Dear Editor:
On September 1st 2010, the Seva Food Bank opened its doors to the community for the first time and we had no idea what to expect.
The food bank was born out of what you could call an audaciously ambitious moment. A group of young Sikh-Canadian professionals decided that we want to make a long-term sustainable difference in our wider Canadian community. We wanted to directly support local families in their moment of need. We wanted to provide a platform for high-potential youth to develop into leaders. Finally, we wanted to enhance mainstream perceptions of Sikh-Canadians through meaningful, personal interactions. Lofty goals for a group with lots of initiative but not a lot of social service expertise.
While there have been and continue to be challenges, they are insignificant compared to what we've been able to achieve. Here's some statistics on our impact (to August 31st, 2011):
•More than 530 client families registered
•More than 2,600 client family visits
•Over 175,000 pounds of food distributed
•Almost 4000 volunteer hours worked
•More than 1200 shifts worked by over 100 regular volunteers
Hidden in these stats are the stories of our client families. We are often asked about who it is that we actually serve. Our answer is simple. We serve families just like our own. They are new Canadians, coming from every part of the world, struggling to establish themselves in their new home country. They are young students working to finish their education and struggling to find their first real jobs. They are families where Dad is unable to find full-time work and Mom's part-time fast food job isn't enough to pay all the bills. They are seniors on fixed incomes and rising expenses. They are honest, hardworking families, just like our own, going through tough times.
Absolutely none of what we have accomplished would have been possible without the complete support of our community. Our partnership with the Mississauga Food Bank has provided us with the long-term supply of food and invaluable coaching needed to run our operations. Our Board of Directors and Organizing Committee have put in countless hours not just fulfilling their strategic roles but working each and ever client shift. Our volunteers have been tireless in doing whatever is needed to serve our clients. Our friends in the media have been tremendously generous in providing us the coverage needed to reach out to the community. Finally, our donors consistently demonstrated their leadership and belief in our cause through their financial contributions.
As we continue to stabilize our operations, our view is towards the future. Just running a regular traditional food bank was never our goal. We want to attack the root causes of poverty. We want to make a transformational impact in the lives of our clients. As our clients get back on their feet, we would love for them to become volunteers and even donors themselves.
For this we continue to need your financial support. While we have always been a registered not-for-profit organization, we are still in the process of getting our charitable status. Not being able to offer tax-deductible receipts limits our ability to solicit larger donations. So for the time being, we rely on lots of donors giving in smaller sums.
Please consider a donation of $100, $50 or even $20 to the Seva Food Bank. Every dollar you give allows us to continue the fight against hunger in our community.
Amarpreet et al, (Seva Food Bank Organizing Committee)
Seva Food Bank, Unit 10, 3413 Wolfedale Rd, Mississauga, ON, L5C 1V8. 905-361-SEVA (7382), www.sevafoodbank.com
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Dear Editor:
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has demonstrated that she has the tenacity, will and the guts to change the status quo in the criminality of Trinidad and Tobago. She has embarked on a monumental challenge that crime will not continue or persist under her watch as it has been an impotent task for the former government.
I am convinced that she is moving the country in the right direction while at the same time confronting one of the most mortal plague that has enveloped our society. It was at the point where most people were fed up with the former government that had at its disposal a healthy treasury but somehow it was deemed incapable of making a dent on crime.
Despite the fact that the crime was getting out of control and people were slaughtered in high numbers, some people find it convenient to complain that the PM had no suitable explanation and furthermore seemed to believe this was all a gimmick. But most of the complainants had ample opportunity to act expeditiously but remained silent while the battle ground was set in motion for a showdown.
Some said their constitutional rights were abridged, others say we are under martial law and few said we can't move about freely. Should we be as free as we can without the state of emergency and see our brothers and sisters die by murderers? And is it not producing results in saving lives?
I believe the PM is on target with the state of emergency and it should be extended until the Government is convinced that it has a handle on the criminal epidemic which has given us a bad name on the global spectrum. Not only our name has been tainted but the tourist industry and foreign investors have stayed away from our twin island.
In order to condemn the PM initiatives, we will definitely need time to evaluate and reassess the results of the state of emergency. But if we continue with diatribe, hostility and dissatisfaction, we are only being prejudicial.
Jay G Rakhar, Miami
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Dear Editor:
A declaration of a state of emergency to deal with crime in Trinidad & Tobago is akin to a declaration of war against a foreign aggressor in which circumstances the peoples' representatives become one in intent and action.
In the present imbroglio, it is difficult to separate supporters of law and from lawlessness as at every turn and with each step of the authorities, opposition is being orchestrated creatively to stymie the objectives of state.
The strident Opposition joins every dissident voice with iconoclastic zeal and every avenue of dissent is zealously explored.
By its willful path, the PNM has alienated all but the criminally inclined from its support base. Citizens grateful for a confrontation of criminality cannot understand the insanity being presented by the Opposition. The PNM is tearing its political flesh apart as a rabid animal insensitive to its own pain.
The results of the SoE have been reassuring and the PPG continues its march to stable governance. Hopefully it will adopt the suggestion to return to the cat-o-nine tails and the birch penalties for serious offenders.
MF Rahman via e-mail |