Member Article

Anoki Charity Dinner Raises £55,000 for Kashmir Orphan Relief Trust

A fundraising dinner staged at Anoki fine dining Indian restaurant in Derby has raised an incredible £55,000 for the Kashmir Orphan Relief Trust (KORT).

More than 200 guests from across the area attended the event to raise funds for the charity, which was established in 2005 following the devastating earthquake which hit the Kashmir region of Pakistan, taking the lives of 87,000 people.

Since then, the charity has dedicated itself to rebuilding and improving the lives of hundreds of orphaned children, providing them with food, shelter, clothing and medical care and empowering them through education in order to give them the best possible chance to succeed in the future.

The funds raised to date have enabled the charity to build the £1.8m state-of-the-art KORT Educational Complex in Mirpur, Azad Kashmir.

The purpose-built, earthquake resistant complex comprises of a school, separate 500 bed boys and girls hostel accommodation, along with two-storey dining area, sports field and a mosque.

The complex is currently home to over 300 children and is likely to rise to 1,000 children following the construction of hostel accommodation. As well as providing schooling for its resident children, places will also be offered to vulnerable and underprivileged local children to help give them the best start in life.

KORT has also helped to build 171 new homes in Nowshera, Pakistan for families who lost everything during the worst floods ever to hit the region in 2010.

The charity also distributes wheelchairs for disabled people and donates sewing machines to help people become more independent.

The £55,000 raised at the Anoki charity dinner takes the total raised by the Derby community since 2005 to more than half a million pounds. Future plans include building sustainable projects so KORT can become self-sufficient.

Commenting on the success of the event Naveed Khaliq, owner of Anoki, said:

“KORT is a fantastic charity; the work that the team do is life-changing, and we are honoured to support their fundraising here at Anoki Derby.

“To raise £55,000 in a single afternoon is an incredible achievement - the funds raised will help to build better lives for the children in Kashmir and we look forward to working with Ali and the KORT team again.”

Organiser Ali Latif added:

“I’d like to say a huge thank you to Naveed and his Anoki team for hosting our charity dinner again this year. The event gave us a platform to show guests the enormous difference their generous donations are making to the lives of hundreds of children who have lost everything. We were able to showcase the progress KORT has made over the past 12 months and share plans for new developments.”

“This event is a testament to the generosity of Derby’s community, who have raised over half a million pounds to date and have been an integral part of KORT’s project to build a permanent home for orphaned children in Mirpur, Azad Kashmir.

“The amazing thing about KORT is that it has no paid staff in the UK - other than an administrator. The ten KORT trustees and the chairman all work voluntarily to raise funds around the country. This has been made possible only thanks to the support of individuals and businesses such as Anoki and we’d like to thank all our donors, volunteers and supporters for their continued support since 2016.”

Anoki opened its doors in Derby in October 2003 and since then has established itself as one of the most unique dining experiences in the region. It now operates award-winning restaurants in Derby, Nottingham and Burton-on-Trent.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Donna Hill .