To hold the hands and support victims of drought, Care One Care All Group (COCAG) & Turbans 4 Australia (T4A) went all the way to Armidale taking a truck load of necessary grocery, toiletry and hygiene items & a modified open van full of necessary clothing & other household items on Saturday 21 December. This project was dedicated to the martyrdom of 4 Sahibzade & Mata Gujar Kaur, to remember the sacrifices of Baba Moti Ram Mehra & Nawab of Malerkotla. This is the second major initiative taken by team COCAG and T4A within a month after the first one being Bushfire Run from Sydney to Tenterfield on 22nd November 2019. Bushfire Run was organised for the victims of recent bushfires in NSW.
It was about 20 days of hard work and about 20 hours of tireless drive in dead heat to and from the drought hit area of Armidale. With the support of local branch of Salvation Army, all the groceries & other items are being provided to about 80 drought hit farming families in the area. Peter Splinder of Salvation Army thanked team COCAG and T4A and everyone supporting drought hit farming families in the area.
In a previous press note, Dr Singh of COCAG has said, “In country NSW, the paddocks are extremely dry well before the commencement of summer. Farm businesses are going broke and cattle/sheep do not have feed to survive. Our brothers and sisters in the country areas are going through a real hard time and this is a big worry for every one of us. To keep the country spirit alive, we need to support our mates in the rural areas of NSW”.
Mr Splinder of Salvos while speaking with the members said, “The area is on water restrictions level 6, water level has gone extremely low, farmers did not have a good crop for a long time, water in the nearby town of Uralla has high levels of arsenic and is not suitable for drinking, ash from recent bushfire has contaminated water in the dams. There are even cases of farmer suicide in the area”.
Team COCAG and T4A sincerely thank the management & sangat of Turramurra & Canberra Gurughars, who helped raise significant amount of funds for this worthy cause.
A big thank you also go to our media and other partners including Ash Designs, Punjab Herald, Punjab Times, Sikh Channel, Friends World TV & Haanji Radio. Special thanks to Dr Avtar Singh Sangha (Editor Punjab Herald), who travelled with us to see our charitable work. “You guys have done a great job” said Dr Sangha when he saw us all working like working bees in Armidale.
“This is a marvellous action to support our brothers and sisters in the drought hit area of Armidale”, said Clr Reena Jethi, Deputy Mayor, The Hills Shire Council. In separate press note statements, this act of kindness was also appraised by Clr Dr Moninderjit Singh and Clr Julie Griffiths, Deputy Mayor of Blacktown Council.
Thanks also to all the generous individuals who made voluntary financial contributions for Drought Run by making a donation, supplying groceries/clothing and other items. Last but not least, a BIG thanks to everyone (Sarbatt Da Bhlla)!
As always, we have some VERY exciting projects coming soon at COCAG. We can’t say too much about them just yet, so keep an eye out for more information in the coming months! Follow us on Facebook & Instagram. For further information & suggestions, call Dr Parmjit Singh on 0416983334.
