Christmas Eve Dinner
MCRC has been part of the Christmas Eve Dinner for past 5 years at South Seattle’s Ethiopian Community Center. We serve the meal at the event and lot of people from different faiths and backgrounds come together and distribute gifts to low-income families as well as Seattle’s homeless community. There are other stations setup as well to let kids enjoy crafts, to let guests pick up warm clothing for themselves and much more. This year the event had many new activities like story lane for kids, picture with Santa. We had about 100 guests that attended and enjoyed the event.
Delivering Gift to Seattle Children's Hospital
Medina Academy kids donated gifts for the holidays to patients at the Seattle Children’s Hospital. Students at Medina Academy assembled the gifts—which included gift bags with gift cards, stuffed animals, and handwritten notes. The volunteer coordinators and religious directors at Seattle Children’s came out and personally thanked MCRC for this initiative. They were humbled by the sentiment of the children.
Sheltering Tent City residents in a motel for 3 nights
The early days of January brought with it blisteringly cold weather. In collaboration with Medina Academy, ICOR and ICOE sisters group we were able to raise $3000 to help residents at Tent City 4 with indoor shelter for three nights. Altogether, MCRC helped accommodate about 28 individuals in a motel in Issaquah— a total of 12 rooms. In addition to the Issaquah tent city, MCRC was able to help a few homeless individuals in Kirkland as well.
Serving Hot Meals at Women's Shelter
This month we served meals at two women's shelter. The individuals at the shelter always express their excitement at our presence. They enjoy the fact that we not only serve food but spend time with them on dinner table. It is always humbling to know about their experiences. This program attracts lot of volunteer interest and every time we have some new volunteers who show up. The interaction with the women at shelter and conversations with them are most valuable for our volunteers.
Serving Hot Meals at Men's Shelter
This is our monthly event where men volunteers take the food to the Men's Shelter in Bellevue. The individuals at men shelter welcomed our volunteers and expressed thankfulness for food. They always never miss to express that our food is a good change for them from what they eat on other days. They enjoy the time our volunteers spend with them.
Delivering non-perishable food at Issaquah food bank
During the holidays, MCRC was able to collect 850-900 pounds of non-perishable food items with the help of Medina Academy students and other community members. These items were delivered to the Issaquah Food Bank. The Issaquah Food Bank was touched by the amount of food collected by the Muslim community, especially during the holiday season. This was the biggest donation received by the food bank this year.
Refugee birthday event
Volunteers from various faith, background and organizations came together to organize the social event for refugee families. A generous lady offered to prepare the food herself and serve at the event. Another group of volunteers came in with delicious cupcakes for everyone. Volunteers also did fun activities for kids like face painting, balloons and gifts for all the guests. MCRC helped sponsor the event and facilitated getting the refugee families to the event and help them drop them back after the event.
