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Muharram 1436, November 2014
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With Thanksgiving around the corner, and the warmth of family and friends surrounding us, its sometimes hard to believe that there are those suffering hunger and homelessness in the bitter cold in our own back yards. It's National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week, held each year the week before Thanksgiving. If you've been following us on Facebook, you'll realize the dire situation of the homeless from all our posts and updates.
Did you know that according to News13 "Florida's children are at a high risk for homelessness in a new report that shows the number of homeless children in the U.S. has surged to an all-time high, amounting to one child in every 30." Think about how much it would take for a man to support his family for just one week, to keep his children warm with bellies full and not aching from pangs of hunger, and then make that donation with one click. Just one minute of your time and a fraction of your wealth can save lives and comfort souls.
Will you be the one to give the hungry and homeless that hope as you reflect on everything you are thankful for this season? Will you join us at UMF Hungerteam today?
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We are Thankful for our Schools
UMF ECRA volunteers created over 150 gift bags for Midway Elementary and Seminole High School's reading incentive programs! We're greatly appreciative to the hard work and donations from our volunteers to helped make this possible.
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We are Thankful for the Birds and Bees
Some of UMF's youngest volunteers: UMF Guides, just delivered their hand crafted UMF Guides Owl Boxes to Audobon Center for Birds of Prey . Our donation of owl boxes assists Audubon to promote a culture of conservation towards birds of prey and their habitats. By providing this experience, UMF Guides make a contribution, with their own hands, to the natural resources in the community!
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We are Thankful for our Children
UMF Virtual Masjid, formerly known as UMF TeenPortal, is the proud recipient of the Lifetime Membership Award from KidsPeace. Last year, UMF Virtual Masjid placed Silver in the Web Health Awards and has receive the accolades of many notable leaders in the Muslim community.
In a recent letter to UMF, Dr. Julius Licata, Director of TeenCentral.Net at KidsPeace writes: "Muslim teens throughout the world will now have a place to talk about their difficulties and receive help from other people of the Muslim Faith and so help them to understand and grow more into their beautiful faith."
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We are Thankful for our Veterans and Volunteers
On Veteran's Day, November 11, UMF hosted an engaging Coffee Encounters where we talked about the importance of service, while honoring those who've served our country honorably. We discussed how to address local community challenges, such as poverty, homelessness and hunger.
Our next Coffee Encounters is scheduled for Dec 2nd insha-Allah. We will be building on our previous discussion of how to serve the needs of the Orlando community, through education and programs to assist our youth. We hope you can join us at this cozy networking event to share your ideas and thoughts.
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 We are Thankful for Opportunities to help clear misconceptions
The Mu Sigma Upsilon Sorority of USF, along with S.U.M.A, hosted a discussion about hijab, entitled "Behind the Veil" and invited UMF to speak and clear misconceptions about Islam. The program was held on Thursday November 13th in the Marshall Center. and it's goal was to educate people on the reasons that Muslim women choose to cover themselves.
Five panelists took part in this discussion and they were asked questions that ranged from defining different types of hijab (veil, burqa and niqab) to discussing recent happenings in the world involving hijab. The event concluded with a demonstration of how to wear different styles of hijabs.
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We are Thankful for UniTea sweeping the world
AlhamdulilLah our UniTea Campaign has spread from Florida to as far as Indonesia! Join the campaign today and post your photo on our fb page with the hashtag #ISupportUniTea to appear in our next newsletter. |
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United Muslim Foundation (UMF) is working to Establish Unity Through Community Service every day. Working together, we provide support to empower generations to come.
We humbly request your support with a tax-deductible donation to continue this mission.
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