For Giving Tuesday this year, Haute Hijab is proud to once again contribute to our longstanding partner, ICNA Relief. While we typically donate to their Women’s Transitional Housing program (indefinitely through our tote bags, and every year during Ramadan and other campaigns), this time, we decided to donate to their Hunger Prevention Program.

According to their website, research done by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that 49 million Americans live in “food insecure” households – meaning they don’t know where their next meal is going to come from.

As their website states, “To alleviate the national hunger crisis hitting families across America, ICNA Relief has established its hunger prevention program to help both individuals and families from going hungry. ICNA Relief utilizes its full resources to launch effective programs that target impoverished communities thereby bringing life, nourishment and hope one meal at a time.

“ICNA Relief’s national Hunger Prevention program provides individuals and families with the fuel to survive and thrive. Following the ordinance of Allah to feed the needy, ICNA Relief’s development of key public food assistance services raises awareness of the hunger epidemic facing our nation as a whole. On average, we feed over 300,000 people every year across the nation through our services.”

This year, due to COVID-19, there has been an uptick in families losing their jobs and becoming food insecure. Because of the pandemic, ICNA Relief’s Hunger Prevention Program had to increase their output. They currently have permanent food pantries set up in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, California, Texas, Virginia, Washington, South Carolina, North Carolina and Louisiana. In some other states, ICNA has set up pantries in clinics or local mosques.

1. Served more than 400 cities.

2. Gave food to upwards of two million people.

3. Set up hot meal distributions on Saturday nights in various cities; 170,000 hot meals have been distributed so far.

4. Expanded contactless doorstep deliveries; high-risk, elderly, others in need can call up one of the pantries, request some of the things they need (sugar, flour, rice, pasta, soups, canned goods, cereal, etc) and ICNA Relief volunteers deliver to their doorstep.

They also noticed a dire need for food aid in arid places, particularly among the aboriginal tribes in Arizona. Communities there had no access to the food pantries and federal aid wasn't arriving in time, so ICNA Relief’s teams in that region drove out to deliver non-perishables as well as water to those areas. You can read more about that here, or watch this video of a tribe member explaining the need.

We’re proud to be donating a portion of proceeds made from today’s sales to ICNA Relief’s Hunger Prevention Program, to give families some much needed support during this very challenging year. If you’d like to donate directly to the organization, you can do so here.