A group of Ahmadiyya Muslim youth is teaming up to deliver 10,000 meals to rough sleepers before December 31, vowing to clean up after New Year parties.

Adeel Shah, 24, one of the youths working with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association (AMYA), told Al Jazeera that on Wednesday, Christmas Day, the group will provide food to rough sleepers.

Later on New Year’s Day, the group plans to pick up rubbish in several towns and cities, in the hope “2020 will see a drop in pollution and plastic waste,” he said.

According to the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN), homelessness has jumped 50 percent this year, compared to 2018.

Season of Giving

Christmas is the main festival on the Christian calendar. Its celebrations reach their peak at 12:00 PM on December 24 of every year.

Though Muslims do not celebrate Christmas, they usually extend hands to help patients, less fortunate, and homeless people to celebrate the season.

Earlier this week, a group of Muslim volunteers from Lancashire Council of Mosques (LCM) paid a special visit to patients at Blackburn Royal Hospital, putting a smile on their faces before the holiday season.

In December 2017, a group of Muslim high school pupils from Tauheedul Islam Boys’ High School (TIBHS) paid a special visit to hospitalized children in Blackburn, giving them gifts.

Earlier in the same year, another group of Muslim primary school pupils from Rawdhatul Uloom Primary School delivered toys to hospitalized patients in a children’s ward in Blackburn.