden tour for Seva

On March 27th, they held a plant sale and garden tour for charity, with most of the funds going to support an eye camp in Tibet at which hundreds of people, young and old, will have sight-restoring cataract surgery.

Happy customers at the plant sale for Seva

The event was very popular and people came from all across Vancouver to buy lovely mature plants at great prices, pots, garden supplies and cut flowers and to tour Nagib's spectacular garden on West 57th Avenue. All told, the event raised $1470 for Seva. Thank you Nagib, Cyrus, Maureen, Irina, Amanda, Susan, Carole and all those who made this possible. "Everybody wins with this," said Susan Erdmann, a Seva board member who helped out on the day. "Nagib and Cyrus had a fabulous time. The plants were rescued from certain death. The money goes to give life back to blind people. And the purchasers of the plants got great bargains and a lot of joy for the future." Watch the blog for our next post for Week #51 and the special story of our very own bathing beauty, Susan Erdmann! (To make sure you don't miss a post, subscribe to our RSS feed for this blog.)

Hellebore or Lenten rose, the true harbinger of spring