An 11-year-old girl is youngest among Surrey’s Top 25 Under 25 award winners.
Sia Sidhu has operated Sia’s Burger Shack as a philanthropic venture from her Panorama Ridge home.
The 25 award winners were announced July 30 by Surrey Board of Trade, which will host a “digital reception” for the 10th annual event on Sept. 10, with CBC broadcaster Dan Burritt as emcee.
The awards aim to celebrate “the incredible initiatives of Surrey’s youth 25 years old or younger.” The winners were chosen based upon their business or community achievements, leadership ability, community involvement, professional achievements, and uniqueness of their business or community projects.
Biographies of all the award winners are posted to businessinsurrey.com.
Sia is noted as “a vibrant, generous and loving 11-year-old student at Colebrook Elementary School. Since the young age of 6, Sia has been running an annual fundraiser from her home. She uses her savings for marketing collaterals and event supplies. She also reaches out to various organizations for donations and prizes.”
In 2015, she started Sia’s Lemonade Stand and raised $300 for Delta View Centre, the bio notes. “Since then, Sia has been organizing annual summer fundraising events, and the latest of which is Sia’s Burger Shack. Her tireless efforts over the years have raised over $17,000 for the Children’s Hospital. Sia plans to follow a career path in broadcasting or politics in the future.”
In alphabetical order, the 2020 Surrey’s Top 25 Under 25 award winners are:
Aksh Aggarwal, age 21, University Preparedness Workshop
Simryn Atwal, 24, Surrey Kids Help Phone
Suchayte Bali, 24, Emerging Routes Canada
Fahad Bin Faruque, 25, AXIS Consulting
Amandeep Boparai, 22, SPARK Foundation
Bremiella De Guzman, 24, Spread the Word: Inclusion (Special Olympics BC)
Jasdeep Gill, 23, Simon Fraser Student Society
Sandip Gill, 24, Youth Transforming Society
Fawzan Hussain, 18, Youth for Care
Pavneet Kalsi, 22, Equity, Inclusion and Wellness
Gurleen Kaur Brar, 24, Youth Transforming Society
Priya Kaur Lehal, 22, PKL Enterprises Ltd.
Christie Lo, 24, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
Eric Mann, 23, Emerging Routes Canada and UBC Bhangra Council
Shannon Permal, 21, Canadian Federation of Fiji Organizations
Samad Raza, 23, Emerge SFU
Prableen Sandhu, 21, South Asian Cancer Association
Sia Sidhu, 11, Sia’s Burger Shack
Nimrit Sidhu, 20, Hearts of BC
Gurkirat Singh Nijjar, 24, One Voice Canada
Sidharth Taank, 20, Nanofi Enactus SFU
Peter Tivy, 22, Teifi Digital Inc.
Jonathan To, 20, Health Change Lab – Made with Care and Count on Me – Enactus SFU
Lavleen Walia, 18, Youth Rising Foundation
Brandon Yau, 24, Surrey Canadian Cancer Society
Also, the Honourary Health & Safety in the Workplace Award goes to Shannon Permal.
Meantime, Surrey Board of Trade’s 56th Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held digitally on Tuesday, Aug. 18, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., via the Zoom app. An in-person AGM will not take place this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Surrey RCMP’s Officer in Charge, Brian Edwards, will be the keynote speaker. “We will also be recognizing the tremendous contributions of the Surrey RCMP, in lieu of the formal awards gala that would have typically been held this Fall,” says an event advisory.
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