The Elderly Community Lunch is for people from all faiths and backgrounds is a beautiful project which was set up in February 2017. The aim of this was to invite elderly members from interfaith communities for lunch in one place, under one roof every 4-6 weeks. Islamic Diversity Centre provide soup, hot food, sandwiches, cakes and hot drinks etc with the hope of playing our part in helping to reduce isolation, break down barriers within communities and increase understanding of each other’s differences.
During times of Eid, Ramadan, and other key Islamic dates, we theme the lunches on that Islamic celebration and provide a platform for people to find out more about it and broaden their knowledge.
Local organisations are invited to have a stall at the lunch to show what advice, support and services available in the area for the elderly. These organisations include: Middlesbrough Environment City, Ageing Better Middlesbrough, Middlesbrough and Stockton Mind, Human Kind, Cleveland Fire Brigade, Cleveland Police, Stronger Communities Middlesbrough, Marie Curie and many more.
By the Grace of Allah this project has been a great success and has benefitted over 70-80 people per lunch. Due to its popularity the project has increased to every once a month and we would like this to continue especially over the winter period when temperatures drop and people become more isolated and lonely. During the winter we combine our Keep them Warm project and hand out Winter Items to the Elderly who attend.
We are always looking for more volunteers to help with these lunches to increase the interaction we have with the attendees.