Tim Shera's first experience with PRASAD was aboard the Muktananda Mobile Hospital in India in 1991. He was very moved by his experience when he witnessed that "very poor people were being taken care of only because the mobile hospital visited their village." Inspired by his experience in India, he decided to volunteer for PRASAD in the United States, and assigned to the Prevention Team of the Children's Dental Health Program (CDHP). Tim finds it very fulfilling to support PRASAD, and enjoys terrific camaraderie with the dental team.

Originally from the Seattle area in Washington state, Tim was a public school teacher who taught junior high school science. Later, he worked as a landscaper and gardener, and in 1982, he moved to South Fallsburg, N.Y., where he tended the gardens at Shree Muktananda ashram. In 1997, he retired from gardening and began volunteering with PRASAD CDHP.

CDHP's prevention program has a number of components, including dental health education classes for children, puppet shows and plays, and a fluoride tablet and rinse program. Every two weeks, Tim packs up 11,500 fluoride tablets for distribution to school children.
(Teachers administer the process in their classrooms. Fourteen schools

conduct either daily fluoride tablet and/or weekly fluoride rinse programs.) Last year, Tim visited approximately 10 schools with the prevention team where he played Elliott T. Sparkle, the CDHP mascot, in educational dramas. He says, "It's fun being Elliott and hamming it up in front of the kids. It has given me a chance to be with kids again in a learning environment."

In addition to his great work with PRASAD, Tim volunteers with Sullivan County Peace and Justice, a local organization dedicated to upholding everyone's civil rights as guaranteed in the United States Constitution, and to a peaceful resolution of domestic and international conflicts.

On the way to the PRASAD office one day, Tim kept seeing "God Bless America" bumper stickers and signs, and thought, "There is more to it than that…" He was inspired to create a design for a more universal version, "God Bless the World Community." (His bumper stickers are now available for purchase at: www.easworldwide.com for $2 each.) Tim brings heart and dedication to The PRASAD Project…and to the rest of the world community.