2004 Flare Volunteer
Award Recipient-
Jas Cheema
At 15, Jas Cheema started volunteering. As most teenagers
enjoyed weekends off, Jas spent her time answering
phones for the Vancouver Heart and Stroke Foundation
and dedicating time at Sikh temples. Those early influences
inspired Jas to spend even more time within her community
and her contributions have been felt with the J.T.
Brown Elementary School, the Richmond Women's Resource
Centre, Radio Punjab, the Surrey Food Bank Society,
the Indo-Canadian Link, the Indo-Canadian Voice and
Surrey-North Delta Leader newspapers, the Surrey Memorial
Hospital Foundation, the Surrey Memorial Hospital
ECU, Soroptimist International Surrey/Delta, Guildford
Rotary Club and the Surrey Hospice Society.
Jas has visited patients in palliative-care wards,
visited clients with terminal illnesses at their homes,
facilitated grief support groups and assisted in training
new volunteers. She is in the process of translating
brochures on grief into Punjabi. Never one to back
down from a challenge, Jas has created many firsts
with her volunteering and built cross-cultural understanding
between those of East Indian and Western culture.
At Surrey Memorial, she organized the first-ever Vaisakhi
celebration (which celebrates the founding of Sikhism).
That resulted in donations of $10,000 for hospital
equipment and allowed the Sikh Holy Scriptures to
be brought into the hospital for the first time. With
her assistance, Guru Nanak's (the founder of Sikhism)
birthday was celebrated at the hospital and helped
raise $2,500. Jas's organization of an entertainment
evening entitled Sanjha Vision for the Surrey Hospice
Society and Surrey Memorial Hospital Foundation resulted
in donations of $70,000.
Jas's passion for issues relating to violence, youth,
parenting and women's issues centre on her devotion
to helping us all to understand our differences and
live in harmony with our neighbours. Jas has been
described as brave and extraordinary by her peers,
having recently ventured into forbidden territory
by bringing awareness on sexual abuse to her Sikh
community. She is a business woman, a wife, a mother
of two young children and an inspiration for all communities
in Canada who seek a future where cultural diversity
will be embraced and cultural differences understood.
JAS CHEEMA
I have been volunteering with Surrey Hospice Society
for the last five years. I started out as a client
volunteer and have had the chance to assist with the
grief groups, volunteer training, fundraising, hospice
advocacy, and as a Board Member. Hospice work has
given me a chance to reflect on life and to grow both
spiritually and emotionally. Overcoming my own fears,
reflecting on the meaning of life and what service
to the community means to me has and is providing
me with great personal growth. I’m looking forward
to serving the Society in a new capacity as the President
of the Board of Directors. With the leadership of
our Executive Director and our dedicated staff, the
Board will work together to continue building a prosperous
future for the Society.
Special Awards
Presentations Ceremony for Jas Cheema
Surrey:
by: Jai Birdi
Jas Cheema, a prominent community worker from Surrey
was recognized and honored during a Special Awards
Presentations Ceremony at the Surrey Golf Course on
March 13 by Soroptimist International (the Surrey/Delta
Chapter), a worldwide organization for women in mangement
and the professions, working through service projects
to advance human rights and the status of women.
Ms. Cheema, an Employment Assistance Worker with
the Government of BC, was recognized for her contributions
that she has made through the Surrey Memorial Hospital,
the Surrey Hospice Society, the columns that she writes
in The Link Newspaper and the Surrey News Leader,
and through various radio and television programs
and community organizations.
Reflecting on the International Women's Week that
is being marked and celebrated across the globe, Cheema
says that she is pleased with the progress that women
have made thus far. "However, we have a long
way to go", says cheema, referring to the gap
that still exists between income levels for men and
women, and various other pressures that women continue
to face in their daily lives.
The other major challenge that women face in their
personal lives, says Cheema, is the practice of gender
selection that is forcing many Indo-Canadian women
to abort their fetus if they have not yet given birth
to a male child.
The practice of gender selection has not only become
a major concern in Punjab, it has also been a controversy
in Canada that was brought to the forefront by members
of India Mahila Association of Canada in the late
80s when the doctors from the United States were targetting
south asian families by enticing them to undego ultrasound
tests and find out the gender of their child for the
purposes of abortion.
According to census reports in Punjab, nearly one-fourth
(close to one one hundred thousand) of baby girls
are aborted each year because of the gender selection
practices and female infenticide.
Cheema is the First south asian woman recipient of
this prestigious award.
Others that were awarded and honored at this awards
ceremony for their contributions were: Kyle Sue Cheong
for the Youth Citizenship Award, Andrea Lynn Parson
for the Violet Richardson Award, and Jen P. Horner
for the Women's Opportunity Award.
