Muslim women take a lead in their community with Texas tornado relief
On Easter Sunday morning, several teams of volunteers headed to tornado-hit sites in Arlington and Lancaster, answering the call of several disaster relief organizations. Locally, Irving based Muslim non-profit humanitarian relief organization OneNation Relief and Charity, an operating arm of Baitulmaal USA for local US-based relief work, started mobilizing their volunteers after the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex was hit by devastating tornadoes last Tuesday.
Last night, Baitulmaal and One Nation pulled a crew of volunteers to help clear tornado debris in an Arlington neighborhood on Hidden Oaks Lane this morning. More than twenty five volunteers with work gloves started picking up debris and loading them onto trailers and pick-up beds. When rain started pouring down around 2:00 pm, the volunteers continued working till 3:00 pm, calling it a day, and looking forward to returning tomorrow, for a whole week’s work.
Baitulmaal’s team included 17 women and 3 young men and one adult man! That’s not a surprise to those who are familiar with the strong women’s presence and contributions in the American Muslim community, especially here in North Texas. Alia Salem, Baitulmaal employee, said: “the area we worked at is a whole mess, with damaged homes and broken roofs.” She said that other individuals came to help with the clean up and a few came with ICNA Relief, another Muslim relief non-profit, but she believed that the majority of the relief effort has headed to Lancaster where the situation is much worse. Carole Sturm with Baitulmaal and One Nation said that Lancaster is in dire need for baby food, formula, and ice chests.
Thus, Baitulmaal is calling on North Texans to help with collecting items for disaster relief including, basic toiletries like toilet paper, soap, toothbrushes, toothpastes, shampoo, razors, feminine hygiene, deodorants; and baby stuff such as diapers, wipes, blankets, baby formula, and baby bottles. All items are urgently needed, and can be dropped at the Islamic Center of Irving at 2555 Esters Road, Irving, Tx. 75062 during prayer times. There are also drop boxes at the three Arlington Masajid, Al-Hedayah, and Masjid Ibrahimi in Fort Worth. Relief assistance will continue during the working week, as well as the weekend, for as many weeks as the cleanup needs. Thus, volunteers are still needed for the upcoming days and weeks, to help in the disaster that displaced hundreds of residents, destroyed over 900 homes and hundreds of businesses, but miraculously did not claim any human life. For more information on how to help, donate, or to sign up to volunteer please visit Baitulmaal’s, ICNA Relief, Islamic Relief USA’s websites.
Quick Links
