On November 17th, the Sikh community of Montreal through its Gurudwara Sahib Quebec Temple invited representatives of the media to the celebration of Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s 550th birthday, Sunday November 17th at 11:45 am. This marked the 32nd consecutive year that the Montreal congregation donated to Sun Youth Organization.
Guru Nanak Dev Ji, founder of the Sikh religion, taught that sharing with the less fortunate in our society was everyone’s duty. To underline this, members of the Gurudwara Sahbib Quebec, situated at 2183 Wellington in Pointe-Saint-Charles, chose to once again support two charity organizations: Sun Youth and Share the Warmth. “We invite media representatives to stay for a while after the service and enjoy our traditional vegetarian lunch called Langar; the tradition that was started by Guru Nanak to express the ideals of equality and, to remind us to practise the ethics of sharing, of inclusiveness and, oneness of all humankind,” says Jagdish Singh Sidhu, General Secretary of Gurudwara Sahib Quebec.
“Sharing says, ‘I am here for you’ and is a first step towards bridge building. We want to send the message generally that we are here, we have the same values as anybody else,” said Taran Jeet Singh, a congregation member.
The support of the Gurudwara Temple is all the more important to Sun Youth during this time of year, since this is the time when everyone should be able to share a little bit of the Holiday season spirit. With economic uncertainty still having an impact of the lives of many, the support towards Sun Youth is crucial to a lot of people in the Greater Montreal community, not only for the Holidays but year-round.
“It’s a chain of giving, it’s a chain of help and kindness. During Christmas time, we help over 5,000 people with food and shelter, and during the year we can deliver 27,000 baskets and we are able to do that because of help from organizations like the Gurudwara Temple,” says Francois Turgeon, Sun Youth assistant coordinator present at the event, who was handed a cheque of $4000 by the Temple.
Sun Youth wishes to warmly thank the members of the Montreal Sikh community for their constant support over the last thirty two years. Together, we are confident that we will be able to spread some Holiday cheer to those in need or struck by a tragedy.
