History & Founder
From the time he was a child in India, Nathan Ganeshan did not enjoy celebrating his own birthday and festivals in conventional ways. For him, celebrating these special occasions was more meaningful when shared with others, especially those less fortunate.
Several years later, in 2009, Nathan, now in the US and a Senior Manager in Recruiting with a Silicon Valley high tech company, happened to walk past a park with homeless folks. On an impulse, he bought pizza for one of the homeless people. That one act of kindness lead to many acts of kindness in December 2012 when Nathan was laid off from his job. Instead of spending his weekends worrying about his family’s financial future, he chose to instead visit the park regularly on Sunday mornings to distribute pizza, water, bananas and cookies to the homeless who, by then, had started looking forward to his visits along with his sons.
When Nathan realized the impact of his actions, he hesitantly used social media to share pictures of his work. His friends reacted in a very positive manner appreciating his work and offering their time and resources to help him.
On one Sunday morning in spring 2013, when Nathan was taking his seven year old son to a tennis tournament, his little son asked him “Dad, what about homeless people? Who will feed them today?” His son’s words had a powerful impact on Nathan’s mind.
Nathan began toying with the idea of bringing like-minded people together in order to keep these acts of kindness going on without depending on the availability of a particular individual. He approached Mr. Mahesh Nihalani, a leader in community service. Mahesh-ji [‘ji’ is used by East Indians to refer to someone with respect] supported Nathan’s efforts toward building an organization. Nathan felt enthused with having received this affirmation of support.
Community Seva was officially born in June 2013.
Nathan did not imagine the impactful growth of this organization in the next 4.5 years. Community Seva, with its large team of volunteers, has cooked and served meals to people in desperate need. It has also helped equip the homeless with basic necessities required to cope with living through cold winters in the outdoors. Examples include blanket drives, backpack drives, helping flood relief victims, and brown bag & care bag services to empower children who volunteer with community service.
In 2016, Nathan’s son who by now was 12 years old asked Nathan about the usefulness of the care bags that were being distributed. He asked whether the homeless had a place to shower. Nathan realized that these are basic luxuries that we, the ones with homes, take for granted. He is now in negotiation with a company that makes mobile showers. One of his future plans is to bring portable showers and clean clothes to the homeless.
Another plan involves putting into practice the quote about teaching a man/woman to fish and making him/her independent. He intends to provide academic and career coaching to the homeless, and help them find sources of livelihood. As of the date of writing this, four homeless individuals were hired to one of the volunteer’s business warehouses.
Nathan derives immense gratification from seeing the good work growing in its reach. Given the response from the community, he envisions that the seva or service performed by this organization will grow, and will have a deep impact on all of our lives. His childhood dream has turned into reality. Nathan and his family share all their special days like birthdays and anniversaries with several homeless people in downtown San Jose. This form of selfless celebration has motivated others. Today, every meal served by Community Seva is sponsored by an individual or a family – usually on one of their special days.
Nathan’s hope in the long run is to build a homeless shelter that will provide all the services under one roof – food, shelter, job training and job placement.
The Bay Area community has reciprocated by recognizing Nathan’s work with awards. Nathan’s dedication to community service has earned him numerous state and national awards, as well as local recognitions. Nathan was awarded with a Commendation from San Jose City Mayor and City council for his service to seniors. He also was awarded the US Presidential Pin, was recognized as : Leadership Award in Community Service by Assembly Member Ash Kalra on the occasion of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (APAHM), first recipient of D8 Round Table’s Volunteer Award and Community Service award by Silicon Valley Indian Lions club with Governor’s pin