NANAIMO, BC, Canada—Five years ago a retired Sikh-Canadian couple walking their dog through their neighborhood stumbled upon a brilliant idea. They decided to not only help clean up the neighborhood but also help charity.
Narinder Singh Parmar and his wife Kulwant Kaur Parmar started collecting pop cans and bottles. At first Mrs.Parmar felt embarrassed at this new endeavor, “some people, even our relatives laughed at us.”
However, they kept at their project and worked hard. Soon they were rewarded and they could see the difference being made.
“It’s a lot of work, it’s almost a full time job”, she stated. What about the people laughing? “We don’t care, we do a good job, we know that, we know we did something (good) for somebody.”
Everyday the couple spends hours going through their neighborhood looking for cans and bottles. They store everything in their garage which has turned into a mini recycling depot. When it starts to overflow they spend many more hours sorting everything out, bagging and filling up their pickup truck. The collection is delivered to the recycling depot and exchanged for cash which is then delivered to charity.
“I don’t need this money. I got enough money of my own to live on. So I said well, (let’s) clean the streets (and help) the environment and use this money for a good purpose”, stated Narinder Singh.
Their latest donation total was to the Nanaimo Hospice Society for $1500 which very much appreciates the donations. “Every cent helps, $1500 to us is a significant amount. It touches our heart”.
Perhaps the motivating factor for this couple is that they have faced hard times of their own and now in retirement they just want to give back to society and help others. The Parmars recall their early days when they first arrived to this country, “I had a hard time when I came to Canada so now I have everything and (we) just want to help”.
Not only is their hard work a great service to society but also keeps them busy and healthy, “I always have a bag with me, I take my dog for a walk, I’m retired, (and there’s) nothing else to do”. Therefore, the good work will continue and many more will keep benefitting.http://thelinkpaper.ca/?p=35595
