Powerlifter gives back to Surrey healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic

Sumeet Sharma aims to visit all Lower Mainland hospitals, including Peace Arch, to deliver food

A local powerlifting champion is aiming to help frontline hospital workers across the Lower Mainland during the COVID-19 pandemic – and is set to stop by Peace Arch Hospital later this week.

Sumeet Sharma – who won gold for Canada at North American Powerlifting Championships in Panama City last October – has teamed up with his athletic sponsors to donate coffee and “nutrition bars” as well as bottled water and Indian food from Vancouver’s Raga Restaurant to first responders.

Sharma told Peace Arch News that he has already made deliveries to Vancouver General Hospital, Royal Columbian, Abbotsford Regional Hospital, St. Paul’s, Mount Saint Joseph Hospital and Langley Memorial and is scheduled to stop by Peace Arch Hospital on Wednesday.

“Our goal is to go to all of the hospitals in the Lower Mainland,” he said.

Sharma said he hopes to inspire others to make similar donations to health-care and other frontline workers, and help out where he can during the ongoing health crisis to “thank them for all they are doing for our community.”

Sharma, who is a B.C. Corrections employee in Surrey, began powerlifting competitively in 2016, and prior to the pandemic, had been volunteering his time giving presentations on the sport – and healthy eating – in local schools.

“It’s just a way of giving back to the community, which I always like to do,” Sharma told Black Press Media back in January, shortly after visiting Newton’s Princess Margaret Secondary.

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