East London Mosque & and the London Muslim Centre

 

During the space of the four months that constituted the COVID-19 lockdown period, the East London Mosque & London Muslim Centre provided key support services to benefit our congregation and our local community during this difficult time. We offered a variety of services despite lack of resources, including:

 

·       Religious programmes – our imams delivered daily classes and sermons via Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Azan radio and Mixlr, Friday reminders were broadcast as well as videos of previous tarawih prayers during Ramadan and morning and evening adhkar as well as Women only digital events via Zoom

 

 

·       Imams advice service – receiving over 40-50 calls a day, our imams were hard at work guiding our community and all you sought help

 

·       Food delivery – Not only did we deliver hot meals to the poor and vulnerable, but in Ramadan we also delivered Iftar meals to Muslim NHS workers at the Royal London Hospital

 

·       Grocery & hygiene bank – through a fundraising appeal, we purchased food items and toiletries as well as working with the local First Love Foundation to deliver essential supplies to the most needy in our community. Thanks to our volunteers, many people had food to eat despite hardship.

 

·       Medicine delivery – our volunteers would actively pick up medicine from the pharmacy and deliver them to the vulnerable

 

·       Women’s counselling – our women’s counsellors handled over 150 calls and 50 enquiries for counselling

 

·       Establishing a mortuary – due to the overflow of deceased, ELMT established a temporary mortuary facility through fundraising to help ease the pressure on local burial services

 

·       PPE donations – the ELMT procured a large shipment of PPE, much of which we donated to local facilities that required them most including medical clinics and care homes

In addition, much time was also devoted to publicise the good efforts of Muslims during the COVID-19 crisis. The ELMT dedicated resources to facilitating media requests, showcasing COVID-19 responses on social media as well as keeping the public informed on the latest updates with regards to the Mosque and public health