`Eid Al-Fitr is a time of a joyous celebration with family and friends after a month-long of fasting Ramadan.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related social distancing restrictions, US Muslims marked a somber `Eid with no `Eid prayer or family visits.
Yet, volunteers from the Islamic Circle of North America Relief USA group (ICNA Relief USA) and the Albanian American Open Hand Association (AAOHA) joined hands to give food to the less fortunate in Bronx, New York, Norwood News reported.
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Photos by Miriam Quinones
They distributed 2,000 boxes of food to the local community on Holland Avenue in the Pelham Parkway area of the Bronx on Saturday May 23, 2020. The City donated 10,000 face masks also handed out at Saturday’s event.
Aleksander Nilaj, President of the AAOHA, was on hand to personally hand out food boxes and masks to members of the community. He was joined by Kastriot Murataj, also of the AAOHA, and Shabbir Gul of ICNR Relief USA.
The need for charity efforts maximized due to the COVID-19 pandemic with many people out of work.
ICNA is one of the largest, non-profit, grassroots Muslim organizations in North America with many projects, programs, and activities designed to help in reforming society at large.
Over the past weeks, ICNA Relief has been providing food, hygiene items, and financial assistance. Services include a transitional home for homeless women and children, refugee assistance, back to school giveaways, health screenings, family services, hunger prevention, and more.
ICNA says its volunteers are distributing more than five times the amount of food compared to the same period last year.