When the pandemic disrupted many prayer congregations during the Shahenshahi muktads, Zoroastrian youths from Houston took it upon themselves to launch a food collection drive during those 10 sacred days.
Zara Italia, the president of the Zoroastrian Association of Houston (ZAH) Youth Group, motivated her friends and seniors to undertake a "Non-perishable Food Drive.” Refreshments like oatmeal, crackers, pretzels, granola bars, nuts, fruit snacks, juice as also vegetarian and non-vegetarian canned meal items were collected at the Rustomji Room. The youngsters put together 393 bags for distribution to Kids Meals INC that currently delivers 7,000 meals a day to 43 Houston-area zip codes.
"This drive gave us an appreciation for what are the true essentials in life and not to take things for granted. These meals are served to children, who go to elementary schools and don’t have access to meals after school,” wrote 17-year-old Zara, a senior at Memorial High School with plans to major in biology in college. She was supported in her endeavors by youth volunteers Zal Italia, Roshni Chikhliwala, Diana Sabawala, Mahtab Dastur, Natasha Kanga, Neville Kanga, Nerius Mehta, Cyrus Surveyor, Natasha Dungor who sorted the food items, packaged them into bags and even decorated the bags. "This would not have been possible without the many adult volunteers Persis Behramsha, Khursheed Dastur, Arzin Italia, Edul Chikhliwala, Tanaaz Chikhliwala and Aderbad Tamboli,” appreciated Zara.
Zara and Zal Italia (4th and 3rd from r) with volunteers of the Houston Youth Group
who organized a food collection drive
In May, Zara’s younger brother, Zal, a sophomore in high school, and she had supported the Houston Food Bank by garnering community contributions. On seeing a television news report where a lady had to wait for 13 hours to collect food to put on her table, and realizing how fortunate the community youngsters were, they appealed to fellow Zoroastrians to donate to the Food Bank that would use one dollar to finance three meals. "With the support of our community, we collected a total of $9,327 (Rs 6,98,271) in the three weeks our initiative was active. This amount was later triple matched by Sysco Food Systems,” stated Zara.
Galvanizing the community in Pennsylvania is high school student Sam Jokhi who for the last two years has been using his connections to raise funds for UTHON, a club dedicated to raising money for pediatric cancer. Appointed co-chairman of UTHON for 2019-20, Sam is elated that they were able to raise USD 65,000 although their annual fund-raiser for 2020 was cancelled due to the pandemic. His experiences with UTHON over the past two years "have made me a more selfless person, one who is motivated to help others, no matter the circumstances,” he mentions.
"UTHON has shown me the wonders of activism and community,” he further acknowledges. Wondering how he would be able to raise funds the first time, he approached his family and the Zoroastrian Association of Pennsylvania and New Jersey (ZAPANJ). "They responded in a way I never thought was possible,” appreciates the youngster who has been regularly attending religion classes conducted by ZAPANJ even though it is an hour-and-a-half drive away from home. He was in praise of "my religious community that was so willing to support my endeavors.” His efforts were brought to the notice of Parsiana by Dr Dolly Dastoor, editor of FEZANA Journal.