At Vena’s Restaurant on Bloor St. W., Mashud Siddique plans to hand out 1,000 free meals this Sunday in an annual charitable act inspired by two of his daughters.
Source: The Star
By: Jennifer Bain
This is what Easter might taste like for 1,000 hungry Torontonians in Bloordale Village.
Lightly curried boneless chicken leg, or mixed vegetables and chickpeas, folded into a freshly griddled roti shell.
You’ll get a knife and fork to eat the hefty packet of East Indian/West Indian goodness — and a tub of Scotch bonnet chili pepper and vinegar hot sauce if you want a kick.
See, Mashud Siddique is urging “the homeless and the disadvantaged” to come to Vena’s Restaurant at 1263 Bloor St. near Lansdowne from noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday for the free meal. His loyal customers and neighbours are also welcome.
This culinary act of charity isn’t actually happening because it’s Easter — that’s a coincidence, and besides, Siddique is Muslim. It’s happening because it’s something Siddique has been doing off and on since 1998.
That’s the year that his daughter Ameena asked him for an unusual birthday gift for her seventh birthday on April 15 — to feed the hungry people she saw begging for money.
Five months later, his youngest daughter Aliza, asked for the same gift for her fifth birthday and a family tradition was born.
Siddique is not a rich man by any stretch. He ran roti shops at Queen/Bathurst and Bloor/Lansdowne to save money for his children’s education. But he was raised by a farmer in what was then called West Pakistan (and is now Bangladesh) who taught him to give what he could.
Now 71, Siddique leads a modest life, living within walking distance of the restaurant that he now runs alone.
This is certainly a gesture of universal brotherhood.
This is one of the teaching of our beloved Prophet MUHAMMAD (ASW) that says “He is not a true believer he who eat full while his neighbor stay hungry”.
Please let follow the example of the Prophet of ISLAM.