MUSLIMS FEED NEEDY CANADIANS IN RAMADAN

     Toronto, 27 Sha’ban 1434/5 Juli 2013 (MINA) – Canadian Muslims have launched a campaign to feed the hungry in Toronto, Canada’s largest city, during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, due to begin Tuesday, July 9, in North America.

     “The campaign asks those who are fasting to donate the money they are saving for the month – lunch, coffee and snacks – to the ‘Give 30’ campaign in support of Daily Bread Food Bank,” Ziyaad Mia, the founder of the ‘Give 30’ campaign told OnIslam.net.

    The campaign, which started last year, asks Muslims and non-Muslims to give up $1 a day, $30 for the month, to help those in Toronto who are hungry.

    The Ramadan-based initiative was launched in 2012 to build on the principle of social solidarity that fasting seeks to create among all people and across all distinctions between people.

    “As such, I have designed campaign to appeal to Muslims, but also to everyone else in our community, regardless of faith or background,” Mia said, a Toronto-based lawyer, OnIslam.net quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

     “In that sense, the whole community can participate and share in Ramadan.”

     The funds raised will go to the Daily Bread Food Bank, a Toronto distribution center supplying other local food banks.

     As the hub of the food bank community in Toronto, Daily Bread Food Bank supports approximately 170 member agencies in running different kinds of food relief programs. Daily Bread member agencies see a monthly average of 66,000 clients.

     This year, the ‘Give 30’ campaign is slated to expand beyond Toronto to Calgary in the Western Canadian province of Alberta.

     “My humble human intent is simply to mobilize thousands and thousands of people in Canada, and maybe across North America, to take the initiative each Ramadan and act in the service of the broader community by addressing the needs of those who do not have enough to eat,” said Mia.

      According to the country’s statistical agency, Statistics Canada, Muslims are the fastest growing religious community in Canada.

      Canada’s Muslim population increased by 82 percent over the past decade – from about 579,000 in 2001 to more than 1 million in 2011. Muslims represent 3.2 percent of Canada’s total population. (T/P09/E1).

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).