Photo: The Open Kitchen beneficiary family (Credit: Muslim Hands)
Elham Asaad Buaras
For the second consecutive year, Muslim charities are gearing up to commence food-poverty fighting initiatives during a lockdown Ramadan. Muslim Hands Hounslow-based Open Kitchen will continue to provide service for non-Muslims but will also supply food parcels to Muslims – a large proportion of them, refugees. The food parcels will include breakfast items to close the fast with as well as a hot meal in the evening to open the fast.
The Open Kitchen, which is based in Great West Road, was set up in 2018 to alleviate food poverty in the UK, where one in five people struggled to put food on the table. The kitchen is free and open to all, providing hot nutritious meals twice a day, seven days a week. Since the start of the pandemic, the Open Kitchen offers two services: delivering struggling families, individuals or those isolating their food or a pick-up service from the premises.
Yasrab Shah, Muslim Hands Fundraising Director, told The Muslim News, “We are living in unprecedented times and have seen the pandemic bring waves of uncertainty and challenges, which we’ve had to navigate through this past year. Muslim Hands is proud to be running the Open Kitchen, a service desperately needed, to support those suffering from food poverty.
As many continue to be hit financially, the Open Kitchen serves to ensure that those who are struggling and facing hardships are not left to suffer alone in silence. Only by bringing communities together can we truly make a difference.”
Neasden -based foodbank and Kitchen Sufra NW is calling on its supporters to help us raise £60,000 to help local residents in urgent need of food. The drive is the second Ramadan in the midst of a global crisis.
Last year, demand for food aid at Sufra increased by 400 per cent and had to rapidly expand its services to support those most in need. Sufra’s Ramadan ‘Love Thy Neighbour’ Appeal 2021 will raise money to fund its food bank and community kitchen delivery service throughout 2021.
Rajesh Makwana, Director of Sufra NW, told The Muslim News, “Never has the imperative to ‘Love Thy Neighbour’ been more urgent than it is today. We may be coming to an end of the viral stage of Covid-19, but the economic ramifications of this pandemic will be long-term and brutal for the people Sufra NW supports. Covid-19 didn’t create food banks but it has exacerbated the demand for our service. Extreme poverty is expected to double in the wake of the pandemic.”
