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Harman Foundation raised $40000 through ‘Light and Hope’ dinner

Harman Foundation hosted its 8th annual fundraising dinner ‘Light and Hope’ on February 28, 2021 at Bowman Hall. It was an insightful evening organised to support women and children affected by family and domestic violence.

Along with dinner, the night hosted an auction which raised over $40000 which will support Harman Foundation Empowerment, Refuge House (Her House) project. It will provide transitional housing for women and children affected by domestic violence.

Harman foundation has always been ardent when it comes to community services. Since its inception in 2013, Harman Foundation has been supporting individuals, families and community during extreme hardships including grief, loss, homelessness, domestic and family violence etc.

The foundation provides family support services, chaplaincy services and is a ray of hope for all those women and children who are facing domestic violence.

With over 250 volunteers, Harman foundation has housed 40 women and 16 children till date. It has assisted 300 families. Only in 2019-2020, 7000 calls were made through helpline and direct contact. Harman Foundation has also provided chaplaincy services to 400 patients and prisoners.

The function was attended by a number of parliamentarians including MP Michelle Rolland of Greenway, Kevin Conolly MP member for Riverstone, Councillor Moninder Singh, Tony Bleasdale –Mayor , BWC CEO- Morgan Stewart and others.

The event started with Australian National Anthem and Shabad followed by candle lighting by the dignitaries.

A Punjabi drama video, “Rich Cultures Should have Rich Relationship’, a community led Domestic Violence (DV) prevention partnership between Multicultural Health Services and Harman Foundation was played for the audience. This project was aimed to stimulate discussions to challenge community attitude towards family violence.

The main objective of Harman Foundation is to develop culturally appropriate resources that are supportable in their efforts to prevent DV.

Different performances by dance groups including, ‘Proud Punjabana’, “Rooh Punjab Di”, and Cultural School “Bollywood / Kathak by Tanima Banerjee kept the audience entertained through out the event.

Maninder Singh, Chairman of Harman Foundation while addressing the audience said, “Financial year 2019-2020 was challenging yet a successful year for Harman Foundation.”

“To sustain our ongoing projects and for future projects, we are focusing on on partnerships, collaborations and on searching grants and donations,” added Maninder Singh.

He thanked all the volunteers and supporters for their tireless efforts and thanked the sponsors for their time and financial support.

Michelle Rowland, Federal MP for Greenway appreciated the efforts of Harman Foundation.

Pointing towards the transparency in their accounts, Michelle Rowland applauded the initiatives taken by the foundation and said that it is very easy organisation when it comes to support them.

Kevin Conolly, Member of legislative Assembly representing Riverstone said, “Harman Foundation is doing a remarkable job.  They are proving a range of services to the local community.”

“This organisation has a unique advantage as they understand the local sub -continental community better than many other organisations and so are able to respond to the issues they know people are experiencing, in a way that is sensitive to the background of the people involved. They provide really niche valuable services in the community to vulnerable women.”

Kevin added, “Domestic Violence is a challenge in every country and every culture. In the past it was not much talked about, so it is hard to say about the trends all over the world, but certainly we can say that in past it was happening behind the doors and not much talked about. Now people have the courage to come forward and talk about it, which is a good thing.”

Sharing the domestic violence stats, Harman Foundation disclosed that only in 2020, 45 Domestic Violence related cases were reported.”

Harinder Kaur, CEO and co-founder of Harman Foundation said, “Harman foundation has been always upfront to help the individuals and families stuck in vulnerable circumstances. We have grown into a big family with 250 volunteers who have their own expertise and offering different services to the community.”

“Harman foundation helps people who are in extremely tragic circumstances or vulnerable situations especially due to family and Domestic Violence (DV).  We equally support both men and women,” said Harinder Kaur.

“As we are a part of the local sub-continental community, we have a better understanding of the community barriers and help the people according to that,” she added.

“1 in 4 women experience domestic and family violence and one women is killed every 9 days. Shockingly, 17 adults are hospitalised everyday due to domestic and family violence. Harman Foundation receives 200 plus calls related to domestic violence every month, so this issue needs to be addresses. In May 2020, Kamaljeet Sidhu was murdered, so we want to spread awareness about domestic violence and curb this menace,” said Harinder.

“We as an organisation believe in filling gaps. We are not doing the same work as other organisation are doings, but trying to fill in the gaps left behind. We have lots of collaborations and we are open for any proposals and discussions as well.”

“Our Foundation is totally based on donations and I feel proud that with each passing year we are growing stronger and trying to serve more people”

Harman Foundation thanked all its partners including Vantage Luxe Homes, Waratah Estate Agents, First National Real Estate, Australian Health and Science Institute (Blacktown), Belmont Homes, A Royaal Event, Kaur’s Legal, Har Guru Pty Ltd, Sandhu Lawyers, Star Car Wash Blacktown, Kaur Collection, Desire Creations, Xclusive Homes, Uneek Conveyancing for their continuous support.

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