Seva Food Bank raises $110K on Guru Nanak’s birthday

According to Mississauga "Celebrating the 547^th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Gurpurab, the founder of Sikhism, Mississauga’s Seva Food Bank raised more than $100,000 to battle hunger in Peel.

The food bank recently teamed up with GTA-based multi-cultural radio channel CJMR 1320 to run its annual Guru Nanak Radiothon. 

The campaign was geared towards interacting directly with local members of the Sikh Punjabi community, greet them on Guru Nanak’s birth anniversary and raise funds and food for the charity.

This year, the 15-hour long campaign during a Punjabi segment helped collect $110,000 in pledges. The channel and its staff also donated time as well as sponsorships during the campaign hours.

“It’s absolutely wonderful that the channel is contributing towards the Punjabi (Sikh) community,” said Daven Seebarran, executive director of Seva Food Bank. “It shows that they understand diversity and the fact that they are touching the lives of everyone. It’s great to see an organization like a radio station giving back to a local cause.”

Over the past five years, the Guru Nanak Radiothon has collectively raised more than $500,000 and 100,000 pounds of non-perishable food for the charity.

Seebarran thanked the channel and community members for their continuous support in battle against poverty.

Guru Nanak was born in Nankana Sahib in India (now Pakistan), on April 15, 1469. With time, the Sikh community across the world started to celebrate the occasion in November.

The funds raised will support the organization’s mission of providing safe, nutritious, culturally appropriate and personally acceptable food to people living in Mississauga’s L5B and L5C postal codes and the community of Malton.