The Iraqi Students' Association of Carleton University (ISACU) partnered with local Muslim charity Human Concern International (HCI) to organize a community BBQ on Sept. 28th at Britannia Park to raise funds for Iraqi refugees.
The organizers made it clear in their messaging that funds would go to Iraqi refugees, irrespective of religion or ethnicity. This message resonated with Ottawa's Iraqi community who are made up of Arabs and Kurds, Sunni and Shia Muslims, as well as Christians.

Human Concern International (HCI) held its 33rd Annual Charity Dinner on Friday, September 27th with a theme of hope interwoven throughout the evening.

This year's keynote speaker was Dr. Norman Cook, a former director with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) who retired in 2006 but has continued to work in the field in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Lively dance performances by a First Nations group and a Lebanese trio were among the highlights of Human Concern International's 32nd Annual Dinner.

Although the volume for the show was a little louder than some people would have liked, the event was enjoyed by most of those in attendance. HCI Events and Media Coordinator Mahmuda Khan says she received overwhelmingly positive feedback from many of the over 360 guests at the banquet. The majority were pleased with the opportunity to hear about new HCI initiatives from speakers at the event.

University students and recent graduates of Egyptian heritage successfully teamed up with local community organizations and individuals last month to raise over sixty thousand dollars for micro financing and education projects in Egypt.

Heba Eid, one of the July 28 fundraising dinner's energetic organizers, wrote in an email interview that the team of young people was originally just hoping to be able to raise forty thousand dollars to kick start an ambitious program that would help finance 25 projects in a Cairo slum.

A successful March break programme for inner-city kids is expanding its intake this year giving more children from some of Ottawa's poorest families the chance to enjoy a safe and fun-filled holiday they couldn't normally afford.

Thanks to a new partnership with the Ottawa-based Muslim charity Human Concern International, York Street ULTIMATE will be accepting 35 kids ”“ up from 20 children last year ”“ into its high quality children's day camp in the Lowertown area during March break.

Blessings are often taken for granted until they are taken away from us. ILT For those of us blessed to live in Canada, the thought of deprivation hardly ever crosses our minds. We do not have to think about lack of water, lack of food, leaving our home and belongings behind to live in an open-air camp, seeing people around us dying every day from hunger and treatable illnesses like malaria, diarrhea and cholera. These thoughts rarely, if ever, come into our minds. Yet they are the living reality for thousands of people affected by drought in Somalia.

“Only by working together constructively will the Muslim community be able to uplift itself and serve the country effectively,” Mohammed Zakaria Khan told an iftar (evening meal to break the fast) gathering of students of Carleton University and the University of Ottawa.

The president of the Muslim Coordinating Council spoke at an iftar of Muslim students of the two universities, which was hosted by Human Concern International (HCI) and the Muslim Coordinating Council of the National Capital Region (MCC-NCR). HCI is one of MCC-NCR's member organizations and has previously hosted such iftars. MCC-NCR co-hosted the iftar for the first time.