From Baltimore Sun
by Colin Campbell
A U-Haul truck rolled into the parking lot of Linden Park Senior Center in West Baltimore Sunday afternoon, and within minutes, a group of neon-green-shirted volunteers from the Islamic Circle of North America Relief USA was unloading bag after bag of toiletries to give to low-income residents and seniors.
The “Mercy Bags for Baltimore” service project came to Baltimore with the 41st annual Islamic Circle of North America conference, a gathering of about 25,000 Muslims seeking to dispel Islamophobia by educating the general public about their religion. It’s the conference’s third year in Baltimore, and organizers plan to return for the next two years.
Naeem Baig, president of the Islamic Circle of North America, said it was the second year of the service project. The inspiration, he said, came from the unrest in the city last year.
“Our convention was around the same time,” he said. “We came up with the idea that thousands of Muslims are coming to Baltimore, what are we going to do for the city of Baltimore?
“People were going through difficult times. Many seniors and homeless people were in need of sanitary products.”
Baig also noted that fear of Muslims has become “alarmingly commonplace” in the United States especially on the presidential campaign trail. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States after terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists earlier this year.
Katie Crowder, 68, a seven-year resident of Linden Park, shook her head at the notion. People’s beliefs and background, Crowder said, aren’t of any concern to her.
“I’m not here to judge people,” she said.
Crowder was among the apartment complex’s residents who received the bags of fruit, water, toothbrushes, toothpaste, laundry detergent and undergarments from the volunteers. She said the service project was a better indicator of Islam than anything she hears about Muslims on television.
“They’re doing what’s in their heart,” she said. “If everybody stopped judging one another, they’d be a lot better off. It’d be a better world, I’m telling you.”
