By Balwant Sanghera
India Cultural Centre of Canada Gurdwara Nanak Niwas, 8600 Number 5 Road, Richmond is proud to be an active member of the South Asian community and the City of Richmond. It has always taken an active role in the betterment of the community. Whenever there is a need for help it is there. Take for example, Richmond Hospital Foundation’s appeal for help. Richmond hospital sorely needs a new acute care tower. Consequently, Richmond Hospital Foundation has been actively involved inraising funds for this project. In that context, it invited Gurdwara Nanak Niwas to participate. The Gurdwara management and congregation were very generous and raised close to $50,000 for the hospital. The Richmond Hospital Foundation and hospital officials were very thankful to the management committee and the congregation of the Gurdwara for their generosity. As agesture of goodwill the hospital administration agreed to our request for Punjabi language signage in the hospital. Now the entire Richmond Hospital has Punjabi signage throughout.
Gurdwara Nanak Niwas tries to maintain good relationship not onlywith the hospital officials but also with the City of Richmond, Richmond RCMP and other organizations in the community. With this objective in mind the Gurdwara management used to invite their reprentatives for Langar at the Gurdwara occasionally. In this regard the Gurdwara officials were pleased to invite representatives of these organizations and the City of Richmond for Langar on Tuesday, September 14. The main objective was to thank them for the work they are doing in serving this community. It is due to the efforts of these people that Richmond is considered to be the healthiest, cleanest, most multicultural, wellmanaged and one of the safest communities in BC. They deserve our thanks for all of their hard work and dedication. Thus, it was a privilege for us to thank them all on behalf of the management committee and congregation of Gurdwara Nanak Niwas.
On behalf of the City of Richmond, Mayor Malcolm Brodie thanked the Gurdwara management for this nice gesture and assured his and City’s full co-operation. Similarly, Richmond RCMP Police Chief, Superintendent Will Ng thanked the Gurdwara management for its on-going support and co-operation. In the same vein, Richmond Hospital/Foundation’s Vice president Candace Hernandez also expressed her sincere thanks and appreciation to the Gurdwara management and its congregation. This kind of mutual co-operation goes a long way in keeping the lines of communication open and helping each other. Some of the other community well-wishers of Gurdwara Sahib also expressed their thanks and appreciation before enjoying a delicious vegetarian lunch (Langar).
Balwant Sanghera is the General Secretary, India Cultural Centre of Canada Gurdwara Nanak Niwas Richmond, BC.
