Photos courtesy of Milwaukee Islamic Dawah Center
The Dawah Center has been an important food pantry since 2017 when Dawah’s former Director, Will Perry started it. In the past two weeks, the attendance of people standing in line has more than doubled.
“The Milwaukee Islamic Dawah Center adamantly opposes and condemns in the strongest terms the use of hunger as a weapon,” says the Dawah Center in a statement prominently featured on its website, “whether it’s a weapon of oppression to starve civilians, or as a political weapon to drive hardships on the most vulnerable while bureaucrats argue over our fate.”
Prompted by rising food insecurity in Milwaukee’s community that began Oct. 1, when the U.S. government shutdown threatened to cut off SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) funds by Nov. 1, followed by weeks of conflicting court rulings, Milwaukee Islamic Dawah Center board discussed how to address the crisis facing low-income Milwaukee families.
It’s response: a strong public stance against government policies harming society’s most vulnerable people and a doubling down on efforts to provide food to the needy.
Standing with those in need
Taking a position on government decisions about SNAP is important, said Milwaukee Islamic Dawah Center board member Burhan Clark. “It’s not like the money isn’t there.
“It’s so primal. The idea that you’re going to starve people, besiege people and use food as a weapon. We’ve seen this in Sudan and Gaza.
“But it doesn’t just happen to people in conflict. The ability to withhold such basic resources as food is an easy grab for anyone who wants to be totalitarian. To starve people in order to influence something is against all our modern moral standards. It’s against our legal codes in how we conduct war. It is detestable for whoever does it. This calculus in human lives isn’t something we should ever accept.”
In addition to fighting immoral government policies, as individuals, we are also challenged, he added. “When resources become limited and as you have less, there can be a big focus on making sure me and my family have what we need. But we should really try to keep our heads up and look around at some who are in even worse situations.”
Stepping up
Court decisions are rolling out with a whiplash effect, so much so that the New York Times published a timeline with a play-by-play. The Milwaukee Islamic Dawah Center board decided they couldn’t wait to see what will happen with SNAP payments.
“There’s been a lot of fear,” Clark said. “So, we were asking each other, ‘What’s the plan?’”
The Dawah Center’s public statement noted,” There is a fear implicit in unstable governance, and individual organizations can’t make up the gap of government programs that affect millions of families. In Milwaukee, the Dawah Center is on the front line.”
North Milwaukee neighbors of the Milwaukee Islamic Dawah Center, 5135 N. Teutonia Ave., have long known about its food pantry. Former Dawah Center executive director Will Perry started the pantry in 2007 out of his minivan.
PBS Wisconsin, in a 2023 episode of Wisconsin Life, featured the pantry’s truckloads of food, set up on tables in the parking lot, and its dozens of volunteers and community partners.
In the 2023 interview with PBS Wisconsin, Perry noted it distributed 10,000 pounds of food a week, making it a “crucial lifeline” that had “a significant impact on the quality of life.”
The pantry runs four days a week, opening Monday at 11 a.m. and Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 9 a.m., as soon as a truck delivers the food. It’s open until all the food is gone, which usually takes about two hours. “We don’t keep any food,” Clark explained.
Until the SNAP crisis began a month ago, “our average numbers in line each day were about 150,” said Rebekah Bissen, Dawah Center office manager. “Our attendance has doubled of people standing in line to fill up their boxes. Each person in line represents a family, so we are helping over 1,000 people a day.”
Although they operate a system of alternating days, with Mondays and Wednesdays for families whose last name begins with A-L, and Tuesdays and Thursdays for M-Z, “we don’t turn anyone away,” she noted. “We just ask them to let those whose turn it is go first. Everybody needs help.
“Many we serve are non-Muslims,” Bissen said. “They plan to cook for the holidays – Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now they are uncertain about how they’ll manage the holidays coming up.”
Since the crisis around SNAP began, the Dawah Center extended what were small meals twice a week for a small number of Muslims who were fasting to large family meals for the general public. Meals are served Mondays and Thursdays at 6 p.m. And on Thursdays, families can pick up additional food goods to take home.
“Some sisters in the community began cooking and bringing in meals,” Bissen said. “Others are making donations towards the cost of the meals.”
“The more we do, the more the word spreads,” she added. “We are seeing 50-75 people at each meal. We prep for 100 because we want to have enough for everyone.”
Tackling the challenge
As the board discussed the current crisis sparked by the SNAP cuts, “one of our concerns was just numbers,” Clark said. “In just over two weeks, the traffic at the pantry has steadily picked up. How do we get more food? How do we process more people in and out of the pantry? Do our volunteers feel supported? Is everyone who shows up treated well?”
The Dawah Center acquires some food from Feeding America, a national food bank. “The way that works is there are some free items and others you purchase at reduced rates. The past couple of years, there have been more items you have to purchase and prices have gone up, as well.
“We’ve been overspending a bit. We were already working to cut back on our Feeding America purchases before all this happened. Some families responded with more donations of goods. Others have donated money to be used to purchase from Feeding America.
“We also have a truck now where we can go to places and pick up food to distribute for free,” he said. “That’s a main reason we can operate the pantry so many days a week.”
“Franklin High School did a beautiful thing for us,” said Bissen. “At the start of the SNAP problems, they reached out to us to ask if they did a food drive, could we distribute it to people.
“Someone else gave us $450 to increase our purchases of food,” she added.
“And, most important, we have a core group of volunteers who have been with us for 15 years or more,” Bissen said. “With all we throw at them, they still show up. They are there every single day—hot, cold, raining, snowing. When the demand for food increases, they flow with us to meet the need.”
“I’m continuously overjoyed by the way I’ve seen the greater Muslim community in Milwaukee show concern about people in need and do their best to help,” Clark said. “I’m really thankful.”
