October 26, 2014. At a local mosque in Bayonne, New Jersey, in what seems to be a capacious, carpeted, and tidy basement area lined by many pillars where there are already many tables laid out for events, Hunger Van’s Zamir Hassan addresses a community of young Muslims, some of whom are being schooled at home by their parents, on the importance of feeding the homeless and giving charity, which happens to be one of the Five Pillars of Islam or Zakat. The young folk, mostly ranging in age from 4 years old to their late twenties, seem to know each other Read More

“If you’re rich – you will eat when you want, and if you’re poor – you will eat when you can.” —Arabic proverb October 26, 2014 – Columbia University, located at Morningside Heights at 116th Street and Broadway, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York and the nation’s fifth oldest. Older than this reputed Ivy league institution is the practice of giving charity, which is also the Third Pillar of Islam, or Zakat, making it mandatory for Muslims to donate a tithe of their income to the needy people of the community so as to Read More

Ahimsa is a term Jains and Hindus use to denote non-violence. A man in control of his senses should cause no harm to other living organisms: not even a fly. There are approximately 6 million practitioners of Jainism worldwide. On October 11th, on a quaint suburban street in Farmingdale, NJ around noon, a party of seventeen – ten children an seven adults – busied itself with making 200 Hunger Van meals, subjecting whole wheat to peanut butter and honey, in the basement of a capacious single-family home owned by  Neena and Ashok Jain who according to their faith do not eat meat. The Jains officially Read More

September 28th – It was a warm autumn day uptown at Central Park North during the holy week of Yom Kippur at Kehilat Romemu: Judaism for the Mind, Body, and Spirit, which was the location of another wondrous Hunger Van event with the Heller family, Paul, a curly-haired young fellow, as organizer, and Mr. Zamir Hassan attending. Michael, Deborah, the parents, alongside of Jonah and Ellie Heller, their children, accompanied by Paul, Zamir, and an independent blogger from Jersey in league with Hunger Van, gathered together at 2 PM, in the sublime spirit of charity, in order to turn out 150 afternoon meals of sandwiches and Read More

On September 27th, a beautiful day, dedicated members of the Muslim Bar Association of New York aka MUBANY, all young women and men actively working in the field of law, gathered in a brilliantly clean and spacious condominium a participating member’s friend had offered for afternoon use, a block away from Columbus Circle at 59th to don gloves, bring out chopping utensils, and turn out 250 meals for the homeless. Rather than hang out at the local bar to split drinks while talking of finance, haircuts, or which movie celebrities were arrested DUI, these strongly motivated, philanthropic individuals each took off approximately two hours from their daily agenda to Read More

 APPNA Alliance, NY youth prepared 250 meals with Hunger Van to help feed Hungry  and homeless during  Spring break for  Zero Hunger goal. Hunger Van was hosted on April 14, 2014 by Dr Rana President of APPNA Alliance NY at her house in WESTBURY Long Island. Following are the pictures of volunteers in action https://plus.google.com/100326004352196375859/posts/G9tKHyXxubP     Read More

I got there early, parked in Shariff  family drive way and decided to wait and catch up on my phone calls. 11 year old boy Zayd  Shariff came out and went back into the house. After finishing my call, I came out of the HUNGER VAN,  Sadiq, Farina and Zayd greeted me with a big smile on their faces. ” Are the volunteers here”, I asked,  “yes they are upstairs waiting”, Farina replied and yelled “guys HUNGER VAN is here go help unload the supplies for the HUNGER RUN”. Zaina and her friends from West Windsor high in New Jersey Read More

Restaurant depot parking lot had no parking. MY helper in shopping for the Hunger Run said “why are so many people here, are things free today”.      i replied, “no, we are late to Rayaan’s Birthday party”. Around 12:30, i arrived at the residence of Erum and Shazad Shakir in East Brunswick. Salaam Uncle, Erum and Shazad  Shakir greeted me with a joy on there faces, “please joins us for lunch before we unload the Hunger Van”. As i am eating, 7 year old Rayaan walks up to me and asks. “Do you remember me, I helped in making Read More