Muslim Aid organised a “big food drive” at the East London Mosque last Friday – with generous worshippers donating a mountain of food for those homeless at Christmas. Ten tonnes of food was handed in by those going to pray, which was complemented by donations from local businesses and scholls – raising way more than organisers were expecting.
The food has been handed over to Crisis, a charity which was originally established to help the homeless at Christmas and which then extended its brief to carry out this work all year round. With the numbers of those living on the streets increasing under the current Government, the seasonal donation will be very welcome.
“We are overwhelmed by people’s generosity today and very pleased that this will mean thousands of homeless people in London will be well-fed over the Christmas and the winter period,” said Jehangir Malik, CEO of Muslim Aid. “We hope and pray that people from all backgrounds and walks of life will come together to contribute to the Big Food Drive to serve the most vulnerable in our communities.”
Dilowar Khan, Executive Director of the East London Mosque said: “It was heart-warming to see so many people bringing food to the Mosque and a good sign of our common humanity. We need to build on this and make sure that we support those less fortunate all year round.”
The Reverend Bernadette Hegarty of St Pauls, Bow Common Church, attended the event and said: “Giving is an important part of both the Christian and Islam faith and it is important for us to be working together to do what we can to support our brothers and sisters.”
Even the London Evening Standard was impressed by local generosity and printed a positive story – this after the paper spent months hounding Mayor Lutfur Rahman, elected by the same local people who donated so willingly this week. It seems that positive news stories about Muslims, unlike puppies, are only for Christmas.
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