Hundreds of food items donated to Bradford’s most vulnerable
Ramadan is a month of generosity and giving, with Muslims around the world donating to charities and causes at home and overseas.
Over the past two weeks, one primary school in Bradford has taken this giving spirit to heart as pupils launched their own food harvest at Manningham’s Iqra Academy.
Every one of the 710 pupils at the Ofsted-rated ‘Outstanding’ school brought in at least one item of food with everything from cereals to pasta and tins of goods donated to the cause.
Devised by teaching assistant, Samira Afzal, the food will help the most disadvantaged in Bradford and was distributed just prior to Eid.
“When I was in school, we used to have harvest collections for charities,” Ms Afzal said. “With it being Ramadan, and the school year coming to an end this week, we thought why not host our own harvest here as well.
“To say this is the first time we have done this collection the children have done really well.
“The parents have been really supportive and the teachers encouragement has helped drive the harvest forward.”
Pupils from the school helped distribute some of the goods to the disadvantaged in Bradford last week, going out into the community to see directly who they were helping.
Many have gone above and beyond what was expected when the project was launched, with some children even bringing in their own food to give to the appeal.
Learning leader and pastoral manager, Ruby Hussain, spoke with pupils about the project during ‘circle time’ and was delighted to see a new side to many of them.
“The great thing about this collection is that every child has taken part,” she said. “We got to see this caring side of the children that isn’t always on show with kids of this age.
“Some children have even brought in big bags of food to donate and they have all done a fantastic job.”
Working alongside local causes is something Iqra Academy has been doing for a number of years as Chair of Governors, Parwaiz Bashir, explained.
“Working with our local community is really important to the school, and we have held similar collections before,” he said.
“Last year some of our pupils went to a residential home to speak with the elderly and deliver gifts, whilst this project reaches out to a different part of the community.
“The children have done a fantastic job in giving something back through this project.”
