Friday, July 10, 2020

Fresno State Sikh Student Association (USA) Lends Hand in Time of Crisis :Our religion believes in giving back to families and people, and we’ll continue to do that moving forward,”


As the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered colleges in early March, student organizations like the Sikh Student Association (SSA) at Fresno State had to move their meetings to a virtual format. 
When the new board members were elected, they saw an opportunity to give back to their community in a time of need. Over several Zoom meetings, board members, came up with the idea of hosting a food drive for families in need. 
In mid-May, Fresno State SSA created a GoFundMe page to purchase food and supplies, raising around $3,180. Still, the page didn’t gain as much traction as they hoped.The goal was to raise around $20,000, so they contacted several local punjabi-owned businesses. So they went around to Punjabi-owned businesses, mostly trucking companies, and  collected around an extra $28,000.
They  [purchased] mainly canned food, flour, pasta and granola bars because those are things that are necessities that people can use on a daily basis, but would also keep them for a week. The main target group of the drive was groups of four to five-member families,  Based on that, the club members chose ingredients that families could use for cooking supplies such as macaroni, rice and flour.
In total, the club handed out 1,059 boxes to families in Fresno County. Each box contained around $30 of dry goods that could last up to a week.
A pamphlet was also stashed inside each box as well, which talks about the message of Sikhism as well as some quick facts. 
“A lot of people don’t know about our religion, and a lot of people don’t know what the basis and the values are of being Sikh,” President Sandeep Sandhu said. “.This way people get a better understanding of our religion.”.
The basic message of Sikhism is the opposite of terrorism — one creator and one human race, all equal each with the creator’s light within. 
“Our religion believes in giving back to families and people, and we’ll continue to do that moving forward,” Sandhu said.



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