USA: Sikh NGO delivers meals and groceries to New Yorkers amid COVID-19 crisis

W/S Gurdwara Sant Sagar Sikh Prayer Center, New York City
M/S Gurdwara Sant Sagar Sikh Prayer Center
M/S Volunteers in kitchen
M/S Volunteers in kitchen
M/S Volunteers cooking
M/S Volunteer cooking
M/S Volunteer cooking
M/S Volunteer cooking
M/S Volunteer cooking
M/S Volunteers cooking
SOT, Manpreet Kaur, Volunteer: "During this coronavirus epidemic, the group got together and we really wanted to do something to help our local communities. So we are operating from a volunteer basis. We are operating in 20 states, we have been doing for 10 days now, providing groceries and hot meals to individuals that are either retired or they are low on income or immunocompromised, unable to get out. So we are preparing hot meals, we are delivering those, we are delivering groceries. We have individuals that will put in a request for groceries, then our volunteers will go out, acquire those groceries and deliver them."
C/U Kaur showing online procedure to request service
SOT, Manpreet Kaur, Volunteer: "We are a big country, we are a big city but we are still people that need looking after and need taking care of. And it's really important that we are able to provide that service."
M/S Volunteers preparing dough
M/S Volunteers preparing dough
C/U Volunteer preparing dough
C/U Volunteer preparing dough
C/U Volunteer preparing dough
C/U Volunteer preparing naan
M/S Volunteers preparing food
M/S Volunteers preparing food
W/S Volunteers in kitchen
M/S Volunteers wearing face masks, carrying bags of food
SOT, Gurpraet Singh, Volunteer: "The place we are going right now, she has some special requirements. Because I think she's having that disease, so she's on a special diet."
W/S Singh walking towards supermarket
W/S People in line outside supermarket
SOT, Gurpraet Singh, Volunteer: "Hot meals are for like hospitals and old people who cannot cook for themselves. So we do provide them hot meals. And then there are a lot of people who got stuck home and then they can't go out to buy groceries. So we actually go buy groceries for them and deliver."
C/U Hand sanitiser
M/S Groceries
M/S Singh checking out groceries
M/S Singh carrying groceries to residential building
M/S Singh carrying groceries to residential building
M/S Volunteers getting groceries from car trunk
M/S Volunteers carrying groceries
M/S Volunteers delivering groceries to hospital
M/S Volunteers delivering groceries to hospital
SOT, Sheryl McKay Mitchell, Registered Nurse: "You know, health is to bring in food so that we can eat healthy and we can take care of our patients also."
M/S Volunteers leaving hospital
SCRIPT
A Sikh diaspora NGO called Khalsa Aid has been delivering food at doorsteps of those in need amid the coronavirus crisis across the United States, as shown in footage from New York City on Thursday.
Khalsa Aid was founded in the United Kingdom in 1999, and now operates internationally.
The NGO operates on a volunteer basis in 20 US states, to provide hot meals and grocery deliveries to "individuals that are either retired or they are low on income or immunocompromised, unable to get out," said volunteer Manpreet Kaur.
Footage shows volunteers preparing meals in a kitchen of New York City's Gurdwara Sant Sagar Sikh Prayer Center, located in Queens. Volunteers are then seen picking up groceries at a supermarket, or transporting meals to a hospital.
"Hot meals are for like hospitals and old people who cannot cook for themselves," said volunteer Gurpraet Singh. "And then there are a lot of people who got stuck home and then they can't go out to buy groceries. So we actually go buy groceries for them and deliver," he added.
New York City is the US city hardest hit by the coronavirus, with 48,462 cases and 1,397 deaths as of Thursday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The United States has 236,339 cases of coronavirus and 5,810 deaths as of Thursday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University.