Established to bring Latino and Muslim communities together, a taco truck project at Orange County, has become a pipeline to address a host of social issues affecting the community, including the COVID-19 vaccination.  

The taco truck project started three years ago when Rida Hamida approached a mosque in Orange County with the idea of having Muslims break their Ramadan fasting with a taco truck. But she faced a very tough sell.

Now, Hamida’s #TacoTrucksatEveryMosque initiative has become a pipeline to address a host of social issues affecting marginalized communities in Southern California, Religion News Service reported.

📚 Read Also: How to Spend the Last 10 Days of Ramadan?

To help put Muslims at ease, Hamida has organized a mobile vaccination unit from Care Ambulance Service to visit the Islamic Center of Santa Ana on Saturday (May 1) after sunset, for a vaccine and a halal taco iftar.

“It takes another person to get them engaged and to encourage them and to make them feel safe,” Hamida said.

“This is a safe space that we’ve created. People have felt like they belong.”

📚 Read Also: Latino Muslims Revisit Historic, Cultural Ties to Islam

Another combination vaccination-taco truck event, organized by Latino & Muslim Unity, will be held on May 8 at the West Coast Islamic Society in Anaheim.

“We were fighting for our own communities, but we weren’t fighting for one another,” she said. “This has really created a space for us to trust one another by breaking bread.”

In 2009, only 1 percent of Muslims identified as Hispanic, according to ISPU. By 2018, the number has jumped to 7 percent, according to ISPU annual report, “American Muslim Poll: Predicting and Preventing Islamophobia.”

There are 250,000 Latino Muslims in the United States, according to Islam in Spanish.