The “Blastoff Fundraiser” in Rockville, MD, will feature games, dance performances and lessons.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Sikh Kid 2 Kid (SK2K), a youth-based organization that seeks to rebuff misconceptions about the Sikh religion through the power of education, will host the “Blastoff Fundraiser” on May 21. The money raised will support a plethora of projects it currently has underway, according to the organizers.
The event, which will be held at the Rockville Sportsplex in Maryland, is slated to feature soccer and basketball tournaments, a variety of field day games, dance performances and lessons, and a special appearance by professional basketball player Satnam Singh Bhamara.
The 7-foot-2-inch Singh, who was born in Punjab, was chosen by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2015 draft and currently plays in the NBA’s development league for the Texas Legends, an affiliate of the Mavericks.
Aside from being the first Indian-born player to be drafted into the NBA, the 20-year-old is also the first player since the 2005 NBA draft to enter the draft without playing in college, overseas professionally, or in the NBA Development League; the first player to be drafted directly from high school as a postgraduate, and the first player from high school to be drafted since the league instituted age restrictions, according to Heavy.com.
The various initiatives spearheaded by the SK2K include training teachers to create culturally accepting environments in their classrooms, providing self-image workshops for teenagers, facilitating educational camps for underserved children in rural areas, and creating drug awareness in areas of concentrated substance abuse such as Punjab.
“During our last visit to Punjab, the youth realized how important it was to take part in the progress of our homeland, specially getting concerned about the drug and alcohol problem,” Dr. Harminder Kaur, who has volunteered for the organization since 2012, told The American Bazaar.
“As you know 67 percent of households have at least one drug addict,” she said. “We cannot wait for someone to take care of this problem. We have started forming alliances with Adventist HealthCare and GWAPI [Greater Washington Association of Physicians of Indian Origin] physicians to start drug rehab and treatment programs in Punjab and also to start grassroots educational programs for students in schools. The problem is huge and the project to solve the problem is [even more so] … we cannot tackle it alone.”
Sikh Kid 2 Kid, a nonprofit organization, has been recognized by the “Forbes 30 Under 30” conference, Montgomery County Public Schools, the AntiDefamation League, and the Carson Scholars Fund.