Sponsored by Nanak Foods, the Food Justice Advocate Award is awarded to an individual who has supported poverty alleviation or food security issues in the community as a volunteer, student, professional or grassroots organization.
Our Awards of Impact was a night to celebrate the changemakers making a difference in our communities and one of those changemakers celebrated was Guru Nanak Food Bank Founder, Narinder Singh Walia. A well-known figure in Surrey and Delta’s Punjabi community, the Guru Nanak Food Bank exemplifies Walia’s commitment to providing dignified access to nutritional food, particularly vegetarian and culturally appropriate food and essential resources for various groups. The food bank is a staple for the area, serving a wide range of our local community, including international students, newcomers, refugees and individuals in need.
“Guru Nanak Food Bank started in 2020, first of July. And now we have three locations, one in Abbotsford, one in Surrey [and] one in Delta [where] we served 20,000 families in a month” Walia shared as he took the podium.
“[The] food bank logo reads ‘recognize all human race as one’” that means no boundaries, no geographic, colour or religion boundaries, anyone who needs the food can come and take the food. Our goal is nobody [will] sleep hungry,” he said to a resounding applause.
His dedication to humanitarian causes, his inclusive approach to community service and his proactive efforts in addressing social issues are inspiring and admirable. Through his speech, he shared how the food bank has taken challenges and crises in stride. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they served 84,000 packs of groceries door to door and during the floods and wildfires, they rented their own helicopters to deliver food and opened temporary food banks in Hope and Chilliwack to meet community needs during difficult times.
Walia left the audience with this sentiment, “we have to learn we are one, and we have to take care of each other.”
Congratulations to the inspiring Narinder Singh Walia on winning the Food Justice Advocate Award.
Thank you to Nank Foods, North America’s largest Indian dairy specializing in dairy & food products, for sponsoring the award and and thank you to Publisher Dal Hothi from the Surrey Now-Leader Newspaper, the event’s media sponsor, for helping present the award.