DEARBORN — Zaman International will be hosting a community Iftar dinner on Saturday, April 9 at the Bint Jebail Cultural Center in Dearborn.

Tickets for the event are available for $50 and can only be purchased online at Zaman’s website.

Proceeds will support Zaman’s programs, which empower women and their children to break the cycle of poverty through basic needs assistance, skills and literacy training, and workforce development.

Zamanitarian and Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud will be presenting a keynote address and the Rising Hope Bakery will be providing treats.

The Rising Hope Bakery is an onsite bakery at Zaman to help provide employment opportunities to those living in poverty.

“The community Iftar dinner is really a family event,” Najah Bazzy, Zaman founder and CEO, said. “For the children, there’s a humanitarian project. This year, it’s called ‘Journey to Hope’ and they will receive a bag with activities to do. Some of which includes filling the bag with food for families or Eid messages they can write. It’s bringing awareness to children to lift those who live in the margins and to create in children a sense of philanthropy and giving and humanitarianism.”

Each week during Ramadan, the children will have a different activity. Week one is to fill a tote bag with requested items for Zaman’s client choice food pantry; week two they will create a hygiene kit for distribution to families that Zaman serves; week three they will fill a cleaning bucket with a list of products most needed by families and during week four they will purchase an Eid gift and create an Eid greeting card for distribution during Zaman’s holiday gift shop.

Children will also be given a coin bank to fill during the month if they choose.

For adults, Bazzy said the event is a chance for them to be with their family and friends, to donate and to celebrate.

“Zaman is not a Muslim organization in its bylaws, but it’s certainly an organization that enjoys the principles of Islam and the systems of the charity,” she said. “It’s befitting that an organization that does such stellar work, especially taking care of the poor, and women and the orphaned, all of the things that our faith tells us and entrusts us to do. This dinner is related to that ability to be together as a community, to be together as a Zaman family of humanitarians and to give to those who need us most.”