Where were you born and raised?

Vancouver

Who are your role models?

My parents would be my role models. I have given them the same status as god in my life. Because of them I have learnt never to give up no matter what life throws our way. Due to their teachings I have learnt that what anyone says doesn't matter, only what we think matters.



Tell us more about your education, work experience and full-time career?

I am a Real Estate Law Professional, but have other careers. I am the founder of Helping Hands BC, which is a non profit organization that provides food and clothing to the less fortunate without the collection of any donations from individuals or religious establishments. I run a learning centre called CEI ( Crown Educational Institute) which provides courses for low income families at 1/4 of the cost. I run a translation company called GPS Translations that provides services for immigration materials, and a Renovation/Construction company called GPS Enterprises, needless to say, not a lot of time left in between for a personal life.

What are your passions, interests and hobbies?

My passion is music and cooking. I've never taken any vocal training or coaching, but am pretty involved in the music scene. Often participate at Dance Competitions where they require live singers, perform at Fundraisers or music festivals such as Sawan Mela, Global Wish Foundation and for the first time this year at Desi Fest. My stress reliever would be cooking. I have a natural instinct when it comes to cooking, watching people eat and enjoying it, is something that makes me a happier person.

What do you do in your leisure time?

I don't really have a lot of leisure time as you can tell from all the extra things I run on the side. When I do have a chance, I write poetry and short stories. They are often about my own experiences and feelings.

Give us more background on your organization, Helping Hands?

It started in 2006 as a request from my mother to give back to someone who really needs it. It was around her birthday, and we were looking to get her a gift, but she was adamant that she didn't want anything that year. So instead she said, if you really want to spend money, help someone who needs it, and that's all it took. We started taking out clothes from our closets, then started asking friends, family and coworkers to donate clothes from their closets - before we knew it, we had 40 large bags full of clothes.

How often do you do Helping Hands events?

Our events are done on the last Saturday of each month, rain, shine or snow. The only time we don't do it on the last Saturday is Christmas time. Reason being there are several other organizations out there around that time, so we do it on the second Saturday in December, just so that we can spread the help over the month.

Can you explain what Helping Hands does at an event?

Well, throughout the whole month, we collect and people drop off food and clothing donations to us. We collect food donations from Save On Foods, Superstore, and then on the last Saturday, our day starts at 7am, we load up the truck, and head towards the park. We have a tent and a few tables, propane powered stoves and BBQ's. We provide food fresh and try our best to ensure it is a fulfilling meal. We have bbq's over 400 pounds of chicken at one event for four months in a row, served over 1800 hamburgers and over 2000 hotdogs. In addition, we add salads, pasta, pastries, chips, cookies, pop, juice to our selection to make sure everyone is getting a well-deserved meal.

Do you have a strong support system around you?

The support has been incredible, from students, to elderly, everywhere around us. We get more clothes donations then we thought, we are able to provide heart meals to the less fortunate, without the collection of any funds, I think after all these months, our events are only getting better and stronger, and that speaks for itself.

Have you received any support from key community members, other organizations or sponsors?

We haven't really asked a lot of the community for sponsorship or donations. Initially when we asked, we came across difficulties as to how they wanted to donate. We don't accept monetary funds, which is hard for a lot of people to do. Save on Foods on Nordel Way has been superb - they donate all the bread, pastries, condiments such as mayo, mustard, ketchup, and drinks. McDonalds on 72 & King George supplies the orange drink, and superstore often supplies us with hotdog wieners.

Are you planning to expand Helping Hands across Canada? If so, how do you plan to do this?

Well, our plans are to have Helping Hands Ontario and Helping Hands Alberta put in place by summer of 2009. We are also in the process of opening our very own rehabilitation home, for which we are working very hard. Root of homelessness is the abuse of substances whether they are drugs, alcohol or emotional abuse. We are trying to rid the community from the root problem, and therefore decreasing the number of homeless in our community so we may all enjoy the same life style that we all deserve.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Five years from now I see HELPING HANDS CANADA - an organization that has spread across all of Canada successfully. Nothing would make me happier, than to walk down the street, and seeing smiling faces, not hungry, weak and tired homeless people. We all deserve to live this life the best way we can, and honestly believe that god will not come down himself to help us out, but will send a Helping Hand, and that's what we are trying to do. Help restore faith, integrity, desire to go on again.

Overall, what motivates you and where do you draw your inspiration from?

My family is my biggest motivation. As a family, like every family, we have seen the better days of life and the worst day of life. Our worst days when we were down at our lowest, made us struggle, but somehow made us stronger, made us closer, and made our beliefs stronger. We made it through the rough times, because we were lucky enough to have each other. A lot of people are not that lucky, and need some outside family to help them through.

My inspiration is from everything around me, as weird as it may sound - I'm inspired by the very little flower in our garden, the astronauts that go into space, from reading my prayers, hearing about history and from seeing my own parent's daily life. A famous Indian saying "Jo kaal kiya, so aaj, jo aaj kiya so ab" meaning, what we can do tomorrow, do it today, and what we can do today, do it now" We all sit there and think of things we want to do, but very seldom act on our emotions and dreams.