Members of the Indian community residing in Melbourne will come together for a barbeque on Saturday to raise funds for drought-stricken farmers.
Jasvinder Sidhu, founder of the Lets Feed initiative along with MP Tim Watts, Member for Gellibrand in Melbourne’s Inner West has organised a barbeque event in Point Cook in Melbourne’s West.
“I would watch news about the drought and how it was affecting farmers and their families almost every week on television," he told SBS Hindi.
“My family comes from a farming background and I naturally felt empathetic towards them. Coincidentally I met Tim Watts at an event and we chatted about what we can do to help. That is when the idea to raise funds for them came about.
“We set a target of $10,000 and we have achieved almost 90% of our goal. Later we came up with the idea of having a barbeque to end the campaign in an Aussie way,” he said.
The campaign saw a significant contribution from Ravinder Kaur, who through her Rehmat Sandhu Foundation has donated over $2,600 to the cause.
The effort of raising funds for the farmers affected by drought was recently applauded by Mr Watts in the Australian parliament.
“Jasvinder and Ravinder have pitched in to help struggling farmers, in the finest Australian tradition of standing by a mate in need.
“It’s a great example of the success of Australian multiculturalism. I was proud to be able to acknowledge in Parliament just the latest example of the Australian-Indian community making Australia a better place to live,” Mr Watts told SBS Hindi.
Watch Tim Watts MP’s speech in the Parliament:
Mr Sidhu said seeing recognition of their efforts has been encouraging.
“Seeing Ravinderji’s work acknowledged and my voluntary work getting recognition is a proud feeling as through this campaign I have been able to make a difference to fellow Australians.
“This is true patriotism in view reflected through one’s actions and when you don’t feel as a migrant but part of this very society,” Mr Sidhu said.
