Group reaches out to help out children

Those who attended the Wednesday evening fundraiser south of Yuba City for the Sahaita nonprofit organization got dinner, appetizers and drinks.

But despite the Fremont-based group's mission of providing health care for downtrodden youth both in Northern California and in India, what they wouldn't get were images of sad-faced youth.

"I cannot see children cry, and I don't want to make people miserable," explained Harkesh Sandhu, a Fremont physician who founded Sahaita four years ago. "I'd rather show something positive."

Sahaita, which translates from Punjabi as "help," got a formal introduction to Yuba City's Punjabi community Wednesday, though the group has previously run one-day health clinics at Sikh temples in the region.

The goal of the Wednesday event, said Sandhu and others, was to introduce people to the group and its mission, and then, gently, ask if they could pledge some money to keep that mission going.

There are two main components to Sahaita: the health clinics in Northern California, about 15 of them a year, and outreach efforts to poor and sick children and seniors in Punjab and neighboring regions in India.

Jasbir S. Kang, a Yuba City doctor, said he expected upward of 200 people to attend the fundraiser, which included a presentation by Sandhu.

Though the woeful economy might make some less able to part with extra money, even for good causes, Kang said those doing well should consider their status.

"It's in times like that when the fortunate should consider helping the less fortunate," he said.

Sandhu said raising money was only a secondary goal of the event. The first was to educate people about the group's mission, because that would create the trust necessary for them to donate.

But many at the event said that as a community, Yuba City's Indian population was as likely to step up as any.

"Regardless of how tough the times are, when there's a need or cause, the Punjabi community steps up," said Yuba City Mayor Pro Tem Kash Gill.

Sandhu said a story from a year ago convinced him of the community's responsiveness to a need.

While in India in March of last year, he said, he met two young girls who were blinded by cataracts. Their father, a migrant worker, couldn't afford the surgery they needed, he said.

"I said, 'This is not right,'" and he returned to California and began raising the $10,000 necessary for the surgery.

Within a month, the money had been raised, the girls had the surgery, and their sight was restored.

"They walk holding someone's hand into the clinic, and they walk out on their own," he said.