By Najiya O, TwoCircles.net
The Kerala Muslim Community Association (KMCA), an organisation of Malayali Muslims in North California, has contributed Rs 25 lakh to the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund (CMDRF) towards flood rehabilitation in their state. KMCA president Asif ETV alongwith KMCA board member Shabeerali and Jibreel handed over the amount to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The Kerala Muslim Community Association was officially registered in 2015, even though the group has been working among the community for about 10 years, said Asif ETV to TwoCircles.net. “The KMCA aims to unite and empower the Malayali Muslim community here and provide a platform for the young generation based on their identity.”
The KMCA had organised a ‘Malayali Food Carnival’ in cooperation with other Malayali organisations for collecting funds to the CMDRF. The food carnival was held on October 21 at the Sunnyvale Baylands Park, as a first joint initiative of all Malayali organisations in the area.
The organisation’s works mainly focus on four departments – social, recreational, religious and charity. It cooperated with the ‘Go Green’ on the ‘Tree Plantation Day’, organised social gatherings and sports day etc. In the charity field, it collects funds and uses it for charity works back in Kerala. “During the recent floods in Kerala, we collected funds via a donation drive and distributed food and other essential kits in the Wayanad district collaborating with a local organisation there,” said Asif ETV. “When we decided to involve more in this, we came to know about different ways to raise funds, such as the Employee Matching Contribution in the San Francisco Bay area, in which companies donate an amount equal to the donation of employees. We created awareness among other organisations and local people to raise funds. With the money collected, we involved in the relief and rehabilitation drive in the ways possible for us, like the contribution we made to an institution in Ernakulam run by Christian missionaries for children suffering from paraplegia. We are also searching options in which other ways we can involve in this and we have held talks with the Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary M Sivasankar, IAS, on the matter,” he added.
