NEW YORK – The Sikh spirit of generousity is alive in the US where Sikh-Americans and their Gurdwaras are helping to feed federal workers affected by the partial government shutdown.
“The least we could do is support them with a hot meal for the next three days,” Balwinder Dhillon, President of the Sikh Center of San Antonio, said in a statement given to the media. “The Sikh Community appreciates their services and believes in giving gratitude to those men and women for doing a wonderful service for the nation.”
This small act of kindness has resonated across social media as the already record long federal government shutdown closes in on a full month.
Though most government agencies remain open during President Trump’s fight with Congress over funding for a border wall, the shutdown has had a major impact on agencies like the TSA.
According to Dhillon, some of the volunteers have been showing up at early as 4am in the morning to begin prepping the food.
“We don’t worry about one community. We all belong to one race, which is the human race. We think we are all brothers and sisters and we need to support each other no matter who we are,” he told local NBC affiliate News4SA. “We may have different color, different class or religion, or social and economic status, but at the end of the day, we are all brothers and sisters.”
“This is our faith,” he added.
“We are here to support those federal employees who are not getting their paycheck, and we really appreciate their services… and we believe our nation should appreciate and give gratitude to those men and women who are doing wonderful service for us, but are not getting paid so,” said Dillon, the President of the Sikh Center of San Antonio. “The least we could do is support them with a hot meal for the next three days.”
Per Sikh customs, they are strictly serving vegetarian meals.
“It’s freshly cooked vegetables, lentils and rice, and tortillas,” Dhillon said.
He also mentioned that all the food is made fresh by volunteers from the community.
“They come early in the morning, four o’clock, sometimes 5 o’clock to start preparing.”
Dhillon says providing meals was a collective idea of the community.
