Assalamu Alaykum Friend, I hope you are well and have made the best use this Ramadan insha Allah. We are at the tail end of this blessed month and I was just reflecting on how we started. With the COVID situation we knew this Ramadan was going to be very different for all of us. There is significant financial uncertainty, people losing jobs, cases at NZF rising at a rate we've never seen before and it seemed like a dire situation. Ramadan as you know is when we receive maximum Zakat and Sadaqah donations, and we were bracing ourselves for a month when donations will drop, but people in need will increase and we only had Allah to turn to for guidance through this period. This Ramadan showed me a few things Our community is stronger than ever. Donations didn't drop. People who could give, gave generously. The impact of COVID-19 is real. We are dealing with a number of cases due to families falling into financial difficulties due to job losses. Our Masajid our struggling as they rely on physical donations to keep them running. We have instances of even Masjid caretakers being let go of their positions due to lack of funds. Our Masajid need our support more now than ever before so dig deep and support them please. People in need understand that there could be others more in need. We had one family that we gave Fitr too, but they told us they didn't need and it can go to another family in need. Allahu Akbar.
What is also slowly coming to realisation is that while restrictions due to COVID-19 might be easing, the real impact to people is going to felt long and hard. It will take time for the economy to recover and jobs to open up. The impact on families hit hard by this can take a significant time to recover. | 
