A big donation from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association.
Members of the youth association visited the Downtown Mission with a truckload of non-perishable food items on Tuesday, December 27.
Over 10,000 pounds of food was donated to the Mission for the holiday season.
Imam Zeeshan Ahmed of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association says they are fortunate to be living in such a supportive and generous community.
"Regardless of if we celebrate each other's festivities at the end of the day, it's about building bridges of understanding and compassion. We try our best to fulfill our responsibilities, especially as Muslim youth we see service to mankind as very essential to our faith and very essential to progress in our community."
Ahmed says many within the community have gone through financial hardships this year.
"I understand that there are a lot of financial hardships throughout the board and throughout the community, but that doesn't mean we stop serving the community. We've seen it helps in both ways, youth benefit from it and of course seeing who those donations will be going to."
He says serving the community is very important to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association.
"It is something that we take as a gesture of appreciation from the community that they allowed us to serve and that is what our motto is, service to the community, and we will continue to do that."
Items donated included bread, cereal and non-perishable foods.