On Friday (20^th August), I had the pleasure of participating in an amazing Islamic Relief event in Bradford at the Hilton hotel. At very short notice and request by our Bradford volunteers, a 600-strong crowd turned out to support Islamic Relief’s aid efforts in Pakistan during their time of need in the aftermath of the worst disaster in recent history.

With brief motivational and inspiring speeches from Hanif (a dedicated Islamic Relief volunteer for 14 years), Jehangir Malik (OBE) UK director of Islamic Relief, as well as very well-known local businessman Abid Hussain from Leeds – it was truly a night to remember. With mef, leading the fundraising, by the Grace of God we managed to raise £100,000 within the first 25 minutes of the event prior to ‘iftar’ time.

The support and passion that exuberated from the audience was one of a kind. The people of Bradford, Leeds and other surrounding areas are eager to do whatever they can to help their brethren in Pakistan who are suffering great hardships through lack of basic necessities in order to survive.

The pain and agony that the people of Pakistan are suffering is resonating with the UK population, and I strongly believe if given more time we could have raised even more for this cause.

The money raised from the evening will be sent to two primary locations in Pakistan – North-west Pakistan and South of Punjab. It will be used for numerous activities such as investing in water filtration to ensure there is clean drinking water for people, food packages for immediate hunger relief, and tents to provide basic temporary shelter for the needy.

The evening was completed by nasheed group Shaam, who also encouraged the audience to donate and added genuine value to the event.

 I would like to thank all the volunteers who offered their time in order to make this evening a great success – specifically those who assisted with the IT, Audio/Visual, Catering staff as well as the greeters and welcomers.

My next stops are Newport and then Cardiff for 2 more fundraising dinner!