Muslim Association donates 26 activity baskets for kids to local shelters

Earlier this month, members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community took it upon themselves to create activity baskets to drop off at local shelters in Bradford and Alliston. 

Member Sairah Chaudary with her sister Hiba Chaudary and their children thought it would be a nice gesture during the festive season. 

"Charity or Sadqa (in Arabic) is an integral part of every Muslim's life," says Sairah. "Belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, our motto being 'love for all hatred for none',  I have always seen our community ready to offer their help or give back to the communities we reside in."

Sairah's children are seven and five, and she wanted to introduce to them the concept of charity in a meaningful way. 

"In an attempt to demonstrate the importance of giving back to the community we live in and helping those who are less fortunate, I decided to make Christmas activity baskets for kids," she said. 

"As Muslims our biggest celebrations are Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha, however, I wanted to inculcate love, acceptance and respect in my girls for other religious celebrations, in this case, Christmas," she explained.

This is where the idea of the activity books came in, to give kids the chance to make their own Christmas crafts.  

"I involved my girls in the process of creating something the children at the shelter may enjoy doing," she explained, such as decorating a paper Christmas tree or adding google eyes to a snowman.

They also included pencils and notepads for the children to doodle in, as well as modelling clay and counting blocks. On behalf of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Women's Association, the Chaudary family donated a total of 26 Christmas Activity baskets to local shelters. 

The members also purchased the following additional items for the Alliston shelter:

• 12 bowl noodles
• 10 boxes of pasta noodles
• 11 paper towels (pack of 6 each)
• 9 cans of milk
• 12 can of chicken soup
• 8 cans of meat (chef Boyardee)
• 5 fruit cans 
• 3 boxes of Pampers diapers (size 4 and 6)             

"My goal was to encourage my girls to give back to the community whenever we can and demonstrate that this could take hours but the important part is that we are helping somoeone feel happy and loved," she said. "More importantly reminding them that Islam teaches us to love humanity and care for our neighbours and the community we live in."