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Help the Aged awards
Asian Philanthropy
 Help the Aged, the
adopted charity for the Asian Business Awards 2003, has introduced a new
special category to the ceremony and announced that the first person to
receive the Charity’s SEVA* accolade is Harish Patel, of The Regency
Hotel in South Kensington.
Mr
Patel leads the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation which promotes bonding between
communities and generations through the promotion of Gandhian teaching.
He also supports a 40-bed home which
caters for older people in Gujarat who do not have family that support
them.
His
support has also directly impacted on Help the Aged.
Mr Patel made a donation which put a Mobile Medicare Unit in action
to bring aid to older victims of the Gujarat earthquake.
The
unit is now bringing medical care to older people in Nadiad, close to his
family town of Palaj with another unit in Banaras which is the most
densely populated area in India for the elderly, close to the River
Ganges.
Mr Patel has also
been instrumental in raising monies
to aid the restoration of sight to hundreds of people in India .
Michael
Lake CBE, Director General of Help the Aged who presented the award said:
“In the last two years over half a million pounds has been given
to Help the Aged directly from the British Asian community to support our
work in India. The Help the Aged SEVA award acknowledges individuals in the
British Asian business community who have demonstrated a commitment to
bettering the lives of older people.”
*SEVA is the Sanskrit
word for ‘service without self’.
In selecting the recipient for this Award, Help the Aged used the
following qualities associated with SEVA:
Dayah
(thoughts) – The recipient shares the Help
the Aged vision for a future where older people are highly valued, have
lives that are richer and voices that are heard.
Vacha
(words) – The recipient spreads the
message to others about the work Help the Aged does to combat poverty,
reduce isolation and defeat ageism
Artha
(wealth) – the recipient has made a
significant financial contribution to Help the Aged.
For
further information:
sherylin.thompson@helptheaged.org.uk
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Help the Aged has a vision is of a future
where older people are highly valued, have lives that are richer and
voices that are heard. The
charity is working to combat poverty, reduce isolation, defeat ageism and
to promote quality in care. The
Help the Aged website can be accessed at: www.helptheaged.org.uk
·
The Charity is passionate about combating
disadvantage and is taking action to bring about positive change through
the Stop Pensioner Poverty Now Campaign which supports the United
Nations’ target to halve the number of older people living in extreme
poverty by 2015. This work is
supported by Eastern Eye through the adoption of Help the Aged as their
Charity for 2003.
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