DEARBORN – During the holy month of Ramadan, a volunteer initiative in Dearborn has attracted national attention after the Associated Press published a report on a local youth-led organization that collects leftover food from Arab American iftar dinners and redistributes it nightly to the homeless in nearby Detroit.

According to the report, the organization Helping Handzzz was founded in 2017 by Nadine Daoud, a Lebanese American high school student at the time, living in the city often referred to as the capital of Arab America.

The inspiration came one night after a family iftar during Ramadan that year, when Daoud noticed her grandmother’s refrigerator shelves overflowing with containers and trays of untouched food. Realizing that much of that delicious food would likely go to waste, she was struck with an idea: Why not redirect that food to people in need?

That moment sparked the creation of a youth-led volunteer group that has since grown into a powerful Ramadan tradition in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, two cities with dense Arab populations. Daoud and her friends began collecting excess food from iftar gatherings, packaging it safely into individual meals and distributing it to homeless individuals in Detroit and surrounding areas.

“We were sitting in my basement thinking, we’re not going to throw all this food away,” Daoud, now 22, recalled. “This is Ramadan. This is what it’s about. It’s the time to give.”

Helping Hands Foundation creator Nadine Daoud speaks to an AP reporter during an interview on March 7. – Photo by AP

She told the Associated Press that many families prepare large meals during Ramadan, and by the end of the night, there’s often a significant amount of food left over — most of which gets stored and forgotten in the fridge the next day. Instead, she and her friends decided to repackage it and deliver it with a drink and a sweet treat to those in need.

Daoud posted her idea on social media, and the response was overwhelming. Many community members reached out saying: “We have food, too — come pick it up.”

Today, Helping Handzzz is a well-organized operation run through social media. Anyone in Dearborn or Dearborn Heights with safe, untouched food can send a message to its Instagram account @TheHelpingHandzzz and share their address. One of the group’s six volunteer drivers will pick up the donation and deliver it to the Islamic Institute of Knowledge on Schaefer Road, where the food is inspected, safely packaged and then distributed to homeless and low-income individuals, many of whom are refugees.

Volunteers follow strict food safety protocols, including temperature checks and expiration screening, to ensure meals are safe and nutritious.

The organization also collects non-food donations at the mosque, such as clothing and household essentials. Meals are sometimes handed directly to those in need by volunteers or delivered to the Detroit Rescue Mission, which supports several shelters across the city.

According to the Associated Press, Helping Handzzz has grown in popularity and community trust, receiving direct food donations from more than 50 families during this Ramadan alone.

Daoud, now a pharmacy student, said their mission is not only to feed the hungry, but also to reflect Islamic values around respect for resources like food, self-discipline and empathy for the less fortunate, especially during Ramadan.

“We added the three Zs in Helping Handzzz to highlight that most of our work happens at night,” she said about the group’s name.  “While people are asleep we’re working. We don’t finish until after 1 a.m.”

The Helping Handzzz Foundation board member Mariam Hachem organizes items in the back of a pickup truck as part of a Ramadan food donation effort Friday, March 7, in Dearborn, Mich. (AP Photo)

Consistent nightly operations

On a recent Ramadan evening, board members Hussein Serhaney and Daoud Wehbi, along with four other volunteers, enjoyed an iftar prepared by Serhaney’s mother. After the meal, they loaded up Wahbi’s truck and visited several homes to collect extra food before heading to the mosque’s parking lot. There, Wahbi and other volunteers, including current group president Sara Aseili, prepped and packaged the meals.

A caravan of Helping Handzzz vehicles then headed into Detroit to deliver the food directly to people in need.

The Associated Press documented a touching moment when volunteer Mariam Hachem approached a homeless man sleeping under a blanket on the sidewalk and said, “Hi, we have a meal for you. We’ll just leave it here, okay?” He responded, “Okay” and other volunteers placed bottled water and sweets beside his meal.

Hachem, 20, a student at Wayne State University, said volunteering has made her more humble and aware.

“I’m always struck by how grateful the homeless are for even the smallest things — a blanket, a notebook, a book.”

The team runs this operation six nights a week during Ramadan, taking Sundays off. Volunteers juggle their day jobs and school commitments to ensure the work continues. Wahbi, a 25-year-old Dearborn-based engineer for Toyota, also runs a home renovation business. Still, he’s committed to staying out late every night to “spread goodness in the world.”

He explained that for them, Ramadan is about more than fasting.

“It’s about growth, community bonding, and working together,” he said.

“We’re known for our Ramadan food drives, but we’ve expanded,” he added. “We’ve helped provide air conditioners, clothing, blankets and other essentials for families. One day, I hope we’ll open a shelter named after Helping Handzzz.”

The group has inspired similar efforts in other cities with large Arab and Muslim populations, sparking a broader conversation about food waste and community care during Ramadan.