The Salvation Army has called upon UNITED SIKHS to provide them volunteers for work at relief centers. Read their appeal at: www.unitedsikhs.org/katrina/salvation_army_request_250905.htm
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UNITED SIKHS volunteers Jarnail Singh
and Dhian Singh after travelling from
Houston to Dallas with the 7 saroops
of Guru Granth Sahib Ji (Sikh scriptures).
Dallas, TX: Due to the threat posed by Hurricane Rita an unprecedented two million people evacuated their homes in Galveston, Corpus Christi, Beaumont and Houston to seek safer grounds. Dallas was the main destination as human traffic traveled at a snail’s pace of sixty miles in twelve hours. In response to Hurricane Rita UNITED SIKHS established a command center in Garland Texas to look into the evacuees’ needs.
UNITED SIKHS volunteers had contacted members of the Houston sangat to ensure the safekeeping of the Guru Granth Sahib. In the Sikh Center of Gulf Coast, in Houston, UNITED SIKHS volunteers Jarnail Singh and Dhian Singh took the responsibility to ensure that this would take place. They brought to Dallas all seven of the saroops of Guru Granth Sahib. It took a total of 23 ½ hours for a journey of 250 miles.
“We wanted to make sure we took the safe road and not risk anything in reverence to our eternal guru, the Guru Granth Sahib,” said Jarnail Singh, who is also the vice president of the Houston Gurdwara. Four saroops of Guru Granth Sahib Ji in the New Orleans Gurdwara were damaged by hurricane Katrina. Read more here: www.panthic.org/news/123/ARTICLE/1788/2005-09-18.html
Preparations for receiving the Guru Granth Sahib and setting up refuge for evacuees was undertaken by the UNITED SIKHS and the Parbhandhak Committee of Gurudwara Singh Sabha of North Texas in Richardson.
Gurudwara Parbhandhak Committee with
UNITED SIKHS volunteers.
The other gurudwaras in the Houston area were also contacted to ensure that the Holy Scriptures would be taken to safer grounds. UNITED SIKHS contacted many families in the area to ensure that they heed the warnings and evacuate accordingly.
UNITED SIKHS has contacted VOAD (Voluntary Organizations in Assistance of Disasters) and the Department of Social Services to provide supplies, assistance, food preparation and distribution as well as medical assistance. Work is being done around the clock to locate different shelters being set up around North Texas in which this assistance can be given.
Meanwhile Katrina relief work continues at the evacuee centers in Baton Rouge. According to UNITED SIKHS volunteer Satavtar Kaur, the following emergency work was undertaken in Baton Rouge by UNITED SIKHS:
- Filled and delivered sandbags for local resident with housing leaks to prepare her house for the tropical storm.
- Went to River Center shelter and helped an elderly diabetic man by providing him with familiar food and seeking to locate friends and family.
- Cleaned debris from the lawn of an elderly couple.
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