The Sikh New Year festival, Vaisakhi took place this week (April 14) and to celebrate colleagues and customers from Ilford Metro Bank organised a food donation drive.
“As the UK’s best community bank, Metro Bank is integral to many local fundraising events”, explains Store Manager, Lamees Brown. “We reached out to our colleagues and customers to support our food drive to help celebrate one of the most important dates in the Sikh calendar.
“One of the fundamental traditions of Sikhism, is for the temple community kitchen (Langar) to serve meals free of charge to anyone - irrespective of religion, gender, race or economic status. Thanks to everyone’s generosity we have raised over £250 in donations for Nishkam Swat which will help support many local families.”
Nishkam Swat is the first UK Sikh charity to take Langar to the streets. A charitable organisation based in West London, their primary function is to unite and transform financially disadvantaged communities by focusing on projects which make a difference to people’s lives in the short term and improve their prospects in the long term. The charity has a key aim - “We have a vision where every person we meet knows they are loved and valued, lives safely, with respect, faith, hope and care for themselves and others, achieving their full potential and positively contributing to and transforming their communities.”