Food Drive For Our Three Winners Doubles Expected Total

One of the last things Deah Barakat did was give back.

In the UNC Muslim Students’ Association monthly trip to Urban Ministries of Durham, Barakat went above and beyond serving food to those in need.

“He spent several months collecting dental supplies,” said Urban Ministries director of community engagement Gin Jackson.”If you don’t have money for food you certainly don’t have money for dental supplies or other hygiene items because it’s not covered by food stamps and food has to come before those other very important items.”

A few weeks later, Barakat, along with his wife Yusor Abu-Salha and her sister Razan Abu-Salha, was murdered in their apartment at Finley Forest Condominiums in Chapel Hill.

Barakat’s classmate Kaushal Gandhi said the dental school, where he was studying, wanted to continue his legacy by starting a food drive to give back to the place where he spent his time.

“Coming up on their death anniversary we thought we want to remember them every year,” she said. “We want to continue this. We want to do an annual food drive, an annual day of service, whatever we can do to keep their legacy alive.”

In the second year of the food drive, the original goal was to raise 600 pounds of food.

They more than doubled that with 1,378 total pounds, which was donated to Urban Ministries’ food pantry to give to households in need.

“We are 100 percent dependent on food donation,” Jackson said. “That 1,300 pounds is probably close to three weeks of food. That may not sounds like a lot but there’s only 52 weeks in the year so that’s a huge, huge, huge amount.”

Jackson said the pantry provides food to 487 households per month. These households can range in size from one to 10 people.

Urban Ministries also offers food, clothes and other forms of aid to those in need.