Bengaluru: Volunteer group distributes 30,000 masks as Eid gifts

BENGALURU: Gifting Sunnah, a group of volunteers, distributes sweets among thousands of people every Eid. This year, it gave

masks

instead.


The group has provided 30,000 masks to pourakarmikas, police personnel and migrants of the city. “Considering the global crisis, we decided to gift something useful,” said Tanveer Ahmed, a Bengaluru-based activist who started the group. Working professionals Ameen Mudassir and Mohammed Zabiullah are handling the logistics for the initiative.

Sunnah means traditions and practices that have become models to be followed by Muslims based on the words and acts of Prophet Muhammad. Tanveer said that gifting was a sunnah of the Prophet: “As per the Prophet, exchanging gifts helps in increasing love for one another.”

Over 250 volunteers began distribution on Eid day, May 26, supplying masks to police stations, Asha workers, home guards and to people in and around the Cantonment and Majestic railway stations.

“We procured the masks from a city-based firm,” Tanveer said, adding that the firm’s owner contributed 50 paisa for each mask that Gifting Sunnah bought.

Tanveer is a part of Mercy Mission, an umbrella organisation of several NGOs working for migrants.

Mercy Mission

has also distributed thousands of masks,

sanitary kits

and ration kits among the poor.

Tanveer launched Gifting Sunnah on Eid of 2018. “That year, we gave sweets to 8,000 people. In 2019, we reached over 10,000 people and the initiative was replicated in 20 other cities,” he said. Gifting Sunnah has over 2,500 volunteers across the country.