Day of Dignity promotes welfare of homeless and at-risk children of Kalamazoo

Emma Luther
Western Herald

Saturday, Sept. 12, was a day to bring the community together as people lined up at Martin Luther King Memorial Park in downtown Kalamazoo to receive food, clothing, school supplies, and other assorted items.

The Muslim Student Association, the Bilal Islamic Center, and several other organizations gathered together to host Kalamazoo’s third annual Day of Dignity.

Before the event began, Zarinah El-Amin Naeem of the Bilal Islamic Center and the main organizer of this event, told volunteers, “treat them with dignity, and smile. Treat them as our guests.”

615 people were served on Saturday to promote a happy lifestyle for the homeless and at-risk children of the Kalamazoo area.

“To see smiles when someone receives something as simple as a t-shirt is a beautiful thing,” Naeem said.

“I am happy and excited to participate in the Day of Dignity every year.”

The Day of Dignity has taken place in 19 cities across the United States and two countries in Africa. This day takes place during the Islamic month of Ramadan in which Muslims across the world fast from dawn until sunset for 30 days.

According to the Koran, the Prophet Muhammad was most generous during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, giving Ramadan its start hundreds of years ago.

In this month, the benefit is greater involving charity acts because one is fasting and has a more spiritual connection to God or Allah. Most of the Muslim volunteers were fasting while volunteering from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Tyler Mckee, a member of the MSA, was one of those volunteers fasting.

“Our religion stresses charity opportunities to improve on ourselves on a personal level; to draw personal benefit to help give back to our community,” he said.

The majority of the donations came from the Islamic Relief, Kalamazoo Lend a Hand and Shawarma King.

For more information on the Day of Dignity and other cities who participate in this event, go to www.dayofdignity.com.

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Posted by heraldstaff on Sep 13 2009. Filed under Campus, Local, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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