From the residents of the senior center next the CVS which burned down during the Baltimore uprising to the newly arrived Syrian refugees, the Muslim Social Services Agency (MSSA) is a source of upliftment for the people of Baltimore. On October 15, 2016, MSSA held its annual fundraising banquet and awards ceremony, ‘Community Service: Islam in Action’, at the Forest Park Golf Course in Baltimore City.
MSSA, a brainchild of Imam Hassan and Zakia Amin, is an agency that provides necessities of life to some of the most vulnerable residents of the community, along with training and counseling.
Naeem Muhammad of Native Deen and Islamic Relief performed soul stirring nasheeds and paid ode to his Baltimorean roots by conducting the fundraising.
During the ceremony organizations and Jibreel "JB" Garner and Dr Arif Mannan, of Columbia, Md., were recognized for their contributions to MSSA.
The Muslim Link newspaper was awarded for its support of MSSA’s work. Editor-in-Chief Minhaj Hasan accepted the award on behalf of the Muslim Link team. He appreciated the steadfastness of Imam Hassan and Zakia Amin in their vision and mission of service to the ones most in need.
Women's Committee of Masjid As Saffat and the Islamic Community School also received awards from MSSA for contributing volunteers and embracing the programming. Reyhana bint Yahya accepted the award for the Islamic Community School. The oldest school in the country will be celebrating its 40th year anniversary on November 12th. Many of the accomplished audience were parents or graduates of the school; a testament to the bond it has created in the community.
Hena Zuberi was invited to accept the Zakat Foundation of America Community Service Award in her role as the ZF volunteer liaison. The Zakat Foundation also presented a $3000 grant to the agency for monthly food service in Baltimore. This is the first of a series of grants that the foundation is offering.
In 2015, many new services and program were added to the MSSA roster. Peace Fest was added as an annual event. “We decided to have an event to begin the healing of negative attitudes between the citizens and the police officers [after the unrest]. This event brought the citizens and the police officers together for a day of family fun. It included free food, games, entertainment, children’s activities, and awards for the winners of activities,” shares Amin. The agenda for upcoming year is focusing on a central base for the agency, where a food pantry will be located.
MSAA raised $22,000 last year and $26,000 this year. “Each year our funding, supporters and sponsorship list grows.
A new program to support the influx of Syrian refugees to the Maryland area was established this year. The Resettlement Support Services is very actively assisting Syrian refugees,” noted Imam Amin. RSS provides Syrian and other refugees with a caseworker, who connects them to resources and services that will assist them in transitioning into American life. This program assists the client families with eviction prevention, first month’s rent or security deposit, furniture purchase, clothing purchase, household items purchase, bus fare and much more.
Imam Amin shares that many Syrian refugees come to America with little to no ability to speak the English language. So, many of them are enrolled in ESL (English as a Second Language) classes by their resettlement agencies. “The goal of them learning the English language is an excellent one, but in many cases it comes with many negative challenges. For example, some of the Muslim female Syrian refugees have complained that they are asked by their ESL instructors to remove “those trash bags”, referring to their head coverings, off of their heads,” he shares. They are told that they should not wear their traditional clothing because it makes them look like terrorists. “Also, the males and females Muslim ESL Syrian refugees are given Bibles in English and in Arabic! So, at the local masjid we have started ESL classes for Syrian refugees living in our area and we need your financial support in order to keep the classes going, growing and available,” he shared.
“We would love for these types of classes to be a shining example of other masajid to do the same and take the refugees out of an Islamically unfriendly environment into a masjid ESL Islamically friendly environment, inshaAllah. These ESL classes are so essential to these refugees' survive in America and much financial support is needed in order for the classes to continue,” he added. The masjid ESL classes are offered from 5-7:30 pm on Mondays for men and Wednesdays for women at Masjid Ihsan.
Please visit the project here and support MSSA: https://www.launchgood.com/project/esl_classes_for_syrian_refugees
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