Entrepreneur Surender Singh Kandhari was chief guest.

By Deepak Chitnis

WASHINGTON, DC: The Sikh Human Development Foundation (SHDF) held a fundraiser at the Bethesda North Marriot Hotel in Maryland on Sunday, May 4, raising over $330,000 for students in Punjab to study in higher education institutions.

The donation, equivalent to roughly Rs. 2 crore, is the largest donation ever received from the Punjabi diaspora towards the SHDF’s education initiative, reports the Press Trust of India. The SHDF hopes that the money will help bring more Punjabi citizens out of poverty by giving them the opportunity for high-quality, affordable education.

The chief guest at the fundraiser, entitled “Umeedan di Shaam,” was Surender Singh Kandhari, a Sikh and Punjabi-origin entrepreneur currently based in Dubai. Kandhari alone contributed $100,000 towards the education fund, putting in nearly one-third of the entire contribution himself.

Also in attendance at the fundraiser was Malkit Singh MBE, the British-born Punjabi Bhangra singer known for his hit songs like “Chal Hun” and “Jind Mahi,” the latter of which was featured extensively in the 2003 hit film Bend it Like Beckham. Singh’s MBE is a distinction bestowed by the British Government, marking him as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Since its inception in 1999, the SHDF has awarded 3,411 scholarships to qualifying students who display exemplary academics but come from impoverish backgrounds. It has helped 1,022 students graduate in over 30 distinct academic disciplines, in every district across the state of Punjab.

“Graduated scholarship recipients have been gainfully employed with multi-national companies like Infosys and American Express, and known national organizations like Indian Air Force, Department of Space, State Bank of India, Merchant Navy and other business enterprises,” the organization says on its website.