Zakat Foundation & its Partners Provide Daily Dinner for Hundreds

Zakat Foundation & its Partners Provide Daily Dinner for Hundreds

(Bridgeview, IL 8/16/2010) The Zakat Foundation (ZF), an international charity organization based in Chicago, Illinois, with support from Bridgeview's Mosque Foundation and volunteers from the Chicagoland area are providing daily iftar-dinners for approximately 250 to 300 people per day at six Chicago-land mosques during the entire month of Ramadan. This is the fifth Ramadan during which Zakat Foundation and its partners have provided daily iftars-dinners at local mosques.

"It is a good opportunity for Muslims to share the blessings of Ramadan while strengthening the bond between neighbors," says Social Service Director, Sheryl B. In Islamic tradition, the Prophet Muhammad is to have said that the one who goes to bed while his neighbor is hungry is not a true Muslim.

Zakat Foundation will also sponsor iftar-dinners in New York, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Nevada, California, Michigan and Minnesota during the holy month of Ramadan.

Apart from these local efforts, Zakat Foundation and its partners also provide hot meals and food packages to people across the world. Due to emergency conditions, flood victims in Pakistan are given additional meals this year. Donors were able to provide for families from Bangladesh and Chechnya to Indonesia and the United States.

The Zakat Foundation is a tax-exempt charitable organization under section 501(c)(3) of the internal Revenue Code. All donations to Zakat Foundation are tax exempt and our Tax ID is 36-44 76244.

The Zakat Foundation, in operation since November 2001, runs both domestic and international projects, and fosters charitable giving to offer relief, education, and development to those in need. For more information, visit www.zakat.org or call 1-888-ZAKAT-US.

Zakat Foundation Supports Innovative Green Reentry Project in Inner-City Chicago

Zakat Foundation Supports Innovative Green Reentry Project in Inner-City Chicago

Contact Directly:

Sumayya Ahmed
sumayya@zakat.org
Zakat Foundation of America
P.O. Box 639
Worth, IL 60482

Toll Free: 1-888-ZAKAT-US

(1-888-925-2887)
Fax: 708-233-0339

 (Bridgeview, IL May 27, 2010) Zakat Foundation of America, a Muslim-run relief and development organization based in Bridgeview, IL,  is pleased to announce its financial support, along with the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), to the initial stage of Inner-City Muslim Action Network’s (IMAN) groundbreaking Green Reentry Project.

The Green Reentry Project is designed to revitalize long-neglected neighborhoods by converting vacant, foreclosed and vandalized properties on Chicago's South Side into vibrant, environmentally sustainable housing. The renovation project will provide on-the-job-training for formerly incarcerated Muslims and subsequently provide them with transitional housing. The Green Reentry Project was one of eight such projects chosen by the City of Chicago’s Department of Environment for funding under the Community Green Job program.

While Zakat Foundation is an international charity organization working in over 30 countries around the world, its Social Services Program actively carries out humanitarian work in the United States through the development of partnerships to support communities in times of crisis, as well as long-term development programs designed to promote self-reliance through skill building and income-generating initiatives.  In supporting IMAN’s Green Reentry Project, Zakat Foundation once again confirms its commitment to human development within its local community.

IMAN, an organization that works closely on issues of criminal justice, believes that with the right resources and opportunities, previously incarcerated individuals can become productive members of society who will lead the way in restoring their communities and neighborhoods. ISNA, which hopes to showcase the first completed home during its annual convention scheduled to take place in Chicago in July believes that the Green Reentry Project is in line with its own community and infrastructure building priorities.

Zakat Foundation is devoted to addressing the needs of communities in sustainable ways and knows that its contribution to the pioneering Green Reentry Project is in itself a groundbreaking move for a Muslim faith-based charity in the United States.

Zakat Foundation of America is a Chicago based non-profit relief and development organization which has catered to local and regional needs, as well as abroad to Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, since 2001. For more information and photos of our relief work, please call  708.233.0555, or visit www.zakat.org.