Have you ever been traveling around Philadelphia and wondered how you can help feed the thousands of Philadelphians that suffer from hunger? If your answer is yes, then research Muslims Serve and sign up to give guests a restaurant style experience that leaves guests with a full stomach and a smile. Muslims Serve started in Philadelphia to help combat the hunger problem that plagues our city.Almost 20 percent of Philadelphia residents are food insecure, which is way above the United States average. A husband and wife decided to solve this problem when they were walking down the street and noticed how many people were begging for food. They began Muslims Serve in 2012 and the organization has fed over 145,000 meals to date. They are 99 percent volunteer based and have 15 soup kitchens in three different states.
We recently volunteered for Muslims Serve at their Hub of Hope location. My students and I agreed that we have never been a part of a more organized volunteer experience. We all had roles and felt like we were part of a team from our arrival. We had all of the restaurant roles covered during our 90 minute experience. We also got to meet students and other adults that we developed continuing relationships with. The volunteer experience ended with a service learning that helped us reflect on the hunger crisis in our city and how in just 90 minutes we served close to 200 meals. If you would like to volunteer for Muslims Serve you can reach out to their Volunteer Manager Shafia-Rana at volunteer@muslimsserve.org. Check out our podcast with Shafia near the top of the page and watch the volunteer video we made for Muslims Serve below