At the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, a very memorable image stood out amongst many – that of an elderly man looking on at the empty shelves at his local supermarket, clearly distressed by the panic buying that had prevented him from being able to buy his necessities.

This image brought the Yaseen Youth team together seeking a way to help, and ultimately led to the launch of an important community initiative: Co-Operate 19.

Co-Operate 19 provides volunteering opportunities for the youth, developing their skills and character by involving them in humanitarian, social and community initiatives.

Our mission, formed during the lockdown, was to get the youth involved and through their efforts, help facilitate community relief for most vulnerable, for those self-isolating and those from low income backgrounds.

Our motto, “Spread peace, feed the people” is based on the famous prophetic narration, whereby Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said “O people! Spread (the greeting of) Salam, feed others, uphold the ties of kinship, and pray during the night when people are sleeping, and you will enter Paradise with Salam.”

The name was formed with the added aim of bringing together youth from all backgrounds, and working together with a number of other organisations and charities through strong co-operation, in bringing about ease to our communities.

We hold monthly collections for the Syrian refugees where we collect essential supplies such as food, medication and clothing and we ship it to the refugees. Our youth are involved every month in terms of organising the collection, sorting the donations and loading the vans to be sent to the warehouse for onward distribution to the refugees.