Friend Our August update is here

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Subject: Friend Our August update is here

Asalamu Alaykum warahamatullahi wa barakatuhu Friend

Alhamdulillah, July (Dhul-Hijjah) has been challenging for me as I am normally on Hajj during this time. Though I was missing being in Makkah tremendously, I focused on sharing the beauty of Hajj through our Dhul-Hijjah campaigns, namely: The Prophet (saw) Hajj, NZF Daily Actions Challenge and our usual local Qurban program. They were all extremely well received Alhamdullilah.

Fortunately, I didn't get much time to dwell on Hajj too much as the work at NZF ‘never stops’ really. With the Covid19 getting worse in VIC our case numbers have been breaking new records. I've been spending a great deal of time ensuring the safety and well-being of the NZF staff as without a motivated and committed team, none of what we do would be possible. You may have also seen the SBS article about NZF assisting in providing face masks (see article here)

We are also making progress in the planning of the below programs that you had voted for

Yateems (Orphans)
Muslim Foster Care
Domestic Violence
Muslim Refugees and Asylum Seekers
Mental Health

Many of you have also expressed your interest to help and I will be in touch soon insha Allah. Some of you did not leave any contact details on the survey and hence we are unable to contact you. So please reply to this email with your details if you would like to participate in our programs.

Upholding our promise of transparency, I have included an update from last month & Dhul Hijjah below.We received amazing support & donations during the 10 days of Dhul Hijjah. Thank you. We saw a 10% increase in Zakat paid compared to last year and we received $94,646 in Sadaqah which is almost double what we received last year Alhamdulillah.

While this might not seem like a big amount, it means a lot to us at NZF and allows us to specifically put plans around the above programs we want to roll out. Insha Allah next month I will be sending you more details on the progress of these programs.

As always, if you have any feedback at all, please let me know.

Your brother,

Abu Muneer Ismail Davids

CEO, National Zakat Foundation Australia

Case Management

We anticipated another spike in in October, due to end of Job Keeper, but so far in August we have seen over 75 cases in just a few days. Our team is working diligently through them to try and help in a timely manner.

Case numbers for the past 4 months below:

April
517

May

1,106

June

256

July

292

Modern Slavery?

In this section I would like to highlight either a case or a situation that stood out for me over the last month. The case this month is about a young brother who is here on his own trying to make a better life for himself. He is highly qualified, and his work sponsor has applied for his PR visa. However, the employer has now used the Covid19 situation to exploit him by not giving him any more paid work but keeping him on as an employee (as he is now dependant on the employer for the visa).

The brother now finds himself in over $40k of debt due to trying to make ends meet and paying for various fees and living expenses. He is running out of people to borrow from. And more of the people who are lending him money, are exploiting him.

I personally sat down with him and worked out a strategy and action plan to get him back on his feet, including helping him to get another paid job, while he is waiting for his PR visa. I have also strongly advised him not to borrow anymore money.

It is truly sad to see how a young person’s financial well-being can quickly spiral out of control and if not stopped, it will affect the rest of his life and well-being.

Above all else, what was more concerning for me was that he was starting to lose trust in our ‘brothers’ and this may impact on his Imaan. I always stress to my team, that part of our work is there to help protect people’s Imaan.

Click here to read on some of our other recent cases.

Qurban 2020

1000 families assisted!

Alhamdulillah 2020 was our biggest Qurban year yet. We aimed to assist 400 families but subhan Allah with the overwhelming number of Qurban orders, we were able to assist over 1000 needy local families.

Further with the lock down restrictions in Victoria, our volunteers personally drove around distributing the Qurban to both the needy families, as well as the portion to the donors who requested it (we got the necessary permits to do this during lock down Alhamdulillah).

We have received some good feedback on areas we can improve and we plan to incorporate these into our Qurban program next year insha Allah.

Were you a Qurban donor with NZF this year? Please reply to this email and let us know how we can improve!

Dhul Hijjah 2020

#DhulHijjahChallenge

If you are on social media, you would have seen the NZF Dhul Hijjah challenge. A fun way to engage the community using our "Daily Deed Selector Video" encouraging people to pick one good deed for each of the 10 days of Dhul Hijjah and make a donation to NZF. Alhamdulillah we raised $1994.37 through this challenge and this was distributed each day to families in the below categories during the best 10 days.

Day 1. Victims of Domestic Violence
Day 2. Those in Financial Hardship
Day 3. Homelessness
Day 4. In need of Medical Assistance
Day 5. Refugees & New Migrants
Day 6. Travellers & Overseas Students
Day 7. Single Parents
Day 8. Orphans & Foster Carers
Day 9. Reverts

What a beautiful way to earn some much needed rewards during these blessed days!

The Prophet's Hajj

This Dhul Hijjah, we also relived the Prophet's (SAW) Hajj journey in an amazing, interactive manner through videos, photos & story telling on our website. If you have not seen it, click here to experience it now as words don't do it justice.

Note: we also got some good feedback that this was a great resource to get the kids interested in learning about Hajj! Let me know what you think.

In addition we did two live online sessions with those that have been on Hajj with me, reliving their experiences, their personal stories and advice which was very touching. Click here to watch them.

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Subject: Friend Our August update is here