As a regular participant in the fall festivals in Eger—the Eger Festival and the Anti-Drug Festival—our Foundation distributed 1,000 servings of candy to visitors.
The Eger Festival, traditionally held in mid-September, is a three-day festival organized by local nonprofit organizations. Our foundation’s volunteers in Eger participated for the 16th time and hosted the attendees.
Since its founding in 1999, the Eger Office has been an active participant in Eger’s civic life; it is a member of the Civic Roundtable, and as part of its food assistance program, it distributes 350 servings of hot lunch daily to those in need. At the Eger Festival, they surprised festival guests with 600 servings of orange-caramel halava (Indian rice pudding), which was a huge hit. By distributing these treats, the volunteers aimed not only to raise awareness of their activities and showcase Indian flavors and healthy eating but also to express their gratitude for the year-round donations from the residents of Eger.
Heves County Online reports on the event as follows:
http://www.heol.hu/heves/
Also in September, the 14th Anti-Drug Day was held in Eger; the Krishna devotees of Eger have been both organizers and participants in this event since its inception. The „Food for Life” Food Assistance and Mental Health Program considers abstinence from narcotics and intoxicants to be of fundamental importance and does everything in its power to promote this message. We believe that leading by example is better than giving orders, which is why we have been active participants for years in the regular “We Must Take Action!” pilgrimage, which carries the anti-drug message.
At the event organized for high school students in Eger, in addition to concerts and stage performances, advisors from several professional organizations and government agencies gave informative presentations on a healthy, addiction-free lifestyle. As members of the KEF (Drug Policy Coordination Forum), the Krishna devotees in Eger welcomed the young people with conversations and vegetarian delicacies. Our volunteers served hundreds of portions of Indian treats (alu patta: potato rolls), served with a sweet-and-spicy chutney, as well as two types of sweets (coconut balls and chestnut-caramel halva) to the young participants.
The guest of honor at the event was the band „Kowalsky and the Vega,” whose frontman was treated to a seven-course vegetarian dinner by the local vegetarian restaurant, Govinda.