Salman's restaurant was already booked for iftars following this year's Ramadan before the mitigation measures for COVID-19 started.

Charity for those in need

According to Salman, they raised over $40,000, which was enough to provide almost 6,000 meals to the needy. Each meal included a main dish, soup, bread, and desserts. He said that he and the local community wanted other families to feel the same way they did in the holy month.

His act of charity was not exclusive to people of the Islamic faith either: The initiative was extensive and inclusive of everyone in the community who needed help. If meals would not be able to be delivered personally by Salman and the restaurant staff, they instead give people tickets to come pick up meals.

Salman treated everyone who worked at the cafe like family, and so he did everything to keep them employed throughout the lockdown in Texas. He even let the employees take home food for their own families.

Since the café was closed from the beginning of Ramadan, and with everything at reduced capacity as Texas was gradually reopening, they would not be able to serve their usual five hundred customers in the holy month.

Salman started the endeavor when his best friend suggested that while the coronavirus prevented the café from holding large iftars, he might as well cook meals to families in need.

Check these out:

Muslim communities in the United States donate food this Ramadan

Salman was able to publicize his restaurant's initiative for providing free meals with the help of the local community, mosques, and the nonprofit organization Islamic Circle of North America.

Director of ICNA USA's refugee program Hala Halabi helped Salman give tickets to people in vulnerable groups for free meals. The organization's food banks and other services in the country does annual drives distributing food during Ramadan.

However, Halabi said that because of the COVID-19 crisis they already used most of their resources helping communities before the holy month even started. She added that she and her colleagues volunteered to find patrons for their Ramadan drive.

Islamic communities all across the country have started initiatives to donate food this Ramadan like Salman. It is also a movement to help employees remain on the job while going on charity drives. Several Muslim-owned businesses and groups collaborated to feed the homeless during the holy month.

In Connecticut for example, restaurant owners delivered meals and masks to hospitals, according to news reports. In Dallas, the communities bought meals from local restaurants to serve to the less fortunate to also support the plummeting economy.

Halabi said that the need was "way bigger" than on usual days. She said that on their regular drives each year, refugees were dependent on them during Ramadan. Members of the ICNA helped the refugees and immigrant communities, most of whom were Afghan, Iraqi, Rohingya, and Syrian.