October Update - Donor's List & Other matters

This has been a challenging month as one of us is battling flu for the past two weeks after being out of town for the early part of October and the other is really swamped with other projects.  On top of that, we have had problems with getting the new vouchers printed and coordinating with the cafe regarding the redeemed vouchers for this month.

But we have managed to overcome those challenges and we would like to thank our donors for this month's successful issuance of the vouchers.

Published Name	Date	Amount
NM	4/10/2013	£      50
MS	8/10/2013	£      10
SA	22/10/2013	£      50
Anonymous	24/10/2013	£    300
Anonymous	25/10/2013	£      50

This month, with your support, we have raised £460.  Added to the balance of £253.33 in the bank, we have £713.33.  We will be distributing £450 worth of vouchers for October - 30 vouchers for each of our partner organisations.

We are unable at this time to update on the voucher usage for October but will update the blog later when we have the information.

Regards,
Meal on Me team.

End of September Usage Report, First Quarter's Update and Donors' List

We are coming to the end of the first quarter of the first year of Project Meal on Me.  It has definitely been an exciting and rewarding journey for the two of us coordinating the project.  But we are unable to progress this far without support from the donors, the cafe and the organisations we are partnering.

Our main objective is to benefit the poor and needy in the community.  At the same time, we try to ensure transparency in all our dealings with the donors, organisations and cafe.  If we fail to do so, please let us know immediately.

Below are the report for the current month and the full quarterly report:

September 2013:

Vouchers issued at end September - 90 (30 per organisation)

Money paid to Cafe Aroma and Mosqie Kitchen at end September - £450

Total Vouchers redeemed in September - 24

Saheliya - 10

Bethany Trust - 10

One Parent Families - 4

Total donation this month - £665

The actual donors' list will be reported below as part of the quarterly donors' list.

First Quarterly Report:

No. of vouchers issued - 222 (worth £1110)

Total amount paid to Cafe Aroma and Mosque Kitchen - £1110

Total No. of vouchers redeemed - 48

Total donation - £1363.33

Donors' List

Published Name	Date	Amount	Remarks
Anonymous	12/7/2013	£  100.00
Isniati Ali	13/7/2013	£    50.00
Gordon McGill	16/7/2013	£    25.00
Anonymous	16/7/2013	£    20.00
Anonymous	16/7/2013	£      1.50
Anonymous	16/7/2013	£      3.50
Alex Chai	18/7/2013	£    28.33	(Minus Fee charged by PayPal)
Servant of God	19/7/2013	£    15.00
Anonymous	21/7/2013	£    10.00
Anonymous	21/7/2013	£    20.00
Gordon McGill	22/7/2013	£    10.00
S.B.G	26/7/2013	£    15.00
S.A.	26/7/2013	£      5.00
S.A.	27/7/2013	£    25.00
V.C.	28/7/2013	£    50.00

N.M.	3/8/2013	£  100.00
ClogsTounWillmott	1/8/2013	£    20.00
E.M.	5/8/2013	£    10.00
T.A.	8/8/2013	£    50.00
V.C	9/8/2013	£    30.00
M.S.	9/8/2013	£    50.00
S.A.	21/8/2013	£    50.00
Isniati Ali	23/8/2013	£    10.00

N.M.	4/9/2013	£  100.00
M.S.	8/9/2013	£    10.00
Zikri Ali	13/9/2013	£    50.00
I.K.	15/9/2013	£    25.00
Sadhia Sarwar	17/9/2013	£  250.00
Andrew Edwards	20/9/2013	£    50.00
Norbert Jobst	20/9/2013	£    50.00
Sister A	24/9/2013	£    50.00
S.A.	25/9/2013	£    50.00
Anonymous	28/9/2013	£    30.00

Thank you all for your continuing support and God bless.

The people who the Project has touched and our supporters.

As we have been saying that we truly appreciate your support, but so do the people using the vouchers. 

This afternoon, Sharon and I were in Aroma Cafe with some friends. She went to check with Mr. Akbar regarding the vouchers that has been used but on the way saw a couple who were looking a bit uncertain. She approached them and found out they were trying to exchange the vouchers for food. (Though she didn't tell me afterwards, I am guessing this would be their first time claiming the vouchers.)

So she took them downstairs to the Mosque Kitchen so that they could actually see the variety of food and make their choices. She later told our friends and I that they seemed happy and appreciative when she revealed that she was one of the organisers of Meal on Me voucher scheme.

And earlier, we had feedback from Bethany Trust, one of our partners.  They have given the vouchers to some of their clients who had given positive feedback.  It was heartening to hear how one family is using the vouchers as a reward for their kids' good behaviour. Or that another used it when he was struggling with money for food.

But while we are organising, the project would not be able touch these people's life without you, our donors and supporters. So from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you.

Article written in Singapore's Malay Paper on 25th August on Meal on Me

We were honoured that Project Meal on Me were featured in Singapore's Malay Paper on Sunday 25th August 2013.  The following is the translation of excerpts from the article:

With the support of her family in Singapore and friends in Scotland, Dr Shidrati ... and her friend, Ms. Sharon Gray ... who had embraced Islam six years ago - chanced upon the idea to help certain groups of people through Project Meal on Me (MoM). This group includes single parents and those from broken families, minority women who are asylum seekers/abused/looking for work, and those who are homeless or at risk of losing their homes.
When interviewed through Skype, this daughter of a taxi driver and housewife ... said:
"...With the idea from my friend, we worked on it and introduced this project which is not only beneficial to the Muslim community but others as well."
Under Project MoM, a donor will donate through (online) banking or Paypal for vouchers of £5 each. MoM will then pay (what is) currently the only cafe which is participating in this project, i.e. Aroma Cafe & Mosque Kitchen. This cafe is located beside the Edinburgh Central Mosque on Potterrow in front of the University of Edinburgh. At the same time, MoM will distribute the meal vouchers to participating charity organisations. The organisations, in turn, will give the vouchers to their most deserving clients.
"All of the vouchers which are distributed (and redeemed) will be recorded. This is because we wish to maintain transparency of the project," added Dr Shidrati.
The co-founder of Project MoM, Ms. Gray, said, "All Praises be to God, with this project, I feel so grateful that I can offer my services. Hopefully, with God's will, everything will run smoothly."
Since starting in Ramadhan, MoM had been successful in distributing at least 126 vouchers (£630) to the three participating charity organisations - One Parent Families Scotland, Saheliya, and Bethany Christian Trust.
According to Dr Shidrati, the eldest of four siblings, the idea to establish the project came from the Suspended Coffee project which originated from Naples, Italy. Under Project Suspended Coffee, a donor would pay for a coffee in advance at participating cafes. Then any needy person can approach the cafe and obtain the previously paid coffee.
For both Dr Shidrati and Ms. Gray, project MoM that they co-founded is a form of da'wah to the Edinburgh community at large. For them, the initiative would (hopefully) raise the profile of Islam and the small Muslim community by contributing positively to the general population.
"Most of those who contributed are friends and family. All praise to God, even though it is small, it is starting to get the attention of the public," said Dr Shidrati whose duty is to administer the Facebook page and blog as well as taking care of the accounts and keeping track of the donations.

September Mid-Month Update

It's mid September and we thought we would give an update on how the project is doing in its third month.

1.  On the donor's front:  So far, we have raised £185 for this month.  The list of donors will be released at the end of the month but we would like to thank the donors for all your generous donations.

2.  On the partnering organisation front:  They have been quite satisfied with the project.

3.  On meal vouchers redemption:  When we checked today 17th September, there has been 12 new voucher redemption.  The breakdown is as follows; 3 from Saheliya, 4 from One Parent Families, and 5 from Bethany Trust.

Thank you again for all your support.  Please do give us your feedback and ideas on how we can improve this project.

Regards and God bless.

Voucher Usage Report - Early September

We are pleased to note that further to our earlier report of 14 vouchers redeemed in early August, there were another 10 vouchers redeemed in the second half of August.

Out of the 10:

• 3 were by Saheliya's clients

• 5 were by Bethany Christian Trust's clients

• 2 were by One Parent Families' clients

This brings the total of redeemed vouchers to 24 out of the 60 vouchers issued at the end of July.  We are also pleased to update that 72 vouchers were issued on 2/9/13 to the above three organisations.  We will continue to monitor the usage and keep you updated.

Regards,
MoM team.

August Update - Donors' List

We would like to thank our donors for this month's successful issuance of the vouchers.  Some of them do not wish to be known and we will just put them as anonymous.  Others chose their own moniker or initials.

Published Name	Date	Amount
N.M.	3/8/2013	£  100.00
ClogsTounWillmott	1/8/2013	£    20.00
E.M.	5/8/2013	£    10.00
T.A.	8/8/2013	£    50.00
V.C	9/8/2013	£    30.00
M.S.	9/8/2013	£    50.00
S.A.	21/8/2013	£    50.00
Isniati Ali	23/8/2013	£    10.00

Therefore, this month, thanks to your generosity we raised £320.  The balance of £78.33 from last month brings the balance in the bank to £398.33.  We hope to issue out 72 vouchers worth £360 for this month.

Regards,

The MoM team.

Voucher Usage Report for August

We spoke to Mr Akhbar, the owner of the cafe, on Tuesday and collected 14 vouchers that have been redeemed. 

We are pleased to report on the following:

• So far, Saheliyah has not distributed the vouchers yet because of their admin staff being on leave this summer. They said that they will be distributing the vouchers soon.
• Bethany Trust has distributed to some of their clients and there were three voucher redemption from their clients.
• The rest of the vouchers were redeemed by clients of One Parent Scotland.

Also heard feedback from One Parent Families Scotland and Bethany Trust on the project. The feedback are mostly good but there was some teething problem which we hope to sort out very soon.  One Parent Families Scotland has indicated that they would like more than 20 vouchers.

Thank you once again for all your generous support in this first few months of this project.  Please keep donating.  

Mid Month Update

It's mid August and we thought we would give an update on how the project is doing.

1.  On the donor's front:  So far, we have raised £335 for this month.  The list of donors will be released at the end of the month but we would like to thank the donors for all your generous donations.

2.  On the partnering organisation front:  We have just sent an email to our three partnering organisation for them to give us any feedback.  We are hoping to hear from them soon and will keep you updated.

3.  On meal vouchers redemption:  When we last check on 7th August, none of the 60 vouchers have been redeemed.  We hope that they will be redeemed soon.  Again, we will keep you updated at the end of this month with regards to this.

Thank you again for all your support.  Please do give us your feedback and ideas on how we can improve this project.

Regards and God bless.

July's Update - Vouchers issued

Project Meal on Me is very pleased to present for the pilot month of July 60 vouchers worth £300 to be distributed to our partner organisations:

1.  Saheliya - 20 vouchers (given on 30/07/2013)
2.  Bethany Christian Trust - 20 vouchers (given on 30/07/2013)
3.  One Parent Scotland (given on 01/08/2013)

We will also be collecting back the used vouchers from Cafe Aroma to monitor on how many vouchers and which organisations' clients used the vouchers the most so that we can increase the amount of vouchers issued to these organisations if need be.

We once again thank the support of everyone involved to make this pilot project a success with a special thank to Cafe Aroma for its willingness to participate in this project.

July's update - Donor's list

We would like to thank our donors for this month's successful issuance of the vouchers.  Some of them do not wish to be known and we will just put them as anonymous.  Others chose their own moniker or initials.

Published Name	Date	Amount
Anonymous	12/7/2013	£  100.00
Isniati Ali	13/7/2013	£    50.00
Gordon McGill	16/7/2013	£    25.00
S.	16/7/2013	£    20.00
Anonymous	16/7/2013	£      1.50
S.A.	16/7/2013	£      3.50
Alex Chai	18/7/2013	£    28.33
Servant of God	19/7/2013	£    15.00
Anonymous	21/7/2013	£    10.00
Anonymous	21/7/2013	£    20.00
Gordon McGill	22/7/2013	£    10.00
S.B.G	26/7/2013	£    15.00
S.A.	26/7/2013	£      5.00
S.A.	27/7/2013	£    25.00
V.C.	28/7/2013	£    50.00

Alex Chai donated £30 but because Paypal charged fees, we only received £28.33.  In total, in July, the donations come up to £378.33.  

Again we like to thank all our donors for your generosity.

New Community Project in Edinburgh

In early July, a few women (us) came together wanting to do something for the needy and poor in their community.  They were inspired by a post on Facebook a few months ago regarding people buying 'suspended' coffee. The way the suspended coffee work, the people will say pay for a 'suspended' coffee and then when a homeless or a poor person comes in to ask for a suspended coffee, the shop will give the 'suspended' coffee to the person.

Thus a new community project is born.  It is called Project MoM (Meal on Me).  How does Project MoM works:

1. You say to MoM that you want to buy a meal and send MoM the money via Bank transfer or Paypal.
2. MoM will then pay the cafe/food outlets it is partnering with.
3. MoM will also distribute the vouchers for the meal to the grassroot organisations it is partnering who would then give it/them to their clients who most need the meal.

The reason that we are issuing out vouchers to grassroot organisations rather than allowing anyone to just 'claim' the meal (which consist of food and drink) is so that we are assured that the system is not abused by people looking for a free meal.  In partnering with the organisations, we hope that the meals will be used by those most deserving.

At this time, MoM is working with Aroma Cafe & Mosque Kitchen. This café is beside the Central Mosque on Potterrow opposite Edinburgh Uni .

We are working with a few organisations to set up the voucher distribution:
1. One parent Scotland
2. Saheliya
3. Bethany Christian Trust

We issue out the vouchers every end of the month and will monitor the number of vouchers collected back.  We hope to publish the list of donors, the number of vouchers delivered to each of our partners and the number of vouchers used in the month for each month.  This is to allow everyone involved transparency of the project.  If donors do not see their names on the list, they can enquire from us at mealonme.edinburgh@gmail.com.

We also have a facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/MOM-Meal-on-Me/1379776135576779
and a twitter account: @mealonme

Above all, we need your support by buying the meals for the people who really need them. Thank you for your support.