AMAR KARMA’S 9 TH GIVE A HEART GALA GIVES RISE TO NEW GENERATION OF ADVOCATES

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AMAR KARMA’S 9 TH GIVE A HEART GALA GIVES RISE TO NEW GENERATION OF ADVOCATES
Amar Karma Health and Wellness Awareness Network held their 9 th annual Give A Heart Gala on Saturday, February 2, 2019 at the Versailles Convention Centre in Mississauga. The event celebrates Valentine’s Day for the best interests of the collective good, with hundreds of community members gathering to witness the culmination of months of hard work by a team of dozens of dedicated volunteers and youth.

Every year, hundreds gather to celebrate Amar Karma’s mandate by encouraging members of the South Asian community to change pre-existing cultural mindsets and register as organ donors, make a pledge to donate their baby’s umbilical cord blood after delivery, donate hair and blood where possible, fight issues of mental health and addictions in the community, and making some simple gestures of giving from themselves to celebrate love.

This year’s advocates – some of whom were as young as 4 years old – brought together a wide range of in experience and age to speak about issues close to their hearts. Radhika Goyal and Gurwinder “Harry” Pabla spoke about the effects of addiction on families, Neelam and Sam Wadhwa launched an appeal for a directed donation of a kidney for their young son, Ria Malik and Shreya Dua raised issues of accessibility for disabled persons, Amanpreet Chonkrian promoted the need for better mental health support in the community, Ashveen Joshan spoke about the effects of stress, Aishmit Khurana spoke about the effects of bullying, Kaaya Gill put on a short skit to promote umbilical cord donation, Aditya Goyal spoke about the need to donate blood, and Gaurav Singh Marok spoke about eye donation. The event also honoured Jagveer Saroy as volunteer of the year for logging hundreds of hours as a volunteer for the organization in a number of roles, and being available as support to the entire team at all times. Also honoured as volunteers were Sheela Samy, Shay Cheema, Manjot Singh & Kiratpaul Singh for dedication to Karma. The event also featured speakers from across the healthcare spectrum to raise awareness of health and wellness initiatives promoted by Amar Karma.

Once again this year, the Special Sixteen segment featured many would-be donors pledging to donate their organs and tissues by signing up on the occasion of their sixteenth birthday, and inspiring next year’s batch of ‘special sixteens’. There was also a special auction of paintings by Elena, who donated proceeds from her sales to Amar Karma.

The gala was attended by dignitaries from across the GTA, including MP Ruby Sahota, who presented Amar Karma with an official certificate of appreciation on behalf of the Canadian government, and MPP Deepak Anand, who brought along greetings from Premier Doug Ford. Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown also took a moment to appreciate the hard work of founder Loveen Gill and her team in their valuable contributions to the community. Rapper & musician Fateh Doe also handed out awards and spoke about the importance of initiatives such as Amar Karma’s.

The gala also featured special cultural performances featuring salsa, bhangra & ballroom dancing, with family fun, raffle prizes, dinner and dancing, and set a precedent for a lasting commitment for years to come. For more information, visit amarkarma.org

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