Mosque makes free meals for health-care workers

More than 350 hot meals.

That’s how many staff and volunteers from the Ummah Masjid and Community Centre have delivered to healthcare workers in the Halifax Regional Municipality who are on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19 in the past week — at the QEII Hospital and Dartmouth General Hospital.

By Friday, that number will grow to about 700, as a few chefs roll up their sleeves and prepare a choice between a Turkish lentil kofte dish or a roast chicken dish, served with salad and rice, which volunteers will package and deliver safely to staff working overnight and day shifts at

Northwood. The long-term care home has reported 45 COVID-19 deaths to date.

“We do receive a lot of outpouring of support when we go through any crisis or any matter. We also have to give back to the community, because they are protecting us in these trying times and they really need the support,” said Imam Abdallah Yousri with the Ummah Masjid and Community

Centre.

The initiative comes on the backs of other causes the mosque has introduced in recent weeks to support Nova Scotians during the pandemic.

The Ummah Masjid and Community Centre has also been providing free meals and groceries to vulnerable community members and set up a community food bank outside

its 2510 St Matthias St. location for people in need to access at any time, no questions asked, “to avoid embarrassment.”

Between the number of free meals the mosque has provided to health-care workers and vulnerable community members, Yousri estimates the mosque is coming on 2,000 meals.

And it's all with the help of the community, as many have volunteered their time and donated more than $30,000 to the mosque to support its COVID-19 initiatives, according to Yousri.

“We are proud that we managed to do all this work, with the help of the community, and all the volunteers have been part of this, and the donors that donated food, money and their time, and we're grateful for the healthcare workers at the hospitals who allow us to do this kind of work with them,” he said.

“We feel proud that the community is supporting each other during these tough times.”

Yousri said these initiatives play a part in realizing his vision for the mosque: to pay it forward, support the community and come together with Nova Scotians during trying times.

He added the mosque is looking to carry out these causes “all the time” and to “continue to do it until we're no longer needed.”

Volunteers at the Ummah Masjid and Community Centre are helping to package and deliver the free meals to health-care workers in the Halifax Regional Municipality.