COVID-19 RELIEF TIMELINE
Major Milestones
Program Launch
First Batch of Hygiene Kits
We partnered with Islamic Relief Canada to package over 750 individual and family-sized hygiene kits.
Our First Food Boxes
We started making our own food boxes to provide food relief to those in need. Over the next 2 weeks, we packaged and delivered over 500 food boxes to families and individuals in need.
Program Continues to Grow
*Photo taken before masks became mandatory*
Surpassed over 1,000 requests received and completed. We launched our own hotline that served people in 3 different languages and we featured on several media channels including CBC and CTV.
Launched our Ramadan Campaign
We ‘upped’ our game in Ramadan by doing more proactive outreach within Muslim communities to ensure everyone had food to break their fasts with. We delivered over 1,000 food boxes during the month alone. We partnered with local youth organizations such as CUSmile, UOSmile, Your Youth, Carleton MSA, and the University of Ottawa MSA.
Donated 8,000 Gloves to Healthcare Workers
During this time there was a shortage of PPE supplies for healthcare workers across the city so we reached out to the Ottawa Hospital and donated 8,000 pairs of gloves.
Started Partnership with the Ottawa Food Bank
Our volunteers started supporting the Ottawa Food Bank deliveries where we eventually were able to deliver over 450 food hampers over several months to Ottawa Food Bank clients.
Eid Campaign
To mark the end of Ramadan, we celebrated Eid by delivering 250 food boxes, 250 goodie bags, and 250 whole chicken to families in need across the city. Our volunteers spent their entire day going around town to spread the joy of Eid.
2,500 Food Boxes and 1,000 Hygiene Kits Delivered!
Launched PPE for the Homeless Campaign
We reached out to local shelters and delivered over 200 PPE kits to people without homes across the city.
Partnership with the Ottawa Public Library and Sidra Treehouse
Seeing a need in providing social support for children, we partnered with the Ottawa Public Library and Sidra Treehouse to deliver over 250 Activity Kits to vulnerable children across the city. We also worked with Sidra Treehouse and other local programs to deliver weekly supply kits to newcomer children where we did online programs designed to keep the kids learning during the summer months.
3,000 Food Boxes and 1,200 Hygiene Kits Delivered!
Received the Order of Friendship Award
For our work with the Ottawa Public Library (OPL), we received the Order of Friendship Award. This prestigious award is bestowed by the OPL’s Board of Trustees and recognizes outstanding volunteer contributions by individuals, groups, or associations that improve the OPL’s ability to deliver services and programming to the community.
Launched our Recipe Contest
We launched a recipe contest to engage our community to create recipes based on the content in our food boxes. Winning recipes would be featured inside our recipe pamphlet that will be included in all of our food boxes. We received over 20 submissions and selected 5 winners.
Launched our Share the Warmth Campaign amd Delivered over 350 Winter kits
We partnered with Islamic Relief Canada to package over 450 winter kits. We worked with 6 shelters to deliver these kits to the homeless population in Ottawa-Gatineau. All winter kits contained essentials like gloves, hats, jackets, scarves, blankets, and much more.
Surpassed 3,500 Food Boxes and 1,500 Hygiene Kits
Launched our Website
After months of preparation and work, we launched our very own website umo-og.ca!
Launched our Connect Program
During our conversations with some of the clients, we found that many people were struggling to find the right information and resources. We launched our Connect program which pairs a client with one of our volunteer caseworkers who assist them in finding correct information and connect them to resources across the city.
4,000 Food Boxes and 1,500 Hygiene Kits delivered!
Delivered 400 Hot Meals for the Homeless
We partnered with Human Concern International and local restaurant Euro-mex Resto to plan and distribute hot meals to the homeless on the streets. Not only that, but after hearing about emergency hotel shelters not having access to stoves and hot meals, we decided to reach out and created a system to distribute hot meals every Sunday. By March 10, we delivered over 400 meals and plan on continuing this work again in the future.
1 Year Anniversary
This day marks 1 year since we launched our Covid 19 Relief Effort! When we started, we never imagined that our work would be continuing for this long or impact so many lives. With the help of Allah SWT, we’ve had the pleasure of servings thousands of people and engaging hundreds of volunteers across the city. There is still work to be done and we hope to continue serving our community throughout the rest of this pandemic. A big thank you to all of the volunteers, partners, and supporters who have spent countless hours of their time in service to their community. None of this would be possible without them.