New Hill Food Pantry Draws Muslim Immigrants

Having lived in the Hill neighborhood of New Haven for 27 years, Jamilah Rasheed grew tired of seeing crumbling buildings, poor education and people who couldn’t afford to feed themselves.

“I want to give people a chance,” she said.

Rasheed is the director of the New Haven Inner City Enrichment Center (NICE), a local not-for-profit that works to counter poverty in New Haven. On Saturday morning, NICE — in conjunction with the City of New Haven and the New Haven Police Department — opened the The NICE Center Food Pantry at the police substation on 410 Howard Ave.

On Saturday, 24 families showed up within the first hour of the food pantry;s opening. The majority were Muslim refugees who have just recently settled in New Haven.

For some coordinators, it was the first time they interacted with the new population within their community.

In the past, NICE has coordinated a variety of outreach activities, from winter clothing drives to efforts for hygiene awareness, and its new food drive calls awareness to the issues that surround food insecurity in New Haven.

For Rasheed, the food drive is hardly a new idea. She noted that many in the Hill don’t have the money to eat enough or eat healthfully. She added that those receiving government food stamps often go without food for the last two weeks of each month.

After the police department helped with NICE’s clothing drive last year, Rasheed reached out about further collaboration. When she saw empty cabinets in the police station, her mind went straight to the food pantry. She then met with Lieutenant Jason Minardi of the Hill South substation and members of the city’s Health Department to get their approval and help.

The food pantry, which will be open on the last Saturday of each month, relies largely on donations from independent groups and local grocery stores. It also works in coordination with the Connecticut Food Bank.

Mary Sorrells, the program’s assistant director, said that the multiple partnerships that NICE has formed have had an overwhelmingly positive impact. She added that without their help, it would’ve been extremely difficult to organize the drive.

In particular, both Rasheed and Sorrells spoke glowingly of the partnership with the police.

Rasheed said that the decision to hold the food pantry at the police station was a strategic one. She hopes it will allow community members to feel comfortable in the space and strengthen their often fraught relationship with the police.

Lt. Minardi agreed, adding that the building’s community room is underutilized. He said that the Hill’s police department has hosted activities from tutoring to movie nights and hopes to expand its community-based programming.

“There are more good people in each neighborhood than bad people,” he said. ​“If those good people come together, we’ll have positive neighborhood interactions.”

For Rasheed and Sorrells, motivation to aid the community stems in part from their faith. Rasheed said that as an observant Muslim woman, she sees charity as a fulfillment of her religious responsibility and a duty rather than a choice.

“There’ a lot of negativity about Muslims in the media, and we are more than just what you might see on the news,” Rasheed said. ​“We are people who care about the needs of those in our community.”

Athena Shatara, a Muslim resident of New Haven, spent the morning volunteering with her 12-year old son. For her, the morning was special.

“It hits home to see children here getting food when I have children of the same age,” she said. ​“As a mom and as a woman, it’s affecting me.”