
On Tuesday, August 24th, the Blueberry Summer Enrichment Program, run by Mr. Amit Guha and Dr. Smita Guha, welcomed an international team from the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run.

The Guha’s have a 15-year history of hosting afterschool and summer programs for grades K-8 in New York City, based on a foundation of high quality enrichment programs that include educational activities, outdoor sports activities, character-building, and other social-emotional learning activities.

As an exchange of cultural activities, the Blueberry K-1st graders learned and performed Sri Chinmoy’s song, “Your heart is as beautiful as a rainbow”, and older children learned Indian iconic musician Bappi Lahiri’s “World Peace Love Harmony” song (lead by musician Dr. Guha).

This year’s summer program highlighted several Peace Run activities, where the Blueberry children composed poetry and essays, and created short books and peace and friendship crafts.

In preparation for the first 2021 New York City Peace Run program, Peace Runners Lunthita Duthely and Sutushti Lang visited Blueberry and worked with teachers Ananya Cathyanne, Elana, Freddie, Stephanie, Tatiana, Jasmine, Lauren, Patrick and. Runners Marina Pak (Tai Chi and financial literacy) and Nilpushpi White (story telling) shared with Blueberry students several times this summer, as well.

During the ceremony, Mr. Guha and Dr. Guha (professor, St. John’s University) were awarded the Torch Bearer Award, to honor their lifetime service to the education of students and teachers in New York, and their 100-day service during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Together, the Guha’s coordinated and delivered 10,000 meals to nurses, aides, doctors and other front-line workers in New York City.