Friends of Indian senior citizens organization enjoyed their annual trip to Philadelphia and New Jersey on July 15 and 16 with 112 seniors with ages ranging from 60 to 85 and different ethnicities. Thanks to the Executive Committee who worked very hard for the safety and well-being of every one and made this trip as enjoyable as possible.

All the seniors gathered at 5:30am on Saturday, July 15th at the Burlington Senior Center (61 Center street) and by 6:00 AM, both the coaches with 56 seniors each were out on the road. Our first stop was "Vallabhdham", Shreenathji Temple in Connecticut. Dinesh Shah had arranged for a Welcoming Ceremony followed by Mangla Darshan and Aarti. Everyone had hot breakfast, tea and coffee before moving on to Philadelphia, a city with rich American history. Here we visited the busy downtown, The Liberty Bell and the Courthouse where American Independence was declared. All the seniors were in great spirit, moving slowly with lots of anxiety. 

We left Philadelphia at 5:00pm for Vraj Hindu Temple in Schuylkill, PA to join evening pooja and then dinner, before wrapping up the day at the nearby hotel.

Our second day, Sunday July 16th was also very hectic with lots activities. We left the hotel at 7:00 AM for Vraj Hindu Temple to join the Mangla Darshan and then moved on to Anoopam Mission in Coplay PA. Dr. Jitubhai Patel, the president of the Mission and a longtime friend of Raman Gandhi from Peoria, Illinois had arranged the Welcoming Ceremony and Pooja. Everyone enjoyed hot breakfast, tea and coffee before going to our next stop Siddhachalam, an International Mahavira Jain Mission located in Blairstown, NJ. This Jain Temple is a replica of Summit Shikhar of Bihar, India and spreads over 120 acres of hilly terrain. Here we joined for Aarti and Pooja followed by lunch arranged by Pushpa Shah. We left Siddhachalam after the lunch for BAPS Swaminarayan Temple in Westborough, MA. This was our final attraction before returning to Burlington MA. It was little late in the night but since Jayanti Patel had made all arrangements here, Temple authorities waited for our arrival and prepared dinner for us.

Though managing two buses and many hotel rooms, with back-to-back schedules, was very challenging but everything went very smoothly and FISCO Executive Committee is thankful for the great energy and cooperation of all the seniors.

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