A Special Phone Call ...

Joe Barger, one of the good people at the Salvation Army called me this morning to thank Sikhcess for all the work they've been doing.

He said that all of the sandwiches were passed out with a warm cup of soup and that the people REALLY enjoyed the food.

He followed up with an email, written below :

Thanks for the love, Joe!

Amit Singh, It was good talking to you this morning.

As I said, the meals that Sikhcess provided last Saturday were very much appreciated by our clients.

They were different than what we normally provide, and they were enjoyed by all. I told our people they were part of a huge movement of more than 150,000 people being fed around the world.

If in the future you would like to volunteer here at the Harbor Light we would be very happy to have your help.

Again thank you for your help, this helped us with the management of our food resources as well as provide a great meal for our clients.

Thank You,

Joe Barger Sr.
Bed & Bread Food Service Coordinator
The Salvation Army - Eastern Michigan Division
Harbor Light System
3737 Lawton
Detroit, MI 48208

bundles of warmth delivered!

Wal-Mart donated 25 new hooded sweaters and 25 fleece jackets.

Final Packaging : Bagging and Stickers

Here is a clip of our final packaging.

We made brown bags which include a bottle of water, a bag of chips, and a fruit rollup.

Final packaging is inserting a freshly prepared vegetable patty sandwich, stapling the bag, and attaching a Sikhcess Sticker.



Here are Preet, Simrat, Jobin, Sammy, and Gurbeer showing us how it's done!

EXCELLENT TEAMWORK!

Operations Management : Just In Time Production!

This is why engineering is important :

Here is a clip of Sikhcess Detroit's production - from manufacturing, to production, to shipping, to inventory delivery.



Gurtej : "First we label it, then we bag it, but before bagging it, it gets made."

Note : Wegetables is spelled with a "W" and not a V. :)

What step is this? "AHhhhh!!"

Kumar : "We are all having a fun time and helping our community"

Gurpreet : Nice Eyebrows. *raise raise*

Gurrajan : "2,500 To Go ..." Videographer : "Don't ask me math questions!"

Donna : "Potato Cakes !"

Raveena : "We're making patties!"

Kiran : "This is my third event ... I love it! ... We are going out of our way helping people all over the world ... It's nice to get people together and actually put such an event together, it's awesome."

Kartav The Blogger : I Look Bigger, Don't I?

Kartav was too funny.














He is blogging periodically through the day.














Here he is typing out the Crunch Time "Stimulus" Package. He was especially proud of giving a shout-out to Governor Granholm.

After blogging for a while, he got up, puffed out his chest, and proceeded to declare "I Look Bigger In My White Tight Tshirt, Don't I?"

Yes, Kartav, everyone thought the bandana was cute too.

Sikhcess Lifers : The Singh Family

These incredible volunteers have been dedicated since November 2007. They make it a point to come out and participate in EVERY event - and we love them dearly.

Here they are, folding clothes :



Amarinder, we missed you!

$500 Dollars : Shelly's Eye

Like Sammy like Shelly ...

Both brothers were hurt, this time it was Shelly's Eye ...



Two minutes later, he was back to working with everyone, creating efficiencies in the package making process, and cheering everyone on!

Sammy's Boo-Boo

Ouch! Sammy banged his foot into the table. This was HILARIOUS.

Check out the action below :

Owwwwwwwwwwwwch!

Ik Mint, Ik Mint, Pah Ji!

Kartav Thinks This is Too Funny ...

No, I'm not Whining !!!

Catch Up Post : When Amrita's In The House ... OMG OMG ...

We met several new people today - Really, really great people too!

Amrita was definitely in the house!

And all the kids say Heyyyyyyyyy!!!

Congratulations for a very successful Sikhcess!!!

Congratulations for a very successful Sikhcess!!!

This was a wonderful opportunity for all of us to come together and do some selfless work for our community and beyond! From 3 year child to kids to teenagers to adults to elderly - you got us all involved! People from all walks of life were working with so much love and devotion to show their strong support for this very important cause. You guys so amazing in getting such a diverse group together. The sandwich making assembly line was a sight to be seen! My tears were ready to flow. These were truly packages of LOVE being made for all those who needed it the most.

I know that the count went beyond TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED (2, 500) bags. I didn't hear the final count at the end. So, this was above and beyond accomplishment!!!

I could not even imagine how many 50 or 100 bags would be. Can you imagine 2500+ amount of patty mix, individual patties; slices of tomatoes, cucumbers and onions; breads pieces, fruit rollups, paper bags, sandwich bags, ingredient stickers, 'Sikhcess' stickers would be be??? And all those boxes to make packages or 10 bags and two - how many of those boxes would be??

The timing worked out better than expected. 1,000 bags were delivered to Salvation army by 10am in the morning! 1, 500 more bags were delivered around lunch time. All this was done on such a snowy day, icy roads, very slow moving freeways. Not only were the van full of boxes and boxes; there were also bags and bags of clothes!

How was all this done in such a limited time with limited volunteers and limited space in the vans?? With the very limited knowledge that I have, I can only this of one thing - LOVE . Amit, just like you put it in the blog - http://sikhcessdetroit.blogspot.com/, these were really packages of love being made. We just brought our ingredient of positive energy and hard work, but with when all these small amounts of positive energy worked as a team for one focused goal, the result was a thundurous showever of LOVE and Grace that flowed out of this! There was definately Grace of the Lord helping and guiding us all along! We are thankful to the Lord of the Universe!

with love,
poonam

Gooooood Morning Detroit!

Weather predictions : Cold

Mission : To spread love through food and bundles of warmth!

Volunteers are quickly gathering to finish making food and preparing the food packages.

We just finished printing off driving directions (2 sets - one for HQ and one for the driver) to each location, along with drop off times, and quantities required.

Sikhcess Detroit is off to a great start and is feeling the energy to get to an even better finish!

Cheer us on! Leave a message on our blogspot!

End of Day 2 : 1700 Packages Total : 800 More + To Go!

Wow.

Here are some pictures from earlier today, more posting soon ... captions coming shortly ...

Crunch Time "Stimulus" Packages

At approximately 1700 hours the kitchen is filled with volunteers all over Metro Detroit! Sammy Singh looks over the numerous vegetable patties already made. Governor Granholm would be proud of these packages.

Deep The Hero!

Deep has been with Sikhcess since November 2007. He works tirelessly, and is perpetually smiling. He loves doing Seva.

Deep surprised us during his lunch break today. He had just a few minutes - and instead of eating, he drove all the way from work to drop off boxes we so badly needed to put the food packages in.

Thank you Deep!

Potatoes, Onions, And Bread Crumbs!

We had to make an emergency run to collect more food!

Check out some pictures of the fun we had along the way :)

How Do We Get To 2500 + Packages?

Start small.

Earlier this year, the Detroit Crew launched a more modest FTH Campaign, aiming for 400 food packages. We intended to keep it small to control the output. Donations poured in - money first and later food. We purchased enough food for 400, and the day before and of the actual event, enough for 400 more units were donated.

Why does this happen? We create a buzz. People are genuinely excited to help, and truly, it takes just a little effort to build a tremendous amount of momentum towards your cause.

For this campaign, we started a month and a half early. We also did things a little differently, and involved entirely new audiences. In addition to our regular push at the local Gurdwara, we outreached to local hospitals, high schools, middle schools, elementary schools, universities, churches, coffee shops, restaurants, and other friends that would not typically have exposure to this program.

We built the enthusiasum through telling people about what we're doing - feeding homeless and needy people, and putting blankets and jackets on their backs to keep them warm this winter.

People need an outlet to serve. It's a blessing to be able to provide that arena to actually give back to those who need it.

Interested in becoming part of this movement of Selfless Service? For information on how to get involved, check out www.sikhcess.org.

Folding Clothes, Working The Kitchen

What a beautiful morning! The sun is shining, the weather is brisk, and we are all in high spirits!

Avtar and Rosie have been busy working on the mountain of clothes - sorting by men, women, children, folding, and boxing.






Grabbing a little breakfast ... Bhai Sahibs striking a pose :)

_/|\_ to you too!











In the kitchen ... grinding up frozen vegetables for easier incorporation into the vegetable patty mix.















Good Morning, Donna!


Donna's recently had surgery ... she's got fight - and said that she wouldn't miss this event!






A slight hiccup - we're running short on potatoes and onions - which means a trip to the grocery store for more veggies.

Be back to write more soon!

John Loves Sikhcess!

John from Gleaners Community Food Bank stopped by for a few hours this morning and gave some helpful advice to our food preparation techniques. Because of the recent peanut butter recall food banks across America have become more stringent in accepting food.

Sikhcess Detroit has passed the bar with flying colors. The food we prepare is vegetarian, nutritious, cooked thoroughly, refrigerated, and distributed quickly thereafter. Moreover, we observe proper hygiene by cleaning our surfaces with disinfecting wipes, wash our hands, and use hand sanitizer prior to handling food.

John loves what Sikhcess is doing, and is proud to be a part of it. He's coming back tomorrow morning to help with the food packaging and distribution.

8:00 AM (and 24 minutes)

Good morning!

This morning we've had an incredible guest join us - John Dziurgot from Gleaners Community Food Bank.

We'll write more soon ...

Sikhcess Detroit Team

End of Day 1

Today was a great day ... WAY more was accomplished than we had hoped to complete.

About 30 people came out, and while making the food packages we stopped and enjoyed Langar.

Highlights of the day included :

• Donna gracing her with her presence! She's been helping since November 2007!

• Raveena's developing leadership skills

• Bhai Sahib Red Beard getting involved with the Seva, and his speaking ENGLISH!

• Gurtej taking a moment to be thankful
  

• The mountain of chips tumbling AVALANCHE!

(no embarrassing picture here)

• 150+ bags of jackets, blankets, and other winter clothing items

• People from ALL different communities coming together to put LOVE into the packages

• Deep's super-speed while bagging water, chips, and fruit-rollups

• Jared driving all the way from GRAND RAPIDS to join in the cause

• The Pink UofM (go blue!) donation boxes

• Apram working hard, pager on hip ready to be called to emergency surgery in the kitchen

• And finally, Am-ree-tah taking a bow

Towards the end of the day Shalinder and Amit took a moment to record our progress.

Check out the video below :)

Picking Up Supplies

We're grocery shopping today!


Mike from GFS helped by being our personal shopping guide, and for driving his van all the way to our location to drop off what we bought. Thanks Mike!


Here's the list of things we're gathering :



1.Whole wheat Bread - 150 loaves

2.Tomatoes - 150 pounds

3.Canola Oil - 1 BIG bottle

4.Butter - 35 boxes (4 sticks per box)

5.Potatoes – 650 total

6.Frozen Veggies - 5 boxes (35lb box)

7.Onions - 150 pounds

8.Cucumbers - 150 pounds

9.Cream of Wheat - 20 boxes

10.Corn Starch - 10 boxes

11.Salt, black pepper, cayenne chilli powder, garlic powder - A LOT

12.Fruit Rollups - 2500 rollups

13.Bottled Water - 2500 bottles

14.Brown Bags - 2500 ct

15.Sandwich Bags - 3000 ct

16.Food Safety Gloves -

17.Handsoap - 2 BIG bottles

18. Disinfectant Spray / Wipes

19. 2,550 Bags of Chips

20. And A Partridge In A Pear Tree.