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N. Va. Muslims Give Turkey Dinners To Needy Families

December 6, 2009
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Farida Vaid and Ehsan Baig prepare food at Hutchinson Elementary School in Herndon. Baig, who moved to the U.S. from Pakistan, said this was the first time he had ever prepared a turkey.
David Schultz
Farida Vaid and Ehsan Baig prepare food at Hutchinson Elementary School in Herndon. Baig, who moved to the U.S. from Pakistan, said this was the first time he had ever prepared a turkey.

By David Schultz

Women wearing head scarves and men wearing skull caps are serving turkey and mashed potatoes to hundreds of families in Herndon, Va.

Aliyah Malik organized this event with the All-Dulles Area Muslim Society. "We want to make sure that everyone knows that a couple of bad eggs doesn't mean that everyone is horrible," says Malik.

Malik says serving free turkey dinners has symbolic importance for her community, especially in the wake of all the negative incidents involving Muslims, both at home and abroad. "There have been a lot of races, a lot of religions where they've had their good and bad as well," says Malik. "And this would be a way of showing the good side of, well, this is what we're really about."

Originally, the turkey event was planned for Thanksgiving. But the society postponed it due to a Muslim holiday that week.

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