Members of the U of T community came together last Thursday to break their fast together at the Fast-A-Thon held by the Muslim Students’ Association. Over 60 non-Muslims fasted, refraining from food and water all day, to help earn money for the Toronto Daily Bread Food Bank and to learn more about Islam and the month of Ramadan. Dates and water were passed around to the fasting students as the call to prayer resonated at the International Student Centre.
Those who fasted had been encouraged to follow the regimen that Muslims typically follow during Ramadan. They were to wake up before sunrise, have breakfast, and then refrain from drinking and eating all day.
“I didn’t find it as hard as I thought it would be,” said Yurislen Sablon, a first year Psychology and Religion major who had been encouraged to participate by a friend. However, Brendan Cook, a teaching assistant in the History Department, felt that “not being able to eat made me think about food even more.”
In addition to encouraging people to learn about Islam, the Fast-A-Thon’s main goal was to raise funds for the Toronto Daily Bread Food Bank. While only 60 people attended the dinner, over 145 people pledged to fast for the drive. Ten local businesses donated money for every person who pledged, and helped to raise a total of $1,420 for the Food Bank. Rob Huntington, a food bank staff member, was present to accept the cheque on behalf of the Daily Bread Food Bank. Huntington felt that the Fast-A-Thon demonstrated the “connection between charity and interfaith cooperation.”
“Fasting and prayer teaches you a certain amount of humility,” he said. “You guys exemplified it today.”
For Cook, fasting to raise money for those who had no food was “self-evidently the right thing to do”. It made Sablon thankful for what she had: “At least we know we are going to break fast,” she said. “There are thousands of people who don’t know if they will even have food at night.”
