Mr. Saraf came to America from Nepal in 2000 to live the American dream with nothing in hand. He held many different jobs and responsibilities and worked hard over many years to settle down in this country.

During those early years of struggle, he also noticed the underprivileged living within our communities. There were so many who struggled to find a job, or keep a home, so many of them just wanted to have a meagre warm meal in the day. During cold winter nights many of these homeless individuals struggled to stay warm on the streets, The feeling of compassion and empathy planted a seed in Mr. Saraf’s mind and heart and he made a decision to volunteer and help the underprivileged of our community as best as he could.

Today Prakash is the owner of Days Inn in Baltimore MD, but he has continued to stay actively involved in charity service within the community for the past 10 years. He encouraged and coached his son, Neev Saraf at an early age of 4 years to do little acts of kindness and learn to give back to the community. From a very young age, on every birthday Neev has been donating his piggy bank collection of money to charity organizations. They both have been involved in many services, like cooking at shelters, serving food, or packing and distributing personal hygiene items and blankets on cold winter nights.

One of the highlights of Neev and his family’s contribution was when the devastating earthquake struck Nepal in 2015, Neev was deeply moved by the news and images on television and voiced a desire to help. His family set up a CrowdRise page to request donations, which was started off by donation of all the money from 8 year old Neev’s piggy bank. They were able to raise over $40,000 for medical aid relief of the 2015 Nepal earthquake.  Here is a link below of the news coverage he received about it.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/8-year-old-raises-28k-for-nepal-relief/62008/

Prakash is a resourceful, kind and compassionate individual and he realized there was a lot more to do to continue helping the needy of the community.

History of Friends of Sparsh:

The origin of the nonprofit charity organization “Friends of Sparsh” has a very interesting history behind the name. Prakash always wanted to have a daughter and name her “Sparsh”- which means a kind touch. This name was always very close to his heart and what better name he could give to his nonprofit organization that is also very dear to him!

सेवा परमो धर्म:
Seva Parmo Dharma. ‘Seva (service) is the supreme Dharma’

“We can’t help everyone, but…everyone can help someone.” Dr. Loretta Scott

With this value in mind and a desire to make it a better place for the less fortunate, “Friends of Sparsh” was founded by Mr. Prakash Saraf and his son Neev Saraf in November 2018. The goal in their hearts and mind was to offer more help, services and relief to more homeless and needy indviduals in the community. With the creation of Friends of Sparsh there was now a better organized, registered and structured system to channel out more help and resources to many more individuals.

Our Future Goals:

We have continued to create a community of many volunteers, organizations and donors who believe in our mission to serve the homeless community around us.  With this, ever growing compassion and kind touch (Sparsh), we are hoping to grow our non-profit charity organization to serve even more individuals and families.

• We aim to provide more shelters with dinners every day of the week.
• Friends of Sparsh will continue to maintain through donations and provisions bought the food pantry at the shelter stocked with nonperishable items and personal hygiene items.
• Many homeless residents face harsh living lifestyles in cold weathers, this year we were able to set up a “Tent City” for many such individuals. We hope to provide them with tents, sleeping bags, blankets, socks, gloves and food every day.
• During the current pandemic our world is facing, we at Friends of Sparsh have tripled our efforts to provided sustenance to the many who are in need during this difficult times.
• We hope to grow our organization in the next few years to add on more volunteer engagements, donations, and thereby serve many more shelters where a touch of kindness is needed.

Friends of Sparsh couldn’t have been able to provide to so many in need without the continued contribution of supplies, food and donations to the many who are in need.

Current Statistics as of November 2020:

• Providing daily dinners to residents of up to 3 homeless shelters every day since past 7 months.
• Friends of Sparsh has provided about 145,000 meals to our homeless community since November 2019.
• Our food pantry has stocked and distributed about 80,000 pounds of food for the homeless community.
• 200 tents, blankets, sleeping bags and socks were collected to give to our homeless community.

Friends of Sparsh is hoping to provide more each year to these families with your help. Please stay connected on our Facebook Page, “Friends of Sparsh” to be a part of this wonderful charity organization. You can message and contact Mr. Prakash Saraf at friendsofsparsh@gmail.com if you would like to donate at any time.

Awards:

Mr. Saraf has received many awards and recognition for his community services.

Below are a few to be highlighted.

• In 2017, Mr. Saraf received the “Baltimore Community Service Award” from “Family and Children Services”.
• In 2018 Mr. Saraf was presented the Cecil B. Day Community Service Award at the Las Vegas from the world largest hotel chain In Wyndham Convention.
• In Nov, 2019 the Baltimore city bestowed Mr. Saraf with the Mayor Office Award for Outstanding Community Service.
• In 2020 Mr. Saraf was given the “Community Philanthropy Award” by “Asian American Hotel Owners Association” (AAHOA), a 15,000 member organization.