Objectives:
 | Contribute to the Chardi Kalaa of the local Sikh community by helping to foster a sense of community and reinforcing Sikh valueswith a special emphasis on community service (seva) and on Sikh youth. |
| Provide a framework for catering to social, cultural, recreational and religious needs of the community through programs that are tailored to the American environment and complementary to those provided by Gurdwaras in the area. |
| Actively involve Sikhs growing up in the US (along
with their families), and motivate them through activities that they can relate
to and enjoy. |
| Provide an opportunity for Sikh children and youth to make friends and network, as well as to facilitate marital relationships within the Sikh community. |
Programs and Activities
The following are some of the programs and activities that have been organized by the center. See the calendar of events for a current schedule.
Computer Club
The Chardi Kalaa Community Center now an exciting program for young Sikhs and their families, the Chardi Kalaa Computer Club.The Computer club has a well equipped computer laboratory consisting of eight Pentium multimedia PCs connected over an Ethernet local area network. Two of these are powerful configurations with 21 inch monitors, 150 Mhz CPUs, 32 Mbytes of RAM and 2Gbytes of Disk storage. We also have a full complement of peripheral equipment including color and laser printers, scanner, CD-ROM writer as well as Zip drives on all the PCs.
The club has also set up a high speed Internet link; two computers are dedicated to supporting the internet services. The members are able to use this set up for internet connections as well as World Wide Web access. There is also a web site www.Chardikalaa.com being maintained by members.
The club's computer and network equipment is also used to provide internet services to members as well as to the outside community to provide a source of funding to support its activities.
The objectives of the Chardi Kalaa Computer Club are to:
1.Provide an opportunity for young Sikhs to work together on interesting and challenging projects in a team environment.
2.Develop knowledge and skills within the Sikh community in a technology area that is becoming increasingly important. Classes on web page creation, web protocols, Java programming have been held on a weekly schedule. A class has been held for Computer Education for Seniors. It is an introduction to computers, for adults and senior citizens, who have had little or no exposure to computing.
3.Provide a valuable resource center consisting of facilities and a pool of dedicated and skilled volunteers, who can support the objectives of the Chardi Kalaa Center in the service of the Sikh community through projects such as developing and maintaining our own web site, as well as producing posters, booklets, T-shirts and other materials important for the Sikh community, etc.
4.Have fun together.
Social and Cultural
The Center organizes various social and cultural programs, often in conjunction with Sikh and Punjabi festivals as well the seasonal holidays. The goal is to have one function a month. We have had programs to celebrate the end of summer, Halloween, New Years, Guru Nanak’s Birthday, as well as Bhangra centered parties organized by youth.
The center has also sponsored a large Sikh cultural/social event at the Saratoga Community center for about 300 people at Baisakhi. This event features cultural dances, skits and songs and a deejay who will play contemporary Punjabi Bhangra music.
A Young Mothers’ Group has been started for mothers of young children interested in meeting other mothers, to organize play group catering to Sikh children and other activities.
Recreation and Health Programs
Fitness classes including low impact aerobics classes are held at the center on weekends.
Ski Trip - A Family oriented, beginners or experienced ski trip was organized to allow members to experience snow sports.
Each summer there will be Car camping trips, hikes, backpacking and a host of other summer activities like Horseback Riding etc.
Yoga classes are also being planned.
Gurbani study Circle
This is held monthly on the first Friday of each month. For each session, a topic is selected, and a member of the community does in depth research and makes a presentation. This is followed by an question / answer and discussion period.
Religious Services
A religious service in English, the Chardi Kalaa Divaan, is conducted each month in English to cater to the young non Punjabi speaking young Sikhs.
Religious Classes (Understanding the language of Gurbaani)
The Chardi Kalaa Sikh Community Center has introduced an instruction program to meet a need that has been felt for a long time for young Sikhs growing up here in America. This is to teach and interpret the Sikh scriptures (Gurbani) using the English medium. The purpose is to build up a vocabulary of the most frequently used words in Gurbani, cover basic syntax and usage, and discuss the Sikh concepts behind some of the terminology. The class will also touch on the cultural and mythological background to some of the baani. Selections from popular shabads (hymn) and nitnem baanis will be used as a framework. Students are expected to review vocabulary lists, and spend a few minutes each day reading some Gurbani with meanings. This is held twice a month on a semester system with quizzes and tests.