Eid Ul Adha Report 2021

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November 20, 2021

Eid Ul Adha Report 2021

Published July 2021

Shenaz Munshi -Trustee & Chair Preston’s Promise

Trustees & Volunteers

Mrs Tasneem Batan
Mrs Asma Kantharia
Mrs Aysha Patel
Mrs Rukshana Vorajee
Miss Shenaz Munshi

Indoor Volunteers & Driving Teams

Ms Samim Patel
Mrs Shenaz Patel
Mr & Mrs Munir & Rukshana Vorajee
Mr Suhail & Mohammed Vorajee
Mr Bisher Poyil & Mr Safwan Ali
Mr & Mrs Rafiya Kunnumal & sister
Mr Yusuf Ahmad & Mr Yusuf Natha
Mrs Asiya Asmal & Mrs Fatema Vorajee
Mr Ramzy Kappukuth Pottammal & Mr Fawas Vakkethodi
Mr Muhammed Khan
Mr & Mrs Yasmin Desai

Eat in to Help Out Eid Ul Adha 2021

The purpose for Preston’s Promise (PP) is first and foremost to please Allah. As the
pandemic continues, the most vulnerable in the community are our target audience. The
BME community have been hit the hardest and suffered enormously including losing many
valuable and loved members.

All of the service users (SUs) who accessed our support this year have been negatively
affected by the pandemic. Many are seniors 65+ who are living on their own or as a
couple and their children are unable to provide complete support. There are many who
are able to provide support, but require respite as they have their own families and work to
juggle as well as providing support to ,elderly and ageing parents.

Some of our SUs are clinically vulnerable or told to shield/isolate or have a disability
although they are financially stable but unable to access and enjoy home cooked,
culturally appropriate desi food as their families live further away and therefore not always
able to provide cooked meals for them.

Many of our SUs are single parents, individuals or families who are struggling financially
and unable to provide tasty, nutritious meals. Many of these SUs have lost their jobs or
are still on furlough and are struggling to feed growing children who need nutritious meals
in order to assist them with healthy growth.

Some of the above identified groups of people are financially stable however, they have
been negatively impacted by the pandemic or lost their loved ones during this period.

For many of the above SUs, this is likely to be the only proper ‘Eid meal’ they will be able
to enjoy this Eid, as they either struggle or unable to afford meal ingredients.

All of our volunteers gave up their Sunday afternoon/early evening willingly and with huge
smiles – some of them were overcoming recent loss themselves, fasting, returning to
family commitments afterwards or going to work to do an evening shift after their
volunteering role was completed. ♥♥♥

May Allah accept and reward them hugely both in this world and the hereafter. Ameen

Methodology

In order to assist members of the community who have been negatively affected by the
pandemic and to obtain accurate information, Preston’s Promise created an online
nomination form which captured information pertaining to the SU to ascertain whether they
meet the set criteria and collate their relevant details. Each SU was usually nominated by
a family member, friend or neighbour and some self-nominated. A PP staff member
contacted them directly to explain the campaign as well as to establish whether they met
the qualifying criteria and confirm then wanted an Eid meal.

PP received 83 nomination forms of which 68 forms were accepted and 15 were rejected.
The forms that were rejected were because they were duplication forms.

Of the 68 forms accepted, this included:
Forms from Senior 65+ single: 9
Forms from Senior 65+ couple: 13
Forms from families struggling financially: 24
Forms from individuals with a disability: 6
Forms from those who have suffered bereavement: 5
Forms from individuals who are clinically vulnerable: 4
Forms from single parent struggling financially: 7

Preston’s Promise ordered Indian desi style food from the Blackburn based caterers Adam
Rasoi. As we have used them for the last few years, we not only have a good relationship
with them but we also enjoy special discounted rates and surprise extras which Adam
Rasoi supply us with free of charge and always with a smile.

Implementation

Preston’s Promise works closely with Frenchwood Community Primary School who let us
use their canteen area for the campaign. We booked the school canteen for Sunday 19
July from 5pm to 7.30pm.

We use team system of driver/buddy in order to ensure the food is delivered to the
recipient within half hour of receipt food from Adam’s Rasoi. Excel spreadsheets help
organise an optimum route for all drivers.

A team of 4 volunteers ‘on the ground’ are based in the school canteen and kitted out in
PPE gear to receive the food from Adam’s Rasoi. They then place a Preston’s Promise
label, ingredient and allergen list and a flyer informing of Preston Holiday Food Hubs
operating times inside the bags or to distribute with the meal.

Each bag is tied up so contents do not fall out; with volunteers counting out the correct
number of meals for each team and placing them in trays before inviting the buddy from
the driver team, to collect the tray.

As this is a feast; after all it is Eid which comes but twice a year, we have a main meal with
sundries, a dessert and a tasty starter of gazebo chicken so there is more to load in each
car. The buddy is also tasked to check they have the correct number of meals before they
take the meals out to the car, load up and drive off to make their delivery. (The meals
therefore are counted twice, once by the volunteers in the canteen and once by the
delivery team.) This continues until all meals are collected by the delivery teams and
delivered. The whole process; from receiving the food from Adam’s Rasoi by the team in
the canteen, to being delivered to each recipient by the driver team, takes from 20 minutes
to 45 minutes in total. It is a speedy process and we all understand it has to be done at
this pace in order to comply with Health & Safety regulations including the heat of this
summer.

Alhamdulillah, Preston’s Promise managed to recruit 10 teams of delivery drivers. Each
driver brings a buddy who is either their partner, sibling, son/daughter or a friend. The
buddy wears a lanyard, PPE and a hi vis vest. The driver wears PPE gear. All teams are
given a pack of PPE equipment which includes disposable face masks, gloves, hand
sanitiser along with a volunteer lanyard and a Preston’s Promise hi vis vest. All that
Preston’s Promise trustees require the delivery team to do once they are finished, is to
return the hi vis, lanyard and the trays; the rest of the unused PPE is for the team to keep.

The buddy calls each SU beforehand in order to let them know they are en-route to deliver
the food. If a SU fails to answer the call/or their door, then the team/trustees deliver the
food to the people on the reserve list and inform the rest of the team to avoid duplication.
On this occasion, the SU was rung once again after the driving team had completed the
rest of the delivery to ensure nobody missed out on their feast. Alhamdulillah, we
managed to contact all SUs.

Conclusion of the Project

Preston’s Promise trustees helped by the team of dedicated volunteers, A Designs, Adam’s
Rasoi and Frenchwood Community Primary School, provided a 3-course meal to 230
individuals. This comprises of 68 households.

The total number of 3 course meal distributed: 230

We have received applications from SUs who are not celebrating Eid but need the support
– everyone is accepted if they meet the criteria.

All SUs provided positive feedback through phone calls, social media messages, emails,
directly to the delivery team or face to face if individuals know one of the trustees.

For some SUs this is the first time they have received any form of direct support and
acknowledgment of the hardship they are facing since the pandemic started.

This project has brought a lot of laughter, tears and smiles to all volunteers and trustees.

This report will be shared on our website and with Lancashire BME Network.