Google honors philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi with new Doodle

Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Google is celebrating what would have been the 89th birthday of global philanthropist and humanitarian Abdul Sattar Edhi with a new Doodle.

Google's homepage features artwork depicting a bearded Edhi standing amongst one his signature emergency response vehicles as a family is seen visiting a health clinic. An open book can also be seen in the background.

Edhi was born in India but moved to the city of Karachi in Pakistan. He wanted to help the people of his new country who he noticed were in poor health and lacked basic essentials such as shelter, medicine and education.

The philanthropist established the Edhi foundation on private donations.

"He began by simply asking others around him to contribute time or money, especially when a flu epidemic hit Karachi," Google explains.

"I got medical students to volunteer. I was penniless and begged for donations on the street. And people gave," Edhi is quoted as saying to NPR.

"The foundation, which operates 24 hours a day, provides a variety of social services from homeless shelters to medical care — all free of charge — and has helped thousands of people around the world in times of need. Most notably, the foundation operates the world's largest volunteer ambulance network in Pakistan," Google continues.

"Edhi was directly involved with the foundation throughout the rest of his life. He always focused more on those around him than on his own comfort or needs. In fact, he and his family slept in a room near the foundation's headquarters and had only a few belongings. But his charitable empire and "family" were vast — at the time of his death, he and his wife Bilquis were registered as parents or guardians of tens of thousands of Pakistani children."

Edhi's foundation, according to Time, has offered assistance in other countries affected by disasters like Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and is also known for operating orphanages, women's shelters and rehabilitation clinics.

"My mission is to love human beings," Google quotes him as saying. "Each day is the best day of my life."

Edhi died in June of 2016 in Karachi.