PARMA, Ohio — Saturday, dozens of volunteers from across the Cleveland area came together to give thousands of healthy meals to those who need them most. It's part of the nationwide "Feed the Hungry" campaign.
This is the second year that Cleveland has been a part of this campaign – and its one of seventeen cities helping out across the country.
"Feed the Hungry" was created five years ago by Pious Projects. It's a non-profit that allows people to participate in humanitarian projects all over the world.
For Cleveland’s campaign, nearly one hundred volunteers gathered at the Islamic Center to put together 2,000 bagged meals. Then, they gave them out to several local homeless shelters.
The local campaign is spearheaded by a group of local Muslims who say the mission goes hand in hand with the teachings of the faith.
"Its in our Quran which is our book that we follow. It says that you should never discriminate. It doesn't matter what religion, race, or ethnicity, it doesn't matter where they're from that as long as you have a hungry friend or a neighbor, you should feed them. That is part of your duty as a Muslim,” Yamamah Rashid, one of the organizers of the Cleveland event, said.
All of the food for the meals is 100% donated. Volunteers also put handwritten notes and drawings on each bag.
“Our Cleveland Muslim community is very strong. We all want to help each other out, but I was getting donations from California, Michigan, New York, Texas. Just from family and other friends that we all know and have that are out of state that will just send us anything to help out,” Amana Zahriyeh, another organizer of the event, said.
If you want to get involved with the campaign next year, contact Pious Projects who will then connect you with local organizers. Preparations typically start two months before the event is scheduled.
