The Ahmadiyya Muslim community in South London and Surrey came out in force recently to help support homeless people through the festive period amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

On the afternoons of December 28 and 29, volunteers from the community's youth association (AMYA) braved the cold and dark helped deliver a dozens of food parcels and essential supplies to rough sleepers in their area.

The AMYA youth group often operate as an "auxiliary" organization for the Ahmadiyya community more generally, and have helped support thousands of vulnerable residents both before and after the first coronavirus lockdown was imposed back in March 2020.

Delivering food packages to foodbanks in the region that have seen a surge in demand since the arrival of Covid-19 in the UK are also part of their volunteer efforts.

Rafique Ahmad Bhatti, the regional youth leader for the AMYA, described their actions over the festive period:

"Young Ahmadi Muslims, took time out of their day to try and make a difference to the lives of so many people who are homeless," he said.

"The youth had themselves been making preparation for the grocery shopping to deliver at foodbanks.

"This a great opportunity for us to fulfil our Islamic duty of serving the needy and to follow in the examples of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)," he added.

AMYA said they have helped deliver a staggering 673,000 items of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) across the UK since the outbreak of coronavirus last year, with several thousand more meals delivered to the homeless, students and vulnerable people.

During the Covid lockdowns, the group said they assisted in some 21,407 households with food packages and deliveries of essential medicines.