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ICNA Relief Programs for 2010 - 2011
Mobile Soup Kitchen
 In 2010, with help from Allah, the local chapter of ICNA Relief will launch a first-of-its-kind project. We will launch a mobile soup kitchen. Built in a converted mail-delivery truck, and fully certified by CA Dept of Health for food distribution, this mobile soup kitchen will not be tethered to a specific location when it come to serving the homeless. It will go from place to place, accessing the areas where the need for a warm, nourishing meal is the most.
While you see the regular food trucks parked at many places, we believe this is a unique undertaking by any organization. The food will be taken to where the homeless folks gather, rather than making a brick-and-mortar soup kitchen and expecting people to show up – thereby reducing the reach. It is a definite first for the Muslim community.
Nicknamed Mercy on Wheels, you are going to see it parked in the parking lots of various Bay Area mosques in a bid to familiarize the Muslim community about the project. Indeed such are the projects that the Muslims need to feel the proud owners of.
Please stop by the first Mobile Soup Kitchen parked outside, have a close look at it – as it will be our messenger of goodwill for quite some time to come – and donate generously if you feel this is a kind of activity worth spending on.
Monthly Feed-the-Hungry and Abraham’s Day
 With the new Mobile Soup Kitchen, inshaAllah we plan to continue the monthly feed the hungry at several places in the Bay Area.
ICNA Relief has been arranging monthly Feed-the-Hungry events for over three years, regularly distributing around 200-500 meals at various locations in the Bay Area – with San Francisco and Oakland being the regular recipients. As part of Eidul Adha celebrations, to share Allah’s bounties with the community at large, we celebrate Abraham’s Day where over a thousand meals are distributed at half a dozen locations in the Bay Area.
Needy Family Help
ICNA Relief continues to help local needy families with its limited resources. ICNA Relief gets requests for small-scale help mostly from single sisters with family. The requests are carefully evaluated via personal contacts and the references verified. Then a determination is made about the size and duration of the financial help. We are always looking for more help – both financial and volunteers to help investigate the cases.
Janazah Fund
Whenever ICNA Relief gets a request for a janazah help, the volunteers spring into action. This is a job that needs careful investigation but at the same time is time critical. By the help of Allah, ICNA Relief has been able to help several needy families in this time of crisis to bury their loved ones in a proper Islamic manner.
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