Free Imam Jamil Rally held in Atlanta, GA on Sunday, Oct 4, 2020.
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As in previous years, through its numerous programs and services, ICNA Relief, has continued to provide for the greater American community and assist in the betterment and empowerment of people across the country.
This year, in particular, such relief was especially joyous both to give and to receive in light of the challenges of 2020, marked overwhelmingly by the COVID-19 pandemic. In spite of the extensive loss and great distancing, it also brought people together, ultimately strengthening bonds of humanity in such severe times.
Early during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a shortage of PPE everywhere. With unanswered questions about the airborne aspect of this virus, everyone needed masks and healthcare workers were reusing their PPEs. The shortage led CDC to announce mid-March, “In settings where facemasks are not available, Health Care Providers might use homemade masks (e.g., bandana, scarf) for care of patients with COVID-19 as a last resort.”
ICNA Relief operates 23 Transitional Homes across the country. Their Dallas facility has an empowerment center, equipped with computers and sewing machines, to encourage residents to develop their skills and have a safe space for growth. The residents of the Transitional Home who had sewing abilities and community members, such as Reem – a Syrian refugee and a fashion designer who creates stunning bridalwear for a Texas boutique – as well as other volunteers, went store to store to find fabric and elastic needed for masks. However, the pandemic had caused many shortages as well as many stores to be closed due to the lockdown. The group, however, kept faith and instead bought high quality bed sheets, and ribbon instead of elastic, and created the bended nose section with pipe cleaners from the children’s craft section. Reem taught the volunteers and residents how to cut and sew the pieces together.
The volunteers then announced their project on social media, thereby allowing news of their work to travel quickly. From there, they started to receive multiple calls from multiple medical offices and hospitals. A local community member also requested the masks for all the elderly neighborhood individuals who didn’t have them. Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson heard of the initiative and asked for masks for her office and staff as well. She even sent a beautiful thank you letter to the ICNA Relief DFW office. Sheikh Omar Suleiman helped deliver the masks to Parkland Hospital. The team was making so many masks that volunteers set off to get boards to help cut faster and more efficiency. This project gained so much traction, with many people donating to the project and others donating to the Transitional Home as well.
The work of ICNA Relief during the pandemic also traveled through the arid drylands of Arizona to the various Native American tribes who live there. COVID-19 has caused an enormous amount of food shortages across food banks in Arizona. This is an even more dire problem across the “food desert” areas of the Arizona Native American population, especially the Navajo Nation. As the virus spread, the Navajo Nation became the epicenter of the disease as the number of cases increased.
ICNA Relief was able to create accessible food pantries and deliver food boxes to these tribes. They spent over $30,000 to gather essential food items such as rice, flour, oils, pasta, pasta sauce, baking powder, salt and more. The Facebook fundraiser for water raised about $2,800, allowing them to distribute about 15 pallets or 4,050 gallons of water to the underserved tribes.
With efforts like these, in-kind donations of resources are tremendously helpful. ICNA Relief thanks Mohammad Elengery and his wife Yomnna for lending their 54 ft., eighteen-wheeler for these large shipments. Without this resource, ICNA Relief would have spent a few grand on renting a vehicle that was large enough or taking multiple trips to deliver this much food.
Volunteers also held a distribution in White Mountain for over 173 families. These families received the essentials and perishables like bread, fresh vegetables and fruit. There were other distributions in Yuma City to Cocopah and the Quechan tribe. Some of these distributions also included dairy products. ICNA Relief also assisted the Hualapai tribe in Valentine, AZ and provided boxes for around 100 families. The Vice Mayor of Arizona, Lauren Kuby, has been an avid supporter of ICNA Relief’s initiatives in these communities, even making her own Facebook fundraisers to help with gas for transportation and hygiene items. The local leadership, like the Cocopah Tribal Council Member Rosa Long, Quechan Tribe Council Member Charles R. Escalanti and Anthony Allison from the Navajo Nation along with Kyle Jim (a member of the Diné clan) and his sister, Bree Lameman, COVID-19 Relief coordinators, made all of these travels and distributions possible.
ICNA Relief also worked extremely hard to combat the deluge of misinformation that coincided with the increased spreading of the coronavirus in order to best support and protect communities across the country. As a non-profit committed to serving diverse communities, ICNA Relief has produced informational pamphlets in multiple languages, containing health and safety guidelines from CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Early on, before the shelter-in-place order, these pamphlets were distributed in local mosques and community centers.
ICNA Relief quickly saw the need of being a voice of comfort and guidance and created the ICNA Relief National Helpline. The helpline offers help in multiple languages: Spanish, Urdu/Hindi, Arabic, and Bangla. This enables new immigrants, refugees, and elderly non-English speaking individuals to navigate this pandemic through inquiring about financial assistance, unemployment and insurance.
ICNA Relief Health Services also deployed a Telemedicine line so that individuals may speak with a nurse or doctor to see if their symptoms entail an ER visit or if they may be indicative of a seasonal cold. ICNA Relief was thus able to provide a means by which the burden on both emergency rooms and hospital personnel was alleviated. The telemedicine line was also able to assuage the fears of the general public seeking assistance and advice regarding their own symptoms or the lack thereof. There were fears of potentially catching the virus in emergency rooms and hospital centers, and by creating an intangible space in which people could receive help, the telemedicine line erased the need to go to these locations for further information.
This pandemic comes with a surge in the need for psychosocial help, thus, hand in hand with telemedicine, the health services team has developed lines for tele-therapy in specific states. ICNA Relief has free health clinics in seven cities across the states: Mount Pleasant, SC, Anaheim, CA, Athens, GA, Duluth, GA, Philadelphia, PA, Oklahoma City, OK, and Dallas, TX. Tele-therapy allows the clients who come to the clinic to continue their mental health treatment through counseling sessions over the phone.
Many of the ICNA Relief offices have also distributed hot meals to the ER doctors and nurses. In New York City, in particular, ICNA Relief collaborated with the Latino Muslims of NY to deliver hot meals to Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, and Mount Sinai Hospital in Queens. In Atlanta, GA, volunteers delivered more than 250 hot meals at Emory Johns Creek Hospital and in Sacramento, CA, the team did the same at the Methodist Hospital.
In total, ICNA Relief, Alhamdulillah, has been able to serve 885,828 individuals and 183,154 families nationwide through all its branches. Of these numbers, 357,841 children were served, and 51,026 elderly individuals were served as well. ICNA Relief was able to distribute 239,204 food boxes and 104,609 hot meals, and overall delivered a whopping 9.6 million pounds of food and groceries to those in need – a value of almost $12 million.
ICNA Relief’s telehealth services have also been widely utilized. The ICNA Relief Helpline was able to help 148 clients, and the ICNA Relief telehealth services provided a value of about $91,000 worth of services and about $200,000 worth of counseling and educational services during this past year. ICNA Relief was also able to distribute 11,636 hygiene kits nationwide at a value of about $93,000. During Ramadan, in particular, ICNA Relief distributed over 13,000 food boxes, about 47,000 iftars, and about 3,400 toys across the country. Overall, ICNA Relief was able to aid and care for 127,590 individuals in Ramadan alone.
ICNA Relief could not have been able to do this work without the help of our treasured volunteers – 7,779 volunteers joined ICNA Relief in our efforts to alleviate the troubles of the great American community and put in about 38,895 hours into doing so. 2020 was by no means a simple year for all of us worldwide. But, Alhamdulillah, in the spirit of care and generosity, a spirit which we emulate from the example of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), ICNA Relief is confident that together we are able to keep bonds of community and service strong despite such difficult times.
Islamic Circle of North America Relief has begun distributing fresh produce from USDA Farmers to Families Program. Distributions are scheduled 3 to 6 p.m. every Thursday at Masjid Al-Momineen, 837 N. Indian Creek in Clarkston and 6 to 7 p.m. every Friday at Moores Mill Village Apartment, 2453 Coronet Way NW, Atlanta.
The Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) Relief Georgia team has worked endless hours these past few months during the coronavirus pandemic, and Ramadan the holy month where Muslims fast each day from sunrise to sunset. The last few months the organization has aided in serving over 27,000 individuals, according to a press release.
The ICNA Relief Food Pantry request has nearly tripled due to layoffs or other unfortunate circumstances pertaining to the pandemic. During the time, ICNA was able to provide over 316,000 pounds in food and groceries, collectively distributed close to 18,600 hot meals and non-perishable food boxes, 1,106 hygiene kits to those in need, and took over 548 Tele-Medicine for COVID-19.
Article Courtesy: ajc.com
ATLANTA (CBS46) – A local religious group reached out to help feed Metro Atlanta residents who could be vulnerable by the rush on grocery stores recently due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Volunteers with ICNA Relief served hot meals to the homeless Sunday on Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard N.W. in Atlanta between 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Additional volunteers held a non-perishable food distribution in Clarkston and Stone Mountain from Noon to 3 p.m.
“Because of the food shortage and what’s happening, the stores are getting empty. People are not having enough money because some people might be out of jobs, so we took this initiative to give back to society and that’s who we are,” said Shamikh Sahadat, Director of ICNA Relief U.S. South-East Region.
ICNA Relief is a Muslim based volunteer organization which offers several programs to help local community members. It has free clinics, a refugee center and food pantries among other services.
Article Courtesy: cbs46.com
Derek Stevenson thought about his 89-year-old grandmother when he heard about older people who were stuck at home because of the coronavirus and the potential risks to those over age 60.
Although his grandmother lives with an aunt in metro Atlanta, he said he would want someone to step in and help her during this crisis if she lived alone.
So Stevenson, a Navy veteran and an umpire and referee for high school and college sports, started knocking on doors at his Atlanta apartment complex, emailing and posting notices that he could go to the grocery store and run other errands for senior residents.
A few took him up on the offer.
“People are too scared to go out, and some of the older people can’t stand in line for a long period of time,” he said. “I told them, ‘I got you, no problem. We’re going to get through this together as a community.’”
As the coronavirus spreads across Georgia, more nonprofits, faith communities and individuals are stepping up to help those at greatest risk — older residents and those with compromised immune systems or underlying illnesses.
As a double whammy, often those people older than 60 have other health issues that make them vulnerable, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart and lung disease.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends older Americans stock up on supplies and avoid crowds as much as possible, keep extra medication on hand or consider mail order. Mostly, be prepared to stay home for a prolonged period of time.
Senior citizens centers have temporarily closed. Others are open for Meals on Wheels programs. Residential facilities have asked seniors to self-isolate and have severely limited or eliminated outside visits, except from staff and some vendors. Habitat for Humanity DeKalb indefinitely suspended its home repair projects for senior citizens so older residents would not be put at risk.
AARP announced Tuesday a $250,000 donation to Meals on Wheels America to support urgently needed outreach to isolated seniors.
Meals on Wheels Atlanta CEO Charlene Crusoe-Ingram said in response to the coronavirus, the nonprofit has started delivering two weeks of meals at a time, rather than one meal several times a week.
Hands on Atlanta, which serves about 5,000 people annually through its meals program, issued an urgent call for volunteers as it ramps up meal production over the next few days.
The plan is to deliver a week’s worth of medically tailored meals to senior citizens, shut-ins and those with chronic illnesses.
“A lot of seniors are fearful,” said Matthew Pieper, executive director. “They want to stay indoors more so than usual in order to protect themselves. Some are even leery of connecting with our delivery drivers, staff and volunteers.”
He said drivers are leaving meals at the door and then calling to say the meals are there. That “safe distance” protects both the client and the driver.
He worries, though, about social isolation. Older residents’ only interaction could be with the person who delivers their meals.
He said staffers are calling clients more often than usual just to see how they are doing.
The Islamic Circle of North America, a relief organization, is rolling out a food program for older people and those with compromised immune systems.
The organization has partnered with more than 15 mosques in the metro area to collect and distribute nonperishable food to people who cannot safely leave their homes.
“In times like these, food is scarce,” said Sheikh Shamikh Sahadat, Southeast director for ICNA. “A lot of the shelves are empty, and that’s where we step in.”
Additionally, several mosques have Care Clubs that are being used to reach out to senior citizens and students in the community to determine and fulfill their needs, including packed lunches.
“The beautiful thing about the faith community is that we are grounded in community work and social work,” said Imam Arshad Anwar of the Roswell Community Masjid. “When you have a crisis and are feeling anxious and scared, there’s something about human-to-human interaction that is very powerful.”
Other religious organizations are getting creative to maintain that interaction.
Stone Mountain First United Methodist Church went virtual with its worship service, Sunday school and Bible study.
Probably 75% of its 350-member congregation is over the age of 60.
As part of the new normal, every night at 7 p.m., there will be a conference call where church leaders and members can pray, share prayer requests and concerns and offer a brief devotional. The church also sends an email blast asking members if they need errands run or need other items.
More than anything, said the Rev. Ellen Shepard, senior pastor, the nightly call keeps a connection going. “We’re really a tight-knit community,” she said. “It’s nice that before you go to sleep, you can reach out and hear other voices. It gets them out in the world.”
Article Courtesy: ajc.com
On a rainy Saturday morning in Atlanta, GA, Muslims from all over the southeast region of the United States poured into the Renaissance Waverly Hotel for the 25th annual ICNA-MAS conference.
Beautiful scarves, sparkling jewelry, and sweet-smelling scents lined the hallways of the conference exhibit hall. The conference was scheduled to begin at 11:00 AM sharp for the inaugural opening in the Grand Ballroom. Healing Humanity was the theme for this year’s conference.
This year’s conference began with a beautiful Quranic recitation and a Fiqh question and answer session with speakers, Sh. Abdool Rahman, Dr. Asif Hirani, and Fiyaaz Inayaat Ullah.
Allah says in the Qur’an, “Do not ask those unnecessary questions. If it is mentioned to you, it can cause you hardship.” In other places in the Qur’an, “If you do not know, ask the people of remembrance and knowledge.”
These verses from the Qur’an set the tone for this opening session.
The first question of the day was presented by a young sister from the crowd.
“What is the ruling regarding the allowance of Muslim men marrying non-Muslim women compared to the ruling of Muslim women not being able to marry a non-Muslim man?”
“The concept of a successful marriage means both parties are living happily. It can’t be accomplished without you sharing the same values as your spouse. Even in many schools of thought, it is not recommended for men to marry non-Muslim women,” Dr. Hirani responded during the session.
The session continued with questions surrounding prayer timings, home purchasing, and gender relations. These questions were answered intently and with the wisdom of the Qur’an and the implications of being a Muslim in the West.
The official opening session was held after the afternoon prayer and was opened by a welcome from Abdul Rauf Khan and Brother Javaid Siddiqui. They spoke on a central message of unity and healing humanity as the theme of this year’s conference.
“This is a universal religion. A religion for all people and for all times in history,” Br. Javaid Siddiqui stated in his eloquent opening message.
Imam Khalid Griggs joined the stage to reinforce the message of healing humanity through our Islamic principles.
“The problem and solution to whether we would be successful is how we approach the subject of materialism. Materialism is a philosophy that denies anything you can’t see or touch. It makes matter superior to anything else,” Imam Khalid profusely expressed on the stage.
The inaugural session ended with a beautiful talk from Shaykh Yasir Faya and Imam Suheib Webb. The topic of dealing with differences was discussed by Br. Yasir.
“The most universal language in the world is compassion. If you are helping an elderly person cross the street, it doesn’t matter what language you speak or where you are from. Everyone knows exactly what is happening,” Br. Yasir spoke eloquently to the crowd of attendees.
Imam Suhaib Webb joined the stage shortly after Imam Yasir and spoke on the topic of fear and hope.
“It is important to not fall into a false sense of untethered hope. There has to be a unique balance between law and hope. To be balanced is to be in the constant state of toil,” Imam Suhaib Webb spoke from the stage.
“Healing humanity, embracing diversity, and understanding our differences has been my biggest takeaway from this opening session,” Vanessa Sharif reported to Aboutislam.net.
At the conclusion of the inaugural opening, the main hall was flooded with Muslims from almost every nation from around the world.
You could feel the energy and warm vibration from the participants entering into the hotel. The bazaar shops were booming and the elevators packed with newly arriving guests.
“The opening session revived my heart. I look forward to the rest of the program,” Kassim Zaid from Atlanta, GA reported to AboutIslam.net.
ICNA President awarding to the winner of Quran contest. 
Midnight basketball tournament. 
Poster of the movie premiered during the convention..
By David Pendered
At a time DeKalb County’s school system expects students to have a home computer, a Muslim organization is leading an effort to give away to refugee children a back-to-school need that’s far more basic – backpacks, paper and pencils.
Supplies are still being accepted for the give-away in the melting pot of Clarkston that’s planned for Saturday, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Clarkston Community Center, 3701 College Ave, Clarkston 30021. The lead sponsor is Islamic Circle of North America Relief, with support from about 20 local partners.
The school system’s expectations of computer access are clear in the district’s web page for students. Detailed information about the district’s countywide back-to-school rally is provided on the webpage aimed at students:
“[L]ive entertainment, food, refreshments, as well as limited supplies for families, health screenings, and other resources for parents. For more information, contact DCSD Parent and Family Engagement at 678-676-0384 or family_engagement@dekalbschoolsga.org.”
The Muslim program is intended to help students and families who are in a different place as they begin to assimilate into their new homeland.
Up to 1,000 backpacks are to be distributed Saturday, and several hundred more are to be given to other organizations that are to distribute them in other regions in metro Atlanta.
Along with filling a basic need for students, the backpack give-away program has another objective: Preventing the potential embarrassment some refugee children may experience if they show up for class without even the most basic provisions, according to Fatimah Wadood, a relief coordinator with ICNA – which is leading the event Saturday in Clarkston.
“It’s one less thing they’ll have to feel different about,” Wadood said of the backpack and supplies. “Now they won’t have to worry that they don’t have paper and pencils. They can focus on learning, instead of what they don’t have.”
The effort reminds that some refugee children will be attending school for the first time. For them, it’s more a moment to celebrate than to regret the last days of summer vacation.
“It’s a milestone for some of them to be in school,” Wadood said.
The event in Clarkston is part of ICNA Relief’s #OneNationOneCause Back2School Drive. The program is slated for more than 70 cities in a total of 35 states and Puerto Rico.
The program distributed in 2018 an estimated 45,000 backpacks with supplies, according to a statement from INCA Relief. Since the program was started in 2009, nearly 250,000 backpacks with supplies have been distributed through programs based in 56 chapters, including 17 transitional shelters for women and children.
Nearly 30 local organizations have partnered in the backpack giveaway. According to ICNA Relief, the list of partners includes:
The Baig Firm, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Interfaith Children’s movement (ICM), Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta, New American Pathways, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Georgia, Center of Pan Asian Community Services (CPACS), Atlanta Community Food Bank, U & M family Eyecare, CDF: A Collective Action Initiative, Refugee Women’s Network, Inc., International Rescue Committee Atlanta (IRC), SCN Atlanta/Georgians for Syrian Refugees, WellCare Health Plans, Refuge Coffee Co., Madina Restaurant, Georgia Tamil Muslim Association, Maryam Masjid, Taubah Academy, Project Hope Atlanta, Catholic Charities Atlanta, Ambu-Link Ambulance Service, Helping the Community, Gwinnett Islamic Center, Masjid Maryam, Masjid Omar Bin Abdul Aziz, Masjid Al-Hedaya, Masjid Uthman, and The Atlanta Masjid of Al-Islam.
To make a donation or learn more, ICNA Relief is relying on digital communication: Contact Wadood at afatimah.wadood@icnarelief.org, or support ICNA Relief through Amazon Smile.
Article Courtesy: saportareport
(Atlanta, GEORGIA, Feb 3, 2019) – A team of trained volunteers from 877-Why-Islam is in Atlanta to join ICNA-Atlanta for a successful Street outreach outside the Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Super Bowl Sunday. The volunteers spoke with the attendees about the misconceptions about Islam in the media and general society.
The theme “Is Life Just a Game?” connected Super Bowl and Purpose of Life. It aimed to have people think about following questions:
The over 60 volunteers mainly from ICNA Atlanta included 7 mentors from WhyIslam NJ. Several attendees said that they will read more about Islam and accepted that there is only one God and they believe in all prophets of God as true messengers.
For more details please visit whyislam.org
