OPS members pitch in for massive one-day food drive

On May 13, Khalsa Aid Canada and the Ottawa Sikh Society gathered up 300 volunteers to collect what turned out to be one of the city’s largest one-day food drives.

Preparation for the event started in early March, with members of these two groups issuing a challenge to Ottawa Sikh Society Punjabi School children to see if they could gather the most donated food items. The goal was to gather enough food to prepare 10,000 meals.

And Ottawa’s youth responded.

Over the course of the next few months, food donations began to come in as word spread about this event.

OPS Diversity Resource and Relations Constable Gurprit Dhaliwal learned of this initiative and asked Neighbourhood Resource Team Sergeant Jasdeep Bajwa if he’d care to join in and help. He agreed and sent word out to the Service’s NRTs and other members to get involved.

“I’ve known Khalsa Aid’s regional director for the National Capital Region for a couple of decades,” said Sgt. Bajwa. “Mandeep Singh and I have worked on many different community projects over the years.”

Khalsa Aid is an international non-profit organization, which was initially launched in the United Kingdom and was specifically focused on providing humanitarian aid to people in war-torn countries. Over the years it expanded to different chapters globally and now does work to help others meet basic needs during times of crisis. In Africa, they focus on building fresh water pumps; in other places they provide food or temporary shelter after natural disasters.

Entrenched within Sikh culture is the concept of Seva – or giving selflessly to those in need, regardless of race, culture, or religion. It embraces the concept that everyone deserves to be respected and treated equally and provided with basic human needs.

“The founder of Khalsa Aid is a Sikh and the main volunteer base are Sikhs, but they welcome anyone who wants to help make a difference,” said Sgt. Bajwa. “I was more than happy to help when I got the call from Cst. Dhaliwal. I want to thank all of our members who came out to help collect, sort, and deliver the food.”

In total, over 20 OPS volunteers joined others from Ottawa, including Staff Sergeant Dave Bal, Staff Sergeant Barb Sjaarda, Staff Sergeant Kulvir Guram, and OPS Fleet manager Gurdev Bal. The event also garnered support and participation from Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, provincial and federal members of parliament, by-law officers, Ottawa Community Housing, OC Transpo and many more.

When the end tally was gathered, the group had managed to collect over 40,000 pounds of food which would be converted into more than 80,000 meals and distributed to food banks across the city.

“Even the event organizers were surprised by how much food was collected,” said Sgt. Bajwa. “But we know how generous the community is; when we call out for help, the community comes out.”

To learn more about Khalsa Aid or Ottawa’s Sikh Society, please visit their websites to learn how you can get involved. And congratulations to both of these organizations and its volunteers for such a momentous event that will help provide much-needed meals to those in need.