http://www.bclocalnews.com/greater_vancouver/northshoreoutlook/news/18955469.html

From a cramped office in the back of a gas station, Karim Chandani has raised more than $2.7 million to help kids with lupus and arthritis.

Today, surrounded by three laptops, a welter of paperwork, stacks of coffee-cup lids and teetering piles of Esso merchandise, the energetic Chandani is busy updating the website for his celebrity arthritis fundraiser this August. This is the makeshift headquarters for Celebs For Kids, a charity Chandani founded after his eight-year-old daughter Jalisa was diagnosed with lupus last June.

From the back room of his Westview Esso station, he’s determined to help find a cure for lupus, a form of arthritis, but he must keep one eye on a small surveillance video monitor on a shelf above his desk – occasionally excusing himself to brew a fresh pot of Tim Hortons for his customers or operate the cash register.

He’s still got a business to run, after all.

Chandani’s goal of raising $3.5 million for the Arthritis Society seems more attainable now than eight months ago when he first started.

And perhaps as remarkable as the total he’s already garnered so quickly, is the fact he’s done it with a no-frills budget (he’s spent about $100,000 of his own money) – meaning 100 per cent of the money raised goes directly to the Arthritis Society to establish a chair in pediatric rheumatology.

“We’re doing it out of this room ... this is where we work,” says Chandani. “I got tired of the big charities (because) the administration costs are so high.”

When his daughter was diagnosed with lupus, Chandani knew nothing about the chronic autoimmune disease. He was shocked to learn so many Canadian children and teens suffer from lupus – and how much it impacts their lives.

His daughter’s body and joints ache constantly, so she’s been put on a medication that has several side effects: weight gain, muscle loss and vision problems.

“It’s tough on her. The kids are tough on her. We try to keep her very active to make her feel she’s not different,” explains Chandani, who says he’s fortunate to have the support of Esso and its B.C. retailers who’ve generously supported his fundraising initiative.

When Chandani learned there wasn’t a research centre in Canada dedicated to pediatric rheumatology, he set out to change that. He’s never had a problem overcoming obstacles. Chandani arrived in Canada in 1972 as an immigrant from Uganda and opened a gas station in 1999. He now has a pair of North Vancouver Esso franchises and has always been eager to give back to the community. Through the years, he’s helped organize the Ismaili Walk, sat on the board at Canuck Place and helped to organize the Holy Trinity golf tourney – making a lot of friends along the way.

So, after his daughter’s diagnosis one longtime pal Mike Watson, the former VP of the North Shore Credit Union, suggested a fundraiser. Another friend, John Sandor, GM of Sutton Place, offered the hotel as the venue - but they figured they’d need some star power to make the event a real success. That’s when one of his customers put him in touch with actor Kevin Sorbo at a Super Bowl Party. There, he met Gigi Rock, a charity event planner, who agreed to help out. She got her neighbour, former Edmonton Oilers goalie Grant Fuhr, to host the event and he sent out a few invitations of his own: Wayne Gretzky, Shane Doan, Mario Lemieux, Kevin Costner, Mike Eruzione, Jim McMahon, Emmitt Smith, Ray Bourque, Willie Gault, Ryan Smyth, Jarome Iginla and Darryl Sydor – to name a few.  

Chandani, whose gas stations have always been popular fill-up spots for North Shore-based Canucks, also tapped his own black book, getting commitments from Ryan Kesler, Mattias Ohlund and others.

“You meet great people when you’re really not after something,” says Chandani, who notes Dean Duke, a North Shore resident he met only a month ago, recently donated $50,000 to his charity effort.

Chandani, who has been working six hours a day, six days a week on the fundraiser, admits when he started this was about his daughter but that soon changed.

“It became about all the kids. It energizes me.”

For more information about the golf and poker fundraiser, visit celebsforkids.ca.