For Mr Mohammad Yusoff Juma’at, the spirit of giving during the holy month of Ramadan extends beyond the Malay/Muslim community.
Since 30 April, the civil servant, his wife and two close friends – service engineer Megat Hikal Salim and accountant Nurul Jannah Kamaruddin – have been delivering free halal dinners to people living in rental flats, including non-Muslims, twice weekly.
So far, they have distributed 2,985 packets of food in Ang Mo Kio, Beach Road, Bendemeer Road, Chai Chee, Geylang Bahru, Jalan Tenteram and North Bridge Road. They plan to give out 2,000 more.
Each packet of food costs around $3.50 and contains either chicken rice or vegetarian fried rice, purchased from Golden Mile Food Centre in Beach Road.
Mr Mohammad Ridzwan, stallholder of Faheem Plaza that sells vegetarian fried rice at the food centre, helps out by lending his van to Mr Yusoff and his team so they can deliver the meals.
Their initiative, called Ramadhan Blessings, began with $1,300 that the team pooled together. When they appealed for donations so they could give out more food, members of the public chipped in to raise close to $17,500 – enough to fund their food distribution efforts until 23 May, the eve of Hari Raya Puasa.
Subsequent donations received will be channelled to Casa Raudha, a shelter for women and children who are victims of domestic abuse, said Mr Yusoff.
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Source: The Straits Times, 18 May 2020