WASHINGTON: For the fifth successive year, members of Guru Gobind Singh Foundation the leading Sikh organization served hot meals to more than 1,400 of the city’s homeless on Saturday July 21, 1990.

The free meals were served at a shelter run by the community for Creative Non Violence which was headed by an advocate for the homeless Mitch Snyder who committed suicide earlier this month.

In 1986, Snyder went on a hunger strike and broke his fast only after President Reagan inter vened and directed the federal Govt to provide funding of about 14 million for the renovation and refurbishing of the shelter. In the same year Snyder’s efforts on behalf of the city’s hungry and homeless had been captured in a television movie starring Martin Sheen. Recently he was having problems with the IRS and city govt over financial matters involving his shelters and his rocky relationship with another activist Carol Finally has also been seen as a cause of his death.

Foundation’s officials saw this as an opportunity to pay tributes to Mitch Snyder and serve food to the homeless community dining in that shelter. Hot North Indian cooked food was collected from many Sikh homes and was brought to the shelter. The Sikh community members and youth served very enthusiastically after the Sikh prayer.

Dr. Rajwant Singh Exec Director of Guru Gobind Singh Foundation (GGSF), said, that, “we are saddened by Mitch’s death. He struggled all his life for the cause of homeless people. So this is our way of sharing feelings of grief with the homeless community.

  1. Amrik Singh Kaisth, chairman of GGSF said that, “not only as Sikhs but also as American citizens, it is our moral duty to help eradicate the growing problem of homelessness in the United States. We will all have to continue to do what Mr. Snyder was doing and support the shelter which he worked hard to create.

Bhupinder Kaur Saini, who coordinated the effort, which was in the “langar” tradition, said, “once again we have been greatly encouraged by the cooperation and support received from all sections of the Sikh community. This activity of our organisation is merely an implementation of our basic belief of (Wand Chako) sharing one’s blessings. It is also in keeping with the organisations objective to make this a regular feature of its multifarious activities.”

GGSF also provides food to 5060 sick people in the homeless clinic every last Sunday of the month last two years.

Article extracted from this publication >> August 10, 1990