As a Wolverhampton fundraising legend and volunteer ambassador who has raised over £250,000 for Dementia UK, Manjinder “Manny” Singh Kang has been recognised by both his local university and the UK government for his achievements.
In 2023, the University of Wolverhampton awarded him an honorary fellowship, and more recently in March 2024 he received the Point of Light Award from the prime minister, which was given to him at Molineux Stadium, the pitch of Manny’s favourite football team Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Point of Light Award recognises outstanding individuals who are making a change in their community, and Manny said of his achievement: “It was a surreal moment, something unexpected, and to receive it from Wolves on the pitch before the Fulham game was amazing. I’m happy that Dementia UK has gotten so much exposure from it.”
As for his honorary fellowship awarded by the University of Wolverhampton, Manny said: “I was absolutely flabbergasted when I opened the letter and saw it. I honestly thought, is this some sort of prank?
“Academically, I did alright. I was in the first ever year that did GCSE exams when they replaced O-levels. After this, I went straight into an apprenticeship and literally worked since the age of 17.”
While Manny started his career early, a few years into working full-time he recognised he wanted to make kindness a more prominent feature in his life.
He described the moment he decided to focus more on giving than taking: “At the age of 25, I pretty much had this vision: I wanted to be a manager, I wanted to drive a nice car, I wanted to be married and have kids. You could write that list for almost every other 25-year-old.
“However, when I went to India, I bumped into a few people who were serving the community there. As I learned more, I just thought, wow: we go through the race of life and then it all ends. All the possessions and belongings, what I call the wrapping paper I was chasing, doesn’t really mean much in the end, you know? So what are we really doing with our lives?”
Manny puts his faith as a Sikh as a primary inspiration for his charitable work, saying that meditation “detoxes you,” and that he finds it important to stop focusing on the “material” world. It’s also Manny’s view that offering energy and time to a good cause works wonders for improving mental health and calls the return “priceless.”
He continues: “Volunteering and fundraising is an investment, where you don’t have to really pay anything in, because the stuff you’re using – kindness, courage, bravery, whatever – is already available to you. It self-replenishes, so it’s a no-brainer for me, and that’s why we help, and that’s why we carry on.
“You don’t have to earn hard work or dedication or commitment from somewhere. It’s already available, and you just need to tap into it. I’ve got to believe that that’s how powerful the human being is.”
While Manny continues his full-time job working for National Rail, he raises money for charity via walks, runs, challenges, and delicious food donations. Manny is best known for his Samosa Saturdays, which have been running for over five years now and have seen 20 events take place, with more to come.
Each Samosa Saturday, Manny, his family, and some other Wolves supporters cook and distribute a huge batch of samosas at a Wolves match for a donation, rather than a fixed price. After raising about £3,000 during the first event, they have since served over 50,000 samosas, have received coverage from a wide range of sources, and have had support from local celebrities such as Suzi Perry and Beverly Knight.
Manny says: “We do a lot of the samosas at home, so it involves my mum, dad, aunties, nieces – everyone gets involved. It’s a week-long effort so, you know: a real family event.
“Then there was the time when we got 16 or 17 volunteers who helped me at the store and shook the buckets to collect for us. Before that, I knew none of them, and they only approached me when they saw what I was doing. Some of them told me their personal experiences of living with dementia, and they have since become really close family friends, and they sort-of take over the events now, and I just watch the magic happen.
“You don’t have to earn hard work or dedication or commitment from somewhere. It’s already available, and you just need to tap into it.”
“It just shows you what a wonderful city Wolverhampton is, and full of really giving people.”
Manny’s other areas of fundraising expertise include challenging walks and runs. He has completed numerous marathons and walked incredible distances, and he recently faced his biggest challenge yet: travelling 195 miles by foot in just 4.5 days.
Manny and his son Jeevan achieved this astounding feat by walking from his favourite football team Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Molineux Stadium to Newcastle United’s St James’ Park. As planned, they arrived in time for a match, and despite Wolves losing 3-0 the team’s defeat was still a success for charity organisation Dementia UK.
Manny’s walks and runs have at times pushed his mind and body to the brink, and one of his memories illustrates this particularly well: “I did the Yorkshire Three Peaks all in one day, which took me ten-and-a-half hours. You’re totally alone in the middle of nowhere, and there’s just sheep staring at you. It’s the wilderness.
“I came to a point where I ripped my calf, and there were still nine miles to go, with no one to call. I sat on the hill with my head in my hands, but I carried on. I limped and hobbled and I got there in the end. You know that things can go wrong, and the body can give up, but that’s just part and parcel of it.”
Manny’s tireless charity work has raised enormous amounts for Dementia UK, and despite Manny having no personal connections to the disease, he says that raising money for those who are coping with it marries well with his worldview.
He explains: “People often ask me, is it your dad, or is it your mum who has it? And I say, if you take the ‘your’ away, it’s just a ‘dad’ or a ‘mum.’ So as long as a dad and a mum get helped, it doesn’t matter whether they’re mine or yours. If someone out there needs help and we can do something to help them, we should.”
Manny is an inspiring person to talk to. His genuine desire to do good – to “make kindness normal,” as he calls it – alongside his enthusiasm and simple belief that good deeds breed good deeds is a wonderful thing to behold.
When asked whether he hopes his actions will inspire others, he replies: “I don’t have to imagine it, because I’ve already seen it happen. If you follow the sun, the shadows will follow you, and if you turn your back on the sun and try to chase the shadows, guess what? They’re gonna run away from you and you’ll never be able to catch them.
“It’s important not to focus on materials, belongings, or accolades. If you do good things, those things will just come into your life.”
