wfn.org | WSC-AR Endorses 2005 National Days of Interfaith Youth Service

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

WSC-AR Endorses 2005 National Days of Interfaith Youth Service, Urges Sikh 
Students to Participate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 2005

Contact:   Dr. Tarunjit Singh, Secretary General, 614-210-0591, 
contact@worldsikhcouncil.org

The World Sikh Council - America Region (WSC-AR) has endorsed the April 9 - 
10, 2005 National Days of Interfaith Youth Service being organized by the 
Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) at over 50 college campuses, high schools, and 
cities across the country.

The WSC-AR urges Sikh students across the US to join the site in your city 
or organize a new project site. To see a list of sites planned, please 
visit www.ifyc.org/ndiys. To organize a new site in your high school, 
college campus, or city, please contact April J. Kunze, Director of 
National Programs of IFYC at april@ifyc.org.

"The program planned for just before the annual Vaisaakhi Sikh celebrations 
this year is an excellent opportunity for Sikh youth across America to 
dialogue with other young people of faith, and to work collectively with 
others in reducing the impact of homelessness and hunger in our cities", 
said Dr. Tarunjit Singh, Secretary General and Chair of Interfaith 
Committee of WSC-AR.

The 2005 National Days of Interfaith Youth Service will bring together 
religiously diverse young people in hometowns and college campuses across 
the nation to serve their communities. These young people will explore and 
act upon the impulse of service in their religious traditions and work 
towards better inter-religious understanding.

"The United States is one of the most religiously diverse country in the 
world.	This diversity gives rise to the following question:  How are young 
Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, and others going to 
interact with one another as they live, study, and work in increasingly 
close quarters in America?" remarked April J. Kunze, Director of National 
Programs of IFYC.

The 2005 National Days of Interfaith Youth Service will:
- Nurture better relationships between faith communities
- Strengthen young people's connection to their own religious communities 
by exploring teachings of service in their own faith tradition
- Encourage religious young people to see a similar impulse of service in 
other traditions
- Provide much needed service to alleviate the impact of homelessness and 
hunger in America
- Mobilize the idea of interfaith youth service into the local and national 
culture

Later in the year, the grassroots organizers of the 2005 National Day will 
come together on May 16-17, 2005 at the 3rd National Conference on 
Interfaith Youth Work in Chicago to celebrate the impact of 2005 and plan 
for 2006.

IFYC is a Chicago-based international grassroots organization that seeks to 
build a movement that encourages religious young people to foster 
inter-religious understanding, strengthen their religious identity, and 
cooperate to serve the common good.

The WSC-AR is a representative and elected body of Sikh Gurdwaras and 
institutions in the United States. Its members include 29 Gurdwaras (Sikh 
places of worship) and 7 other Sikh institutions across the nation.

World Sikh Council - America Region (WSC-AR)
P.O. Box 3635, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA
Phone: 614-210-0591, Fax: 419-535-6794
E-mail: contact@worldsikhcouncil.org
Website: www.worldsikhcouncil.org

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