The holidays are a time for giving, and no one knows this better than Baltimore area shipping industry leaders whose benevolent efforts are helping victims of the floods that devastated India’s Kashmir region in September. Thanks to ocean carrier Bahri General Cargo, Glen Burnie, Md.-based customs broker John S. Connor Inc. and sporting goods firm SZCO Supplies Inc., a 40-foot-long container filled with warm clothing, blankets, shoes and other relief goods has headed to Kashmir, where flooding ravaged thousands of villages. Chaudry Jamil, president of SZCO Supplies, a Baltimore-based manufacturer and importer of knives, swords and other items for sportsmen, said the endeavor began as clothes and related goods were collected at the mosque at which he worships, as well as at other locations in the Baltimore-Washington area.
A 40-foot-long Bahri General Cargo container is stuffed in Frederick, MD, with warm clothing, blankets and other relief goods destined for flood victims in India’s Kashmir region.
A 40-foot-long Bahri General Cargo container is stuffed in Frederick, MD, with warm clothing, blankets and other relief goods destined for flood victims in India’s Kashmir region.
Jamil then approached the Bahri and Connor firms to provide a container and assistance in underwriting shipping and paperwork charges. In November, the container was stuffed at a Frederick, Md., warehouse and put on its way to India on a Bahri vessel. “Bahri is honored to have the opportunity to assist in this worthy effort,” said Charles Atkinson, Baltimore-based national sales manager for Bahri General Cargo. “Our industry has consistently been willing to help those in need throughout the world,” Atkinson continued, “and we at Bahri are particularly glad to have been able to lend a hand in some small way to the victims of the Kashmir flooding.” SZCO’s Jamil noted that Bahri has partnered in similar relief efforts in the past, including after the 2005 earthquake in Pakistani Kashmir, adding, “They’re a good team over there at Bahri.” Irfan Shahmiri, president and executive director of Child Nurture and Relief Inc., a Kashmir-focused, Herndon, Va.-based not-for-profit organization known for short as CHINAR, said he is especially grateful for the latest assistance. “These are people who have lost everything in the floods,” Shahmiri said. “These clothes will help them big-time because winter is approaching.” Those interested in assisting the Kashmir flood victims may send tax-deductible contributions to: CHINAR, P.O. Box 341, Herndon, VA 20170.