Exciting News: Festival of India Youth Bus Tour

[Guest guest]

Dear GBC, Maharajas and Prabhus,

 

For the past nine years, 35-45 devotee youth from

around the world have been traveling to temples and

Ratha-yatra festivals across North America with the

Vaishnava Youth Bus Tour, organized by Manu and Jaya

Radhe and other volunteers at ISKCON Youth Ministry.

The youth performed dramas, kirtanas, book and

prasadam distribution, enlivening anyone who has had

the pleasure to come in contact with them. H.H.

Jayadvaita Swami, H.H. Kavichandra Swami, and H.H.

Ramai Swami have all toured with the youth. (If you

are an ISKCON Guru or Sannyasi or GBC who would like

to come and lend your association to our youth for a

couple of weeks on our tour, please contact

manu (AT) krihna (DOT) com. This would mean a lot to the youth.)

 

This summer, for the first time ever, the bus tour

will take a large part of the responsibility for

Festival of India. After 22 years of selfless service,

Madhuha Prabhu's physical body is no longer able to

carry the full weight of the festival program and he

is effectively passing the torch to a new generation

of enthusiastic youth.

 

Imagine new life breathed into every Ratha-yatra

festival, with youthful energy on the cultural stages,

youth kirtanas, youth dramas, youth dancing. The only

thing missing is a new bus to transport the youth -

for only $40,000.

 

Why do we need a better bus? Using a school bus as our

main mode of transportation proved challenging and

unpredictable. We could never promise to reach a

destination on schedule. Last summer we broke down a

record number of 14 times and missed several

appointments. In addition, school buses are limited to

55 mph, zero air-conditioning, no luggage bays.

 

What We Need - This summer we have the unique

opportunity to marry the talents of the youth summer

bus tours with Festival of India. However, the major

challenge is obtaining a suitable vehicle to transport

everyone.

 

We have now spent two years studying hundreds of buses

at dealerships, talking to bus mechanics about the

best engines, transmissions, and maintenance

schedules.

 

Madhuha Prabhu and the Festival of India trustees have

stepped up to the plate and pledged the entire $35,000

from the Festival of India endowment fund as a down

payment on this "greyhound-style" bus, which will cost

$75,000. We are only six weeks away from the start of

our tour, and the need for a new bus is urgent and

immediate. We now need to raise the remainder of an

additional $40,000 to pay for the bus.

 

Vision - The marriage of the Youth Harinama

Sankirtana Bus Tour and Festival of India is an

amazing manifestation of Srila Prabhupada's desire for

"a cultural revolution to re-spiritualize society."

The Alachua devotee community will become the backbone

for the Festivals of India, providing the youth to

organize and perform at the festivals, the bus

drivers, cooks, chaperones, and those who make the

tour happen with their financial support.

 

There is no question that this is an extremely dynamic

preaching program, and one of the largest Krishna

conscious programs to directly engage our youth in the

world. What better way for youth to spend a summer

vacation than in the association of other youth having

fun in Krishna consciousness, chanting, dancing,

feasting and literally "putting on" Ratha-yatra

festivals all across North America?

 

How You Can Help - We invite you to get involved in

any way you can. Soon we would like to increase the

festivals and perform at cultural halls and college

theaters in every city we pass through. We need your

help. And we need reliable transportation.

 

Please take this opportunity to participate. Help us

plan the tour, come on the tour, or give a donation to

make this tour happen. We still need $40,000 before we

can drive anywhere, to get a reliable bus, and before

any of the Ratha-yatras can happen this summer. The

yearly maintenance costs of $6500 for the bus will be

covered by the bus tour fees we charge participants.

 

All donors of $108 or more will get their names

published on a metal plaque in their honor, that will

be installed on the inside of the bus. All donors of

$1008 and more will get individual plaques. All who

travel with this festival will be able to see and

appreciate your financial support for years to come.

 

"Our youth have a wealth of cultural talent ... this

tour gives them the opportunity to use their abilities

in Krishna consciousness in very real terms, preaching

to thousands of awed onlookers wherever we go," says

Manu Dasa, the tour's organizer. "Seeing so many of

their own peers absorbed and having fun in Krishna

consciousness is very enlivening for [the youth.] By

the end of the tour you can see a fire lit in their

eyes, a taste for what Krishna consciousness can be

like. They've just spent two months absorbed in a

bliss and happiness they can't find in other areas of

their life."

 

To give a donation or to volunteer contact: Manu or

Jaya Radhe care of ISKCON Youth Ministry, PO Box 283,

Alachua, FL 32616, USA. Phone: 386-462-0481 (work) or

386-418-3839 (home), Email: manu (AT) krishna (DOT) com

 

For details of the upcoming bus program, see:

http://www.krishna.com/bustour

 

 

 

 

 

 

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