National Sikh Campaign
www.sikhcampaign.org
Utah Sikhs Raise $125,000 for Sikh Media Campaign in America
Salt Lake City, (July 22, 2016): 150 Sikhs of Salt Lake City came together to support National Sikh Campaign’s media initiative to educate Americans about Sikhs and Sikhism. They raised $125,000, a substantial amount, to fund the drive to create awareness about the community nationwide. Sikhs have faced hate crimes and violence since 9/11 and each terrorist attacks in the recent months against Americans causes a spike in prejudice and violence against Sikhs across America.
National Sikh Campaign has engaged President Obama’s media team, AKPD, to develop 30 second ads on Sikhs to run on TV media and social media nationally. This was done under a strategic plan designed by Hillary Clinton’s former Chief Strategist, Geoff Garin, who also develops strategic plan for the Harvard University and the World Bank. NSC plans to run these ads on National and local TV channels and the social media.
Devenderpal Singh of Indian Idol enthralled the audience and they joined him in singing, and later on dancing during his bhangra numbers. The event was organized and coordinated by Amitpal Singh, Pritpal Singh, and J.B. Singh within 3 weeks. The Utah Sikh community is about 200 families who are small and large business owners. Much of the population moved to the area in the mid-1990’s.
Amitpal Singh, an organizer of the event and local NSC’s coordinator, said, “This is the first time the amount of $125,000 was raised from a very small Utah Sikh community. Members of the two gurdwaras came to endorse this national plan to create a better understanding about the community in America. Everyone recognizes the urgency of this initiative and we got tremendous backing from all the elders and the young in the community to organize this event within days.”
Dr. Rajwant Singh, Co-founder of the National Sikh Campaign and the Senior Advisor to NSC, gave the details of the roadmap of the campaign and its strategy to reach out to all Americans and in all regions. He said, “This is a historic opportunity for the Sikh community and we are overwhelmed by the response of the community in Salt Lake City. He added, “You have helped NSC cross the threshold of raising over half a million dollars for an unprecedented effort to educate people about our faith and our identity in America.”
JB Singh, a local Sikh community leader, welcomed the audience and exhorted the audience to support the campaign. He said, “This is for our future generations and for our collective safety and well-being.”
Jagmohan Singh and Tarlochan Singh, prominent members of the community in Utah, joined in appealing to the attendees to donate generously. Their efforts bore fruits and within minutes the audience fulfilled the goal of raising $125,000. Harpal Singh Toor, owner of the Bombay House, provided the catering free for the event and also donated generously.
The community realized the need for this media outreach effort amidst concern for the backlash from the weekend Orlando massacre where the killer had pledged allegiance to ISIS. Any previous such occurrences have had a negative impact on Sikhs across the nation.
The National Sikh Campaign has been gaining momentum in the past few months as they steadily reveal their sophisticated ads, website, and cutting edge research to select cities across the country. They have organized successful fund raisers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and in Seattle in the past year and are inching towards their goal of raising $1.3 million to run the ad campaign later this year or in early 2017.
Inderpal Singh, NSC board member, who flew especially from Seattle to support the event, said, "We are very thankful to the Utah Sikh community for showing their support and we are confident that we will reach the goal of raising $1.3 Million within this year.” He added, “All funds being raised will strictly be used to pay for the media spots and all donations are being professionally handled and are being audited.”
National Sikh Campaign is planning similar fund raisers in Denver, Fresno, New York, Yuba City and many other cities across the nation.