A Spiritual Search

Becoming Pritam Singh

 SPIRITUAL SEARCH

In 2003, the Singh Company began renovating the dilapidated Overseas Motel in Marathon, into a delightful community of 13 affordable homes. We preserved a streetscape with a sense of history and accentuated its historic character with lush landscaping and white-picket fences. The Village reverberates with the sense of community and is a place to truly call home. Pritam collaborated on this great project with the Middle Keys Community Land Trust, a non-profit whose dual mission is to provide the opportunity of home ownership to those who would otherwise not be able to afford it, and to create a long-term bank of affordable housing.

"Another significant part of my philanthropic work has focused on the support of education. In 1985, I provided the seed money to found the first Sikh school in North America, located in Canada. Since then I have provided the funding to establish or substantially renovate six schools in the United States. The most recent was a school I was invited to visit in Marathon."

"The Grace Jones Day Care serves children that range from 8 weeks to 10 years old, providing inexpensive childcare for mothers that cannot afford to remain out of the workforce. During the visit I passed through the nursery and saw these little tiny babies, each in a blanket in their own crib, sleeping peacefully. I was touched by what I saw and knew I wanted to help. The school is located in rundown building that had not been renovated since its days as the segregated school in the 1940’s and 1950’s. I partnered with a committee of like-minded citizens who believed in the institution and wanted to rebuild the decaying school. I offered to design a beautiful new building and put up $400,000.00 of the money to construct it. My architectural plans show a building evocative of a fantasy castle complete with spires and flags. It was designed in this way because I believe each of these children deserved to come to school where they felt like they were a prince or a princes. I wanted to provide a place where these children could go to be in touch with beauty, especially those whose lives might not provide these opportunities otherwise." - Pritam