Guru Nanak Mission Fundraiser for Punjab Hospital

May 9th, 2006 by admin

More than 900 people packed the Grand Taj Hall in Surrey last Saturday to support a local charitable society which raised one crore Indian rupees (about $300,000) to build the Guru Nanak Mission Hospital in Punjab.

Balbir Singh Saini, the Principal Secretary of the Hospital in Punjab, was the chief guest for the Guru Nanak Mission Society of BC-organized event. The society works in conjunction with Guru Nanak Mission Hospital in Punjab to fight drug and alcohol abuse, grown gender gap and AIDS - which is now an epidemic in India with the largest cases anywhere in the world.

Well known local realtor and one of the five founding members of the Society Gurdev Singh Sandhu said that the function was well attended and brought people from all sectors of the local Indo-Canadian community. He was particularly thankful to the media for bringing awareness to the causes of the society.

Sandhu thanked all the donors and requested that whenever they visit Punjab they must come and see the hospital. He also urged people who would like to hold camps in their villages in Punjab to contact the society.

To date, they have raised 1.1 million rupees - which were matched by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who, along with biggest Punjabi daily Ajit editor/publisher Barjinder Singh Hamdard, became a very enthusiastic supporter of the project. Both Amarinder Singh and Hamdard have committed full support for the awareness campaign.

Balbir Singh Saini, who heads the Guru Nanak Mission Hospital, is a big supporter of the project and has generously given a section of the hospital to the society to run their campaign.

Sandhu said the group is hoping that other like-minded individuals will join them in not only raising more funds but also taking part in the work they are doing in Punjab.

“We appeal all our brothers in British Columbia to join us for this great cause,” Sandhu said. “Awareness is very important in our society - it’s the first step in prevention of such things so we should all do our part.”

Sandhu and businessman Jay Minhas along with three other key members of the Society - Amrik Singh Sangha, Surdarshan Bakshi and Manjit Saini formed the Guru Nanak Mission Awareness Society of BC with an aim to tackle the social evils with a unique strategy, using the public awareness campaigns through flyers, mobile information units and awareness through the media.

For more information on the society and the project call Surdarshan Bakshi at 604-275-9163 or Gurdev Sandhu at 604-649-3529.

Source: The Voice Newspaper (www.voiceonline.com) 

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