We’ve taken a look back at the last year and summarised some of our work, including campaigns, published resources, our projects and key themes from our community service. We are grateful for your continuous support and encouragement throughout the year, please do get in touch if you’d like to get involved in the coming year.
With all the challenges and adversities 2020 has presented, it was great for the team to be able to support the launch of Luton’s first clothing bank for all ages. TCF was established with the mission of promoting social inclusion by relieving hardship, developing skills, facilitating social opportunities, and tackling stigma. The clothing bank was the first step for the new charity in fulfilling their mission, and an honour for us to form a partnership and facilitate for the charity along with local partners including the TOKKO Youth Centre and Raise Up Foundation.
The project was officially launched in the local community in early December with a partnership with Luton Sixth Form College and Human Appeal on a Winter Clothes Drive.
Find out more about TCF here.
Today I feel like I have come full circle in the most positive of ways, setting up a new charity this year in memory of my mother who passed away in 2017 and returning to the place my journey started.
Accessibility to electronic devices at home to support with education has always been an issue in underprivileged communities and this was made more apparent with the global pandemic resulting in families having to accommodate for home-schooling arrangements in response to lockdowns and the need to self-isolate.
In response to this growing concern, Luton Mosques launched the Luton Learning Link, to make education more accessible for families in the community who would otherwise face the injustices of the digital divide. Discover Islam has been a key partner in this initiative and has contributed over £5,000 towards a goal of 250 devices for underprivileged school children.
Each year, since the launch of the Luton Foodbank, we have hosted a ‘Fastathon Challenge’ whereby we invite members of our community to skip their lunch and instead contribute the costs of the meal towards the Foodbank.
This year the challenge was different for many more reasons than one. Firstly, everything took place virtually due to Covid-19 and our participants (CEOs and senior leadership teams from Chiltern Learning Trust, Pioneer Learning Trust & Luton Council), decided to take on the challenge of the full days fast alongside their Muslim colleagues. With more than £2,500 raised by all 3 organisations, proceeds from this year’s appeal went directly towards meals for young people in the community as part of the national #NoChildGoesHungry campaign initiated by footballer Marcus Rashford.
Child food poverty is a growing issue on a national scale, continuing to raise awareness for this along with the national #NoChildGoesHungry campaign, we decided to partner with local educational trusts’ to organise the distribution of 2,000+ cereal boxes with the support of Trust CEOs and Senior Leadership teams co-ordinating drop-offs to local schools to ensure children have the right start to their day during the Winter period.
During the lockdown we delivered a workshop to employees at BT on the purpose of Hajj and lessons we can take from the pilgrimage and changes we can implement in our lives, with an emphasis and focus on the adaptations made to Hajj this year.
More information on the presentation delivered can be found here.
Since the outbreak of the Coronavirus in the UK, we’ve been working with local authorities, businesses & organisations in responding to the crisis and supporting those that are most in need in our community.
More details on our projects and our key partners during the pandemic can be found here.
We’re a registered charity which operates through the generous donations of community members. If you would like to support one of our many community initiatives, you can donate today via our JustGiving page or, if you would like to make a direct transfer, contact us.
