ST. LOUIS (4 JUNE 2020) — Zakat Foundation of America will haul in a truckload of farm-fresh produce for free distribution Friday, June 5 for North St. Louis refugees and other families in need, at 5 Star Market parking lot, 3900 S. Broadway from 3 to 6 p.m.
The global charity’s relief specialists – along with volunteers from its local partner, Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis – will give out some 18,000 pounds of potatoes and 3,750 pounds of farm-fresh fruits and vegetables to Somali, Iraqi, and Syrian refugee communities and low income families.
This food giveaway comes just one day after the Bridgeview, Illinois-headquartered international
humanitarian organization sent the city’s sick, elderly, and stranded 40 boxes of fresh produce from farmers, each one brimming with 25 pounds of colorful fruits and vegetables. Many area churches came to cart their allotted shares for redistribution among their communities.
Produce boxes hold fresh tomatoes, apples, oranges, cucumbers, lettuce, celery, carrots, asparagus, onions, and other fruits and vegetables.
Zakat Foundation dispatched the much-needed fresh-food aid to the city, reeling in the wake of the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd, followed by days of anti-brutality, anti-racist protests, citywide curfews, and military-style tactics to thwart demonstrators. The events have shuttered stores, shut down municipal services, stranded countless of the most vulnerable, and turned already sparsely served neighborhoods into food wastelands.
The protests come on the heels of a coronavirus pandemic that struck marginalized communities and neighborhoods with high infection and death rates, hitting them especially hard economically with widespread job losses and no government relief.
Since the COVID-19 crisis, Zakat Foundation has distributed more than 70,000 food packages to St. Louis’ suffering, much of that dropped off on people’s doorsteps during the lockdown.
Event Details:
Free Fresh Produce Distribution
Friday June 5, 2020 | 3PM-6PM
5 Star Market parking lot, 3900 S. Broadway St. Louis, MO 63118