On Wednesday evening, members of the Bradford Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association stopped by the Helping Hand Food Bank to drop off $6,000 worth of goods, collected by their community members throughout the month of December.
The nationwide initiative is part of the Million Pounds of Food campaign launched by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association. The goal of the campaign is to raise and donate over a million pounds of food to various food banks across Canada, as the need for food donations has heightened especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
President of the Bradford Muslim Youth Association Ijaz Fazal, and regional president Zeeshan Iqbal and other association members came with a van full of goods, including diapers and non-perishable food items.
Mayor Rob Keffer, Coun. Raj Sandhu, York-Simcoe MP Scot Davidson and Food Bank President Carolyn Khan were in attendance to receive the goods, and thank the association for their generous donation.
"We wanted to give back to our community," said Fazal. "We are here today in Bradford donating to our local food bank and we are so grateful to be able to do so and thankful, and hopefully we can continue to work with you and bring those donations every year."
"The giving back is unbelievable," said MP Davidson, pointing to the van full of boxes and bags of goods. "On behalf of everyone in Bradford West Gwillimbury, and myself as Member of Parliament for York-Simcoe, I want to say thanks."
Mayor Keffer and Coun. Sandhu thanked the association on behalf of the town for their generous donation.
"We really appreciate it," said the mayor.
Sandhu noted this was not the first time the association has stepped up to help the community and the food bank, noting the many other occasions throughout the pandemic they have made donations to those in need.
Members of the association helped load up the boxes and bags of food into the food bank's warehouse until the van was empty.
"Thank you for your continued support, we couldn't do this without you," said Khan.
