Members of the Barrie Muslim community rolled up their sleeve Thursday morning to not only give blood, but also give back to their community.
The clinic in Barrie was part of a nationwide initiative by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association to donate blood for Canadians in critical need.
“Lots of Muslim youth will be doing blood donations (today) in different cities across Canada. Due to the rise of this anti-Muslim and (the) Islamaphobia sentiment in Canada, this is just to give back to the community and make sure we reach out and promote this side of the community,” Junaid Saba, a representative for the Barrie chapter, told BarrieToday after his appointment at the Canadian Blood Services clinic in Barrie this morning.
“It’s our way of giving back to the community, the love and the kindness.”
While the Barrie clinic may have only had a one-hour window today which allowed for only 10 appointments, Saba noted all 10 of those appointments were booked.
Today’s blood drive is merely a small snapshot of the bigger picture of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association’s ongoing effort to serve Canadians and demonstrate the true spirit of Islam.
“Our youth organization is one of the biggest Muslim youth organizations in Canada. We have members across Canada. We live here in Barrie, so whenever we have (can) we mobilize our youth to go to their local food banks, blood banks and do these kinds of things locally.”
