The Ismaili Muslim Community of BC's annual Ramadan food drive collected over 12,000 pounds of non-perishable food for local Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island food banks.
Feezah Jaffer from the Ismaili CIVIC said the Ismaili community has hosted a food drive during the Holy month of Ramadan for over 18 years.
"The Holy month of Ramadan for Muslims across the globe is a time for introspection and prayer, and the performance of good deeds, charitable giving and voluntary service is of utmost importance during Ramadan," Jaffer said.
This food drive occurs across the country, in every province annually. The B.C. Ramadan food drive held a wrap-up event at the Surrey Food Bank Friday, with volunteers from Ismaili Civic and St. Monica's Roman Catholic Parish present alongside Save-On-Foods Sunwood, Manager Israel Martins, and Save-On-Foods Willingdon, Assistant Manager Brooklyn Murphy.
"The Ismaili community across Canada has chosen Ramadan to do a food drive, because food insecurity is rampant in our country right now, especially amongst youth, young people and seniors. So we really want to give back and so partnering, not only internally within our own community, but externally with external partners, we wanted to make an impact," she said.
"In the last five years, we've done an interfaith Food Drive because Ramadan coincides with Lent and Easter."
This year, the Ismaili Council for British Columbia partnered with Save-On-Foods and several faith communities, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and St. Monica's Roman Catholic Parish, where donations were accepted.
"We raised over 12,000 pounds of food all across BC, in our local Jamaat Khana's, which is our place of worship, and then we also partnered with five different Save-On-Food locations around the Lower Mainland," Jaffer said.
Jaffer was so grateful for their partners who have supported the initiative. "A huge thank you to all the food bank partners and to Save On Foods because we couldn't do it without their support.
Donations went to Surrey Food Bank, Muslim Food Bank in Surrey, Richmond Food Bank Society, Share Food Bank in Coquitlam, Rainbow Kitchen Society in Victoria and Loaves & Fishes Food Bank in Nanaimo.
Hajira Hussein, Executive Director of Richmond Food Bank and chair of Food Banks BC, said they are incredibly thankful for the Ismaili CIVIC Ramadan Food Drive and their partnership with them over the years.
"Through the Ramadan Food Drive, they raise thousands of pounds of food, but along with that, what they're also doing is they're generating support for food banks like ours," Hussein said. "So that is what we need at food banks across the board. We need those food donations. We need those partnerships. We need those advocates and ambassadors in our community to think about food security, to think about supporting our neighbours in need."
These donations are critical as local food banks are seeing more clients. The Food Banks BC 2023-2024 Impact Report noted that in March 2024, its members achieved "an unwelcome milestone" by serving "100,000 unique clients in a single month.
