The Punjab Youth Club was established in July 2000. In such a short period of time the club has taken big steps in helping Punjabis involved in various charitable, social reforms and culture/language development.
The brief summary of the Club’s history is as following:
There was a small print news published in the Punjabi daily Ajit (dated 27/04/2000). It was titled “When Satpal’s daughter cry for her Daddy… At the time of publication of this news this small girl was on the hospital bed unaware of what was happening in the world. The reason for her conditions was the untimely death of her father. He was the sole bread earner of the family. His innocent daughter could not bare the shock and went into Coma. Her world is hanging in a delicate balance of life and death ever since. The bereaved family was finding it hard to fund her costly treatment. The daily Ajit intervened at this point and published an appeal for financial help. The appeal asked donors to come forward to help the family of a small time painter Satpal who would otherwise stop the treatment and let their little girl slip away to hands of awaiting cruel destiny.
The appeal was read in Hong Kong and it moved the hearts of Punjabis living here. The first person to come forward was S. Jasmel Singh (Pappu) and after him Master Jagtar Singh and Raja Dhillon along with current members of PYC got together to collect money from the generous Punjabi community of Hong Kong. One hundred thousand rupees were collected and sent to Satpal’s family. It was decided to send the money under one organization, which would be called PUNJAB YOUTH CLUB. All the members decided to continue with acts like these to serve mankind. It was also decided to diversify the activities of the Club. The club collaborated with Khalsa Diwan to help Gujrat earth quake victims. Apart from that PYC also sponsored 24 orphan children with education scholarship for year 2000-2001. The club also collected donations for Hospital to be built in Badhni Kalan village in Punjab.
The club took effective steps to promote our mother tongue and PUNJABI Culture. A programme called MAHEK PUNJAB DI was organized. It was first of its kind experience for local Punjabis who had not experienced any thing like this for decades. Renowned Punjabi singer DURGA RANGILA entertained the local Punjabis. Various other cultural dances included Bhangra and Giddha were also performed by local artists.
Another important step taken by PYC was to organize yearly Turban Tying event which takes place on the anniversary of Great Martyr Saheed Udham Singh. These kinds of activities are meant to pass our great heritage and culture to the future generations. Continuing the same trend PYC organized a great show “MAHEK PUNJAB DI 2002” in which we presented the greatest Artist, Singer, Actor and Writer from Punjab Mr. GURDAS MAAN.
In October 2002 PYC also helped a person living near Jagraon (Ludhiana) by paying for all his hospital expenses for operation which he wasn’t able to clear himself .
Due to the sudden death of Jagroop Singh in earlier this year, we supported his brother on expenses to come to Hong Kong from India and to handle the cremation and take his ashes back to India.
We sincerely hope that the Punjabi Community appreciates our effort and will support us in all our future events.