CALGARY—The front lawn of Syed Najam’s home is like any other in his Saddle Ridge community in northeast Calgary, except for the wooden cabinets on the edge of his property, close to the sidewalk.
The Calgarian built a free makeshift multicultural library last year and now two more cabinets have been installed. This time, it’s for a community food bank.
For the last three weeks, Najam built the wooden cabinets, with some help from volunteers from a non-profit charity he helped establish called the Love With Humanity Association. This week, he stocked the shelves with food donations.
The food bank, stuffed with non-perishable items, will be self-serve and available 24 hours a day throughout the year. Next to it is the receiving cabinet, where donated food items can be left. Together, Najam refers to them as “take a blessing, leave a blessing.”
“This is passion,” Najam said, with a swell of emotion in his voice.
“We want to do something for our community.”