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Awards to Asian Americans
in the Community
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Saini Family honored as Asian Model Family 2004
 
  
Mohinderjit Singh Saini Family Honored
as Asian Model Family
 CHICAGO: Mohinderjit Singh Saini and
family were the recipients of the Asian
Model Family 2004 Awards on November 27, 2004 at the
Holiday Inn in Skokie,
Illinois. The awards were given by Asian Chronicle
USA a television program
on public access cable, produced at COMCAST Studios
in Skokie, Illinois.
Mr. & Mrs. Mohinderjit Singh Saini and family
Harvinder (wife), Harleen
(daughter), Jaskaran (son), Jeevanjot (son) were the
recipients of Asian
model Family award 2004 in the Asian Indian
category.
The Model Families were chosen on the basis of their
being cohesive
families, role models for others to emulate,
extended numerous community
services here and in their native countries and have
impacted the positive
image of Asians in America.
The Saini family was cited as having a long list of
community service, and
have kept the children and the Saini family involved
in all the cultural,
social, and religious activities together. Keeping
the Indian tradition of
joint family alive, Saini family and his in-laws
live together as a joint
family in Palatine. Mohinderjit's parents live with
his brother in Toronto
Canada. The children are learning their mother
tongue Punjabi from parents
and grand-parents and can recite and sing hymns with
musical instruments. The whole family practices
dancing and has performed Punjabi folk dances at
numerous Punjabi, Indian, Asian American, and
mainstream events including the
Millennium Park
Grand Opening and
Thanksgiving Day Parade
Mr. Saini, a member of Zoning Board of Appeals of
Village of Palatine also
serves on the Asian American Advisory Council to the
State of Illinois
Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, and is the "Passport to
the World - Ambassador"
of Chicago Children's Museum.
He was the chairman of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity
Committee of "Vision in
Progress" a village of Palatine and Inverness
initiative.
Mr. Saini was the Program Chairman of the Asian
American Coalition of
Chicago's Annual Dinner Banquets in 2003 and 1995.
Currently he is the
banquet committee chairman of the Asian American
Coalition of Chicago 2005
dinner banquet slated for February 5, 2005.
He was honored by the Asian American Coalition of
Chicago with a community
service award in 1992.
Mr. Saini, the past president and the Managing
Director of Punjabi Cultural
Society of Chicago (PCS) (www.PCSChicago.org),
has served PCS in many capacities since its
inception. He is also the past
executive secretary, finance secretary and social
secretary of Sikh
Religious Society of Chicago. He is an active member
of Sikh American
Heritage Organization (www.SikhAmerican.org).
Mr. Saini headed the committee to publish Punjabi
community resource
directory "Punjabi Pages" in 1999 and 2001.
He was honored with community service award by
Punjabi Cultural Society of
Chicago in 1997, and "Chitrahar TV" in 2001.
A well known Punjabi performing artist, Mr. Saini
also teaches Punjabi folk
dance "Bhangra" to the children. He has organized
various Punjabi Cultural,
Sikh American and Asian American mainstream events
in Chicago for the last
18 years.
Mr. Saini, a post graduate in civil engineering from
University of Illinois
at Chicago and a graduate from Guru Nanak
Engineering College, Ludhiana,
Punjab, India, is an experienced construction
engineering professional.
Currently, he is a construction consulting engineer
with Teng and
Associates, Inc. of Chicago at their LaGrange Rd.
reconstruction project.
The other awards given by the Asian Chronicle were
as follows. The Pan Asian
Model Family awards were: Dr. & Mrs. Crescencio
Azcueta (In Memoriam),
Humanitarian Model Family - Mr. & Mrs. Austin
D'Souza (District 1-A
Governor, Lions Club International), Humanitarian of
the Year - Dr.
Nguyen-Trung Hieu, (Founder, Nghia Sinh
International).
The Asian Model Families from other Asian
communities were: Mr. & Mrs.
Rahman Atiq (Bangladesh), Mr. & Mrs. Chenda Taing
(Cambodian), Dr. & Mrs.
Cesar Puray, M.D. (Filipino), Mr. & Mrs. Muhammad
Rukli ( Indonesian), Mr. &
Mrs. Stephen Sunkoo Lee (Korean), and Dr. & Mrs
Chanachai Memark (Thai).
The event will be broadcast on Saturday January 22,
and 29, 2004 at 5:30 pm
at public access cable channel 35 and channel 19.
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