South Asians 4 Life

Welcome back!

piali — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:29:24 +0000

As summer turns to fall, we at SA4L are also in the midst of change. We’ve been busy rethinking how we can continue to bring change to the area of minority representation in the stem cell network.

We were at two events during the September long weekend – at the NetIP convention in downtown Toronto, we registered 116 Canadian and 88 American delegates while at Gujarati event in Brampton drew 135 registrants. So overall, we were able to swab 338 South Asians (and one non-South Asian) at our combined events. Special thanks to our volunteers and OneMatch for being a major part of our success!

We will be participating on a panel about diversity during the National Stem Cell Awareness Week in November. We have a lot of plans in the works, revisit this site as you help us ‘be the change’ you want to see in this world!

sad news, happy beginnings

piali — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:46:00 +0000

http://www.healemru.com/2008/11/game-over.php

Last night our dear friend, and fellow warrior Emru Townsend passed on. We are all sad for the loss, and we reach out to his sister Tamu (another warrior) and his whole family. If there were more like them, we would have this thing beat by now.

This newest update is the most distasteful; it leads us to think that all we do may be for naught.
We are in a similar boat, now that Khokada has found a match, the rest is really up to him. We are there to support him, but it is ultimately his struggle and his victory.

But even after he succeeds, there are many others out there, and there will be many more. All our work has not been in vain, because one day somewhere, someone will benefit from it. They will win, and we will take our reward as such. So it is not too late for you to join this fight, there is only one side, ours. And we will welcome your help as we redouble our efforts.

Emru:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/emru/

http://www.pcworld.com/article/153725/Emru_Townsend_dies.html

http://www.dantynan.com/2008/11/12/emru-townsend/

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=2f0c6a0c-8761-411c-b37b-ee1cf0704c71

http://www.harrymccracken.com/blog/2008/11/11/emru-townsend/

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/animators/emru-townsend-rip

http://mayersononanimation.blogspot.com/2008/11/emru-townsend.html

http://technologizer.com/2008/11/12/emru-townsend/

http://disneybooks.blogspot.com/2008/11/animation-writer-and-critic-emru.html

http://animationpimp.animationblogspot.com/2008/11/12/emru/

http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/

OneMatch: Stem cell and marrow awareness week

piali — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:28:00 +0000

Hello again all,

November 3-9, 2008 is National Stem Cell and Marrow Awareness Week (click on the title of this post to download the Media Kit released by OneMatch). Keep an eye out for the blitz!

Happy Diwali to all of you, and thanks for your continuing support.

Prateek

Thank you! Let’s keep it going…

piali — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 02:48:00 +0000

Thanks to everybody (volunteers and potential donors alike) who came together during the puja season to increase stem cell donation awareness and registration. Special thanks to Anand Patel, event coordinator for Navratri Raas-Garba at the International Centre and organizer at the Hindu Mandir (Mississauga), for his generosity and hard work on behalf of our cause; we were able to recruit 200 new registrants to OneMatch at this fantastic event. Thanks also to Mr. Prasad Banerjee at Toronto Kalibari, and the many organizers at the Prabasi Bengali Cultural Association (PBCA) for their generous cooperation with our recruitment efforts.

We were pleased to welcome The Honourable Bob Rae and his wife, Arlene Perly Rae, to our booth at the Raas-Garba (left). Mr. Rae, former NDP premiere of Ontario and current incumbent Liberal MP for the federal riding of Toronto Centre, was a bone marrow donor in 1989 for his younger brother, David, who sadly passed away from leukemia. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Rae, for recognizing the value of our efforts, and best of luck in the election tomorrow.

In a second photo (right), showing Mr. Rae enjoying some quality time with Mr. Rick Mercer at a lake in Ontario cottage country, note that the puncture sites from his marrow donation procedure have long-since healed over…

In the coming weeks, we hope to strengthen the many contacts we’ve made during the last several events and online, and work together to continue promoting awareness within the South Asian community. If you haven’t already done so (shame, shame), register at our booth during Diwali at the following events:

Sunday, October 19, 11 am – 6 pm

AWIC Diwali Mela 2008

Grand Baccus Banquet and Conference Center

2155 McNicoll Avenue
Tel: 416-299-0077

www.awic.org

[Click on map for location]

Tuesday, October 28, 7:30 – 11:00 pm
Vishnu Mandir, Diwali Puja
8640 Yonge Street
Richmond Hill, ON
Tel: 905-886-1724
www.vishnumandir.com

[Click on map for location]

-Prateek Lala

It’s Puja time – let’s celebrate by registering at these events!

piali — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:54:00 +0000

This is going to be a pretty busy week for us with Durga Puja, Navaratri and a Garba to cover.

To celebrate ASAD will be at the following locales! We’re not swabbing, just helping people register online. Please spread the word!

Tuesday, October 7: Toronto Kalibari
6815 Professional Court
Mississauga, ON L4V 1X6
Tel: 905-405-0780
http://www.kalibari.org/

Friday, Oct 10: Durga Puja, PBCA
Tagore Centre
140 Millwick Drive
Toronto, ON M9L 1Y6

Saturday, Oct 11: Navratri Raas Garba
International Centre, Hall #5
6900 Airport Rd.Mississauga, ON L4V 1E8
http://www.torontogarba.com/
http://www.internationalcentre.com/

Sunday, Oct 12: Durga Puja, PBCA
Tagore Centre
140 Millwick Drive
Toronto, ON M9L 1Y6