KJ Mullins-Toronto: When Loveen Kaur Gill was a young girl living in Vancouver one of her friends got sick. The child was in need of a kidney transplant but Loveen just knew that one day she was there and then she was gone. In 2011 Gill founded Aram Karma in Toronto.

Years after losing a young friend to kidney disease Loveen Kaur Gill founded Aram Karma Donation Society. Most of the members of the group are under 40 and part of the South Asian community in Toronto. With the main focus of raising awareness of the need of organ donation today the group walked along Lakeshore Blvd. to Harbourfront Centre with drums and banners.

Gill said that the group has monthly events to raise awareness of their cause. The next event, the Provincial Volunteer Committee Picnic, will take place in London at Spring Bank Park.

“Every three days someone dies in Ontario because there wasn’t an organ available,” Gill said while leading the march Saturday. She said that in Ontario there are over 1,500 patients waiting some type of organ. Most of the need is for kidney donation which can be given by a living donor.

“In our community religious beliefs can be a factor when it comes to deciding to donate. Many believe that if they give an organ when they are reborn they will return without that organ,” Gill said. She and her group are working to let people know that by being an organ donor you can save up to 8 lives.