The Dawoodi Bohra community, in line with Islamic teachings against food wastage, has focused great efforts to ensure food is cherished to the very last grain. In particular the year round dana (grain) committee initiative in every town and city where community members reside, is devoted to ensure that not a single morsel of food goes to waste from community and social dinners.
During the Holy month of Ramadan this awareness against food wastage is heightened manifold. There are an abundance of prophetic traditions on the importance of feeding others – especially the hungry – during Ramadan, and the fasting element of the holy month makes community members more sympathetic to the plight of those going without regular meals.
As a result, the Dawoodi Bohra jamaat in Australia has joined hands with Ozharvest, a food rescue charity dedicated to feeding the hungry and eliminating food wastage across the food supply chain, especially at home. Since its conception, Ozharvest has delivered 83 million meals to the needy, donated to a thousand charities and saved 28 thousand tonnes of food. The Ozharvest website also has informative tips on how to stop food wastage on a daily basis at home.
Community members across all six jamaats (centres) in Australia, namely: Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane have contributed to the cause with generous donations in the form of foodstuffs as well as monetary contributions throughout the Holy month which have amounted to over 10,000 Australian dollars.
The donations were distributed to the needy in a collaborative effort by both Ozharvest and community members.