KASB Foundation urge David Grier to run across Pakistan

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi

The Chairman of the KASB Foundation, Arif Ali Shah Bukhari, alongwith with the representatives from the various components of the KASB of Group Companies, had a very constructive and fruitful meeting with David Grier, the inspirational figurehead from South Africa, who is serving humanity through his ‘Miles for Smiles Foundation’ with the objective to raise funds and awareness for non-profit organizations world-over to help thousands of children overcome poverty through life changing innovative decisions. 

Grier is one of the best known philanthropists besides being a speaker, chef and extreme adventurer, hailing from the South African city of Cape Town. He has also raised funds for reconstructive facial surgeries for underprivileged children, that has helped to change their lives forever.

Although asthmatic, he has proven to the world that the limitations we impose on ourselves are only in our minds by overcoming them with ‘running campaigns’ that have sometimes been for months, with the most famous ones being running all the way on the Great Wall of China that covered a staggering distance of 4,200 kms in 98 days, besides his runs across India, Madagascar South Africa and many other such adventurous ventures to help raise funds and awareness for the needy, underprivileged and poor in our society.

Bukhari and Grier also discussed the need to help poor children in Pakistan with childhood deformities as well as deformities caused to women of disfigurement by the throwing of acid on their faces. 

To help create awareness through which this “cursed trend” is put to an end, Bukhari also requested David Grier to “run across Pakistan – from Karachi to Peshawar” at a time convenient to him in the near future. 

Bukhari heads the KASB Foundation, a non-profit organisation which is involved in bettering the lives of the under-privileged people by providing grants for charitable purpose. It has continued to grow and develop as a transparent charitable organization through its highly motivated and organized structure that provides disaster relief and long-term sustainable community health services and self-support programmess that provide opportunities to the underprivileged to earn and manage their lives with self-respect and diginity.

The Miles for Smiles Foundation was formed to assist Operation Smile in creating awareness for the plight of children born with cleft lips and palates and raise funds to perform corrective surgery on them. It has a fundamental aim, to inspire and challenge individuals to go out and make a difference in the lives of those around them, by challenging themselves to achieve the impossible and by doing so make a difference.