AROUND 15 members of Chelmsford's Muslim community are helping to feed the city's homeless.
The event, organised by the Iqra learning centre, and night shelter CHESS, saw the group spend two hours in Trinity Methodist Church feeding the homeless with home-cooked food and dishes donated from Indian takeaways.
Ayman Syed, general secretary of the Chelmsford Muslim Society, who helped to organise the event with his wife Saima, said: "It was my wife who came up with the idea.
"It is the month of Ramadan – we should be more charitable.
"We contacted CHESS and whether we could do something, so then she (my wife) spoke to the parish church.
"We had a lot of interest from Muslims who wanted to help people."
Ramadan is the month of fasting between the hours of sunrise and sunset, where no drink or food can be consumed.
But this was not a problem as the sun had set by the time the food was served, as a short presentation about Ramadan was given.
"We were fasting at the beginning but the homeless were coming little by little," said Mr Syed.
"We were looking to wait until more people came in until 8.20pm – by the time the presentation finished it was 8.45pm so by then we were all serving and eating together."
There were around 15 homeless people who attended the event and an equal number who helped out by serving or giving the food.
"We were hoping for around 30 or so," said Mr Syed.
"We made a lot of food packages for people – rice, fruit and bottles of soft drink. We packaged the excess food all up and sent it back to CHESS.
"It went really well – it was really nice to have got people involved, also for them to see Muslims as well.
"There were people there with scarves and some without, men with beards and some without – a real mixture.
"People came from all over the place either helping by giving or serving the food – old and young, lots of kids came."
Nabil Choudhury, 26, who came down to Chelmsford to see his parents, was at the event.
He told the Chronicle: "It was really good at breaking down community barriers – it got the community working together.
"I found it really inspiring.
"Generally in society, people are scared of homeless people and some are scared of Muslims – this changed the stereotypes."
Reverend Viv Gasteen, minister of the Trinity Methodist Church, said: "It was just lovely.
"Some Muslims prayed at the end of the evening and so did I.
"I think we do not do enough to celebrate the things we do have here in our community."
Mr Syed is already looking ahead to next year.
"We are definitely hoping to do it again next Ramadan," said Mr Syed, who is also looking at hosting the event more regularly.
Jez Humberston, 43, who is now living in supported housing, said: "The event was really eye-opening and shows how different cultures can work together."
Maurice Silverstone, 59, agreed with those sentiments and added: "The food was fantastic."
