Bake Sale Fundraiser
When We Heard About the Earthquake
By Maryam Abdur Rahman
On February 6, 2023, at 4:17 AM, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkiye and Syria, causing devastation in the streets. Later in the week, we went to Jummah prayer, the Imam told everybody about what had happened, and we decided that we needed to do something. I had heard about the earthquake, but I didn't realize how severe the damage was and how it affected the people living in Turkiye and Syria. Even after 10 days, we kept hearing about joyful rescues of people found underneath the rubble, but we also heard how difficult it was for survivors, and how they needed urgent help. Around that time, the Canadian Turkish Cultural and Islamic Center (CTCIC) requested donations to help the earthquake survivors. When we heard about this, we decided to pitch in and do our part to help. We brainstormed how to raise money, and came up with a plan for a bake sale! We shared the idea with our friends, and everybody was very excited. We asked the homeschool community to help us bake goods to sell. We decided to host the event at the Al Salam Center, after Jummah, on February 17th, where many people would come out of the masjid after prayer, feeling hungry. We announced the bake sale to family and friends, inviting as many people as we could. We couldn't wait for the day of the bake sale!!!
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The Bake Sale Day
By Hiba Qureshi
Everyone arrived at Al Salam Center around 11:30 am with all of the baked items for sale. We had set up 6 or 7 tables and started pricing all of the food. There was baklava, brownies, cookies, cupcakes, apple cake, and so many more yummy desserts! There were also savory foods like chips, Turkish borak, mini pizzas, and chicken pies. We had set up a table for the cashier, which also had a donation box, and accepted e-transfer payments as well.
At first, I thought it would just be a small bake sale, but I was really surprised to see the turnout. After the first Jummah prayer, not a lot of people came and bought baked goods. There was also face paint and a henna table, not a lot of people came at first but near the end, a lot of people came. After the second Jummah, things really picked up and after only half an hour everything was sold out.
After we cleaned up, the few people that stayed for a little while longer went inside the masjid to warm up and start counting the money. We had a system to triple-check the money we counted to make sure it was the right amount. Right when we thought we were done counting we opened the bottom layer of the cash box and it turned out, there was another huge stack of cash inside it! We raised $2674.2 in cash and $501 in e-transfers. Altogether we had raised $3,175.20 Alhamdulillah!
At the Canadian Turkish Cultural and Islamic Centre
By Safiya Qadry
Bake Sale Fundraiser for Turkey and Syria - Made with Clipchamp_1676865506187.mp4The day after the bake sale, we attended a fundraising dinner at the Canadian Turkish Cultural and Islamic Centre. We were invited to speak about our bake sale event and present the donation money that we raised. There were many speeches by Imams and community members about what happened in Turkiye and the importance of helping our brothers and sisters who were affected by the earthquake. One of the uncles even did an auction for some beautiful artwork and a lot of money was raised this way. Watching different people trying to outbid each other for a good cause was entertaining. After each speech ended, we held our breath, anticipating that we would be called up next. Finally, the last speakers, the "Calgary Muslim Homeschoolers" were called up. We stood up and walked to the front of the room to present. We started our speech nervously, but by the end, we were excited to share how much money we had raised. After the fundraising, we went down to enjoy a delicious dinner. It was a really fun evening and we were happy to attend and represent our awesome homeschooling community!