Syrian refugees mark first Ramadan in Toronto with comfort food from home - Action News
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Syrian refugees mark first Ramadan in Toronto with comfort food from home

Two Toronto groups are helping Syrian refugees celebrate their first Ramadan in Toronto with treats from their homeland.

The Clothing Drive, Syrian Active Volunteers among organizations catering to refugees during Ramadan

Syrian Active Volunteers held a dinner and cultural event Friday to raise funds to fill baskets like these with food and treats for refugee families.

Two Toronto groups arehelping Syrian refugees celebrate their first Ramadan in Toronto.

The holy month for Muslims, during which they will refrain from eating or drinking from sunrise to sunset, begins on Tuesday.

In two separate events, The Clothing Drivelaunched a Ramadan basket campaign two weeks back and Syrian Active Volunteers (SAV)hosteda Syrian dinner and cultural event Friday to raise funds towards fillingbaskets with treats for the newcomers.

"Ramadan is such an important holiday for these families," SAV's Sam Jisri said in a statement. "Receiving a Ramadan basket will make them feel welcome because it acknowledges in a way that other charitable acts do not their own culture and heritage. It tells them that in here in Canada, families who observe are just as welcome as anyone else."
The Clothing Drive launched its Ahlan Ramadan project a few weeks back to provide Syrian newcomers with food baskets for their first Ramadan here.

The Clothing Drive'sJulie Mahfouz told CBC's Here And NowFriday that her group will filleach basket with rice, meat, hummus, baba ghanoush, dates and olive oil.

"These are foods that are consumed at the start and at the end of the fast," Mahfouz said, adding that it "would be very difficult to buy these items. As we've seen, there have been challenges with food and a lot of them have been going to food banks and trying to get these foods."

Mahfouz said The Clothing Driveplans on giving more than four kilogramsof meat to each family.

"We wanted to do something that was plentiful, that would be enough for these large families, something specific to their diet and would help them during this time and help them think of home as well," she said.

Mahfouz offered some advice to Canadians who are privately sponsoring Syrian refugees and who would like to help them mark Ramadan.
Sam Jisri, bottom left, co-founded the Syrian Active Volunteers group, which runs a hotline dedicated to helping Syrian refugees arriving in the GTA. (Facebook)

"These are great foods," she said. "You can't go wrong with what we've listed in our baskets. Being able to get any of these or all of these would be lovely for a family."