Almost 1000 items donated to ‘Britain’s largest foodbank’

Nearly a thousand food items were donated in response to an urgent appeal made by a Muslim charity on behalf of “Britain’s largest foodbank”.

The people of Newcastle donated 882 items and hundreds of pounds of aid to the Islamic Diversity Centre (IDC) in just two weeks to help the Newcastle West End Food Bank’s rapidly dwindling food supply.

The famous foodbank, which featured in the critically acclaimed movie ‘I Daniel Blake’, is part of a nationwide network of foodbanks, supported by The Trussell Trust, which works to combat poverty and hunger across the country.

With supplies running low, the IDC made the appeal before launching an online donation page which managed to raise £250 of the £500 target.

Overall the organisation, which was also filmed BBC’s Look North last Friday delivering the items to the food bank, raised a total of £400 in online donations.

What we’re doing is what Islam teaches us to do, and that is to help those who are in need. – Abu Tayeb, IDC

Abu Tayeb, Project Manager of the IDC, said: “What we’re doing is what Islam teaches us to do, and that is to help those who are in need. And this is a teaching of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). He emphasised greatly on supporting those who are in most need, those who are oppressed. So this is a duty upon Muslims in fact.

“So as soon as we got the call and as soon as we got the call out there, the Muslims responded very, very well.”

“I think this shows there’s solidarity between people. It’s just a united effort of the people,” Alesha Aljefri of the Newcastle West End Food Bank said in response to the efforts of the IDC.

The donations and funds will help the food bank help those most in need for the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, the IDC, which challenges stereotypes and works to tackle misconceptions about Islam and Muslims, was also involved in hosting a lunch for the elderly last week.

Funded by the Middlesbrough Affordable Warmth programme, the lunches are an ongoing monthly project that aims “to build bridges and increase diversity between the different community groups that exist in Middlesbrough”

And with over 85 attending this month’s gathering, the hope is “to encourage better communications and to improve networking opportunities for the elderly who may never normally spend time with members of the community who come from different backgrounds to themselves”.