ANNUAL AWARD AND DINNER:

ARYA SAMAJ MARKHAM.

Report by Kewal Ahluwalia.

Under the leadership of Sat. P. Chopra, President of Arya Samaj Markham the Annual Awards and Dinner night was held on Saturday November 21, 2009 at the Vedic Cultural Centre, 4345-14^th Ave. Markham. A total of six members were recognized four members who have been involved for a long period of time and had made significant contribution towards the growth of Samaj and have contributed their time and volunteered their services to the organization in various capacities. Two other members who had made significant financial contribution towards the building of the Vedic Cultural Center were also honored. The event was a great success as over 250 members and friends joined and were part of the event. Entertainment and good music was provided by non other than our own member Shelly Gill.

1. Mrs. Sarla Bedi- a registered priest and a founding member of Arya Samaj here in Canada after arriving from Nairobi (Kenya) where she served Arya Samaj Nairobi in various capacities who along with her late husband Shri. Gobind Bedi volunteered their service to the community and preformed Vedic Sanskars and hundreds of Havans at their residences and preformed numerous weddings and were instrumental in collecting a lot of money for the organization.

2. Mr., Surendra Shahi, another founding member of Arya Samaj Markham who served as Vice-President for almost 20 years and held various other positions in the organization. Mr. Shahi along with his wife Mrs. Saroj Shahi and his whole family has always been in the fore front for all functions of Arya Samaj especially in providing food free of charge even when we did not have our own building and cooking facilities.

3. Mr. Swadesh K. Channan. Who had served in Police force in Kenya came to Canada in 1975 and joined the Police force in Canada and became life member of Arya Samaj Markham was also recognized. He voluntarily took over the position of the treasurer in 1990 and has served in that capacity except for short period because of his health. During the difficult phase of the construction of the Vedic Cultural Center he handled all the payments of funds to vendors. He has a very strict control of the funds and managed it as per the constitution and bye-laws of the society and can account for all the transactions to the last cent. His wife Mrs. Nirmila Channan has also been very actively participating in all the activities of Arya Samaj and has also served as Vice-President.

4. Mrs. Radhika Dhingra. The 93 years old Mrs. Dingra is fondly known as Mummy by her family and as queen mother to the Arya Samaj community has been a member of Arya Samaj for a long time and all her family members have been involved in various programs like summer day camp and many other activities. One of her daughter Mrs. Sneh Sachdeva is currently on the board of Arya Samaj Markham. Mrs. Dingra has also made financial contributions to Arya Samaj Markham.

5. Shri. Inder Sagar. A businessman along with his wife Roopa has been a member of Arya Samaj for a long time and has made significant financial contribution to the organization as and when the need arose, not only to Arya Samaj he has also helped other institutions financially.

6. Dr. Ranjit Kumar Chandra. A recipient of more than 100 awards worldwide and many honorary degrees who was made and officer of Order of Canada and was awarded Queen’s Jubilee Gold Medal and who was named to Hall of Fame by the Indo-Canadian Chamber of Commerce. He is currently in a private practice in the field of Allergy in Toronto. He has donated substantial sums of money to Arya Samaj Markham

All the recipients were given a beautiful plaque and a Shawl. The crowd responded and gave a resounding standing ovation at the well deserved Awards to all the recipients. Congratulations.