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North York mosque's soup kitchen delivers milestone 15,000th meal
12-12-2018
A North York mosque dished out its milestone 15,000th meal as part of its soup kitchen and meal delivery service this Sunday.
Volunteer Sameer Subedar says that TARIC Islamic Centre's soup kitchen initiative has been going on for seven years and that he helps out with his family.
"Our goal is just to help our neighbours," Subedar said. "Unfortunately, there's a lot of people here that need food, and we're just trying to give them one meal to help."
He says last week, the soup kitchen served 1,000 meals — the most it ever gave out in a single day — but for Sunday, the kitchen had a goal of serving about 750 dishes.
Subedar says he was surprised to learn how many in the community needed help and wanted to give back.
"I just want to help the neighborhood, help the community and teach my kids [to] always give back to the community. That's so important," he added.
The soup kitchen says it served over 15 emergency/crisis shelters in Toronto for women, men, and youth and hundreds of meals each week to senior homes and low-income complexes.
Each one of its meals is fresh, nutritious and delicious, the soup kitchen says, and about 40 to 50 volunteers come out each week to help out.
'Happy and humbled'
Lead volunteer Imraan Assim, has been part of the initiative for six years and has seen it blossom.
"This is the quintessential crossroads of being Canadian and being Muslim," he said. "We're very happy and humbled at the same time to be able to do this."
The initiative overlaps with a holy month in the Islamic calendar, which recognizes the birth of Prophet Muhammad.
Muslims around the world mark the birth of the prophet or Milad-un-Nabi, in different ways.
Some decorate homes or use artistic expressions such as poetry or song, but for some like Assim, it was the perfect opportunity to give back.
And although the program has its roots in the mosque, Assim says it is for everyone.
"There's lots of Muslims and non-Muslims. This program, it's never been about just feeding Muslims," he said.
"It's everybody across the board. Wherever there's need is where we want to serve."
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