Recipe for unity: Jewish teens cook for Ramadan and Eid

Project ImpACT Youth Kitchen brought Jewish teens together in north London to prepare chaat, ash reshteh and vegetable couscous meals for those celebrating Eid, turning volunteering into a powerful message of interfaith collaboration.

The event on 22 March welcomed guests including Imam Sayed Jaafar Milani, son of the late Ayatollah Sayyid Fadhil al-Milani, a renowned Islamic scholar, who joined the the teens in hands-on food preparation.

He said: “London can become ‘one’ when we learn from each other. It’s beautiful what’s going on here at Project ImpACT. This type of event brings people together. It’s the symbol of humanity. We have to start at some point, and the best place to start is with the youth. They are the future, they are the leaders, and very soon the youth will be taking over and carrying this forward.”

Praising the initiative, Mayor of Camden, councillor Eddie Hanson, added: “Seeing young Jewish teens in Camden doing this, especially at the time of Eid, is a great thing for the community. In a world where people tend to divide us, when our young people come together, it gives us hope.”

Also taking part was interfaith and sustainability advocate Amir Ohadi who said it was “inspiring and remarkable to see teens volunteering and preparing meals for people who may not have access to food during the Eid celebration. The work of Project ImpACT in bringing young people together to do good for the wider community is incredible and very valuable”.

Chayli Fehler, founder and director of Project ImpACT, said: “Young people want the world to be a better place, and at ImpACT they are doing something about it. When they step into the kitchen, they are not just cooking, they are volunteering their time to support people of all backgrounds and faiths to build a more outward looking, compassionate society.

To date, the charity’s young volunteers have prepared more than 35,000 meals using surplus food, contributing over 60,000 hours to charities across London through all of ImpACT’s volunteering programmes.