In the late 1980s, Major Muhammad Abbas Ali, a retired officer in the Pakistan Army and his wife, Sarwar Jahan Begum had just immigrated to Canada. Major Abbas and his wife quickly became immersed in their newfound community and a variety of local charitable causes before starting their very own Halal Foodbank in Scarborough, Ontario called Muslim Welfare Canada in 1993. Their motto, “Service to Humanity is Service to Allah (God) was incredibly powerful and has been a driver for Muslim Welfare Canada initiatives ever since that serve community members regardless of religion, nationality, caste or creed.
Beginning as a 100 ft2 foodbank serving the local Scarborough community, Muslim Welfare Canada’s foodbank program has since grown rapidly to include an additional foodbank in Mississauga and the formation of the Artic Food Bank in Inuvik, NWT that aims to serve the First Nations in the northern Canada. Additionally, one of the Major Abbas’s greatest innovations was the creation of the Muslim Welfare Home located in Whitby, Ontario with the purpose of providing shelter for vulnerable women and children. Since its conception in 1996, the Muslim Welfare Home has been a safe-haven for over 14,000 women and children.
Since the passing of Major Abbas and his wife in 2009 and 2013, respectively, Muslim Welfare Canada has been actively involved in a variety of local and international initiatives beyond Project Ramadan such as:
- Feed the Frontlines
- COVID-19 Emergency Relief
- Regent Park Lunch Service
- Halal Meals on Wheels for Seniors
- Halal Meals on Wheels
- Free Medical Clinics for the Uninsured
- Public School Nutrition Program
- Support a Child (international initiative)
- Water Exploration (international initiative)
- Qurbani & Zabiha (international initiative)
- Disaster Relief (international initiative)
- Village Development Pakistan (international initiative)
For more information on how you can get involved, please visit us at https://www.muslimwelfarecentre.com/
Registered Charity Number #89733-1732-RR-0001