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Muslims prepare meal at Lighthouse soup kitchen for Ramadan

April 28, 2022   ·   0 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

A local resident and Muslim recently fundraised and sponsored a meal at the local soup kitchen as a way of giving back during the holy month of Ramadan.

Tricia Celik, who hosted a Ladies Ramadan Iftar event at Tony Rose over the Easter weekend, said she was able to raise $635 online over social media and used it to sponsor a lunchtime meal at the Good Friends Fellowship Church’s Lighthouse (207 Broadway). The Lighthouse offers a free lunch to the community every day.

Celik, with the help of Orangeville councillor Debbie Sherwood and fellow Muslim Munazza Mukri, cooked a Mediterranean hot lunch featuring grilled chicken, rice, homemade Tzatziki, naan bread, and a Turkish salad. A little over 30 meals were assembled and served on Tuesday (April 26)

“Everybody had a nice full container of food and we got great feedback,” said Celik. “They seemed to like it and everyone was pretty happy.”

After the purchase of ingredients and putting on the lunch, Celik said she was able to donate $470 to the Lighthouse to help them offset their food purchasing costs.

Celik noted that similar to how Christians try to volunteer and give back to the community during Thanksgiving or Christmas, Muslims make an effort to give back during the holy month of Ramadan, which is what inspired her to help the Lighthouse.

Going forward, she said she and a few other Muslims plans to volunteer with the Lighthouse on a regular basis, perhaps once a month.

Celik noted the importance of creating connections between religious groups within the community and said working with the Good Friends Fellowship Church’s soup kitchen – the Lighthouse – is a great way of doing that.

“This is one thing I’m very big myself on, is wanting to build more interfaith and community relations. That was another thing that’s really good to come out of it, because we found that we can go back in there, and we can volunteer,” Celik explained.

“That’s good for us to be able to fulfill our good deeds, especially during Ramadan. So, they [at the soup kitchen] were happy. We were happy. It was a successful day.”

Celik also commented on the importance of building bridges between the Muslims and the local community.

“It’s good for the community to see that Muslims are contributing to their community and their giving and donating,” she said, “We’re community members as well, just like anybody else.”

Celik said the Lighthouse is always taking donations and is in need of volunteers, so people should reach out to help if they can.

For physical donations, they are most in need of personal care supplies and toiletries.

Celik said she’s hoping to coordinate a donation of these items before the end of Ramadan, which will be May 1 or 2

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