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  • 27 May 2020 | UK

    Ismaili CIVIC: Two Thousand Masks Donated to Support Food Banks

  • In 2016, Dilshad was the onsite nurse at Global Encounters in Mombasa, Kenya. Here she is visiting other Kenyan students.
    27 May 2020 | UK

    Ismaili CIVIC: Two Thousand Masks Donated to Support Food Banks

    In 2016, Dilshad was the onsite nurse at Global Encounters in Mombasa, Kenya. Here she is visiting other Kenyan students.
  • IDE8
    27 May 2020 | UK

    Ismaili CIVIC: Two Thousand Masks Donated to Support Food Banks

    IDE8

Two thousand face masks were donated by Ismaili CIVIC in May 2020. Of these, one thousand were donated to Faiths United to support food banks serving some of London's hardest hit boroughs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This essential personal protective equipment (PPE) is indispensable in the protection of staff, volunteers and service users at food banks. The donation was made by Ismaili CIVIC to Faiths United, a coalition of faith leaders who have come together in response to COVID-19, who in turn donated the face masks to the Brent and North Paddington Food Banks on behalf of the UK's faith communities.


The Mayor of Brent, Ernest Ezeajughi and Westminster North MP Karen Buck joined the team at the Brent and North Paddington Food Banks respectively as well as leaders from the Ismaili Community and Ismaili CIVIC team Farhad Mawani, Ali Khanbhai and Zakiy Manji.


Farhad Mawani, Chairman of ITREB, UK, who sits on the Faiths United team on behalf of the Ismaili Community said "we were delighted to initiate this project, especially during the month of Ramadan. It’s important that communities of faith stand together to support the extraordinary efforts of food banks in providing for those in need, of all faiths and none. We are keenly aware of the importance of PPE to their operation and we hope that this donation will help in ensuring the safety for all those visiting the food banks."


Zaki Cooper, from Faiths United added that “providing for those in need is one of the principles of all the great religions. We are delighted to carry out this social action project, as a small but important gesture of all our responsibility to wider society. During the crisis, faith communities up and down the country have stepped up to the challenge.”


The Ismaili Community and Faiths United have had a long-standing relationship of facilitating inter-faith dialogue and support. The emergence of COVID-19 and the lockdown saw the establishment of an inter-faith response initiative. Building on the existing partnership, the group mobilised to run webinars on pertinent matters such as handling bereavement, supporting grassroots social action initiatives, undertaking consultation with government, showing support for front line workers, and acting as an important gateway to official advice and guidance as communities stay safe. Faiths United is made up of UK wide representatives of the nine faiths: Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Jain and Bahá'ís.


Ismaili CIVIC has been launched in light of the COVID-19 pandemic to lend voluntary support to the communities in which we live. If you would like to assist with the Ismaili CIVIC COVID-19 response, please register as a volunteer, please complete the volunteer registration form by clicking here and registering through your IIUK account.