Grabbing a selfie with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured), who presented him with the award, Mr Singh said all he wanted to do was to play a role in bringing our communities together, make it a more harmonious place and help build bridges.
Amar, 41, founded the charity after experiencing racial slurs and insults because of his Sikh turban and beard. He wanted to show people they didn’t need to be afraid and began helping struggling Australians.
“I’m a man who fought to find his place in Australia against money and isolation times coming to a new country with a suitcase and as a 15-year-old – and here I am today, God damn it,” a humble Mr Singh said.
The charity is run from a Clyde-based warehouse and packages and distributes up to 450 food and grocery hampers to people experiencing food insecurity in Western Sydney every week – also raising awareness and funds for important causes while promoting multiculturalism and religious tolerance.
Mr Singh believes helping others should not be limited by religion, language or cultural background.
Turbans 4 Australia has delivered hay to farmers experiencing drought; supplies to flood victims in Lismore and bushfire-impacted people on the South Coast; food hampers to the isolated and vulnerable during Covid-19 lockdowns; and supplies to the Salvation Army in central Queensland in the devastating wake of Cyclone Marcia.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said Mr Singh had made the State of NSW immensely proud and he “exemplifies the kind of energy and dynamism shown by so many migrant communities, which lifts our whole nation higher”.
