“I feel it is not fair on elderly people, some can’t get out the house. We are just trying to help people who can’t get out the house.”
“I feel it is not fair on elderly people, some can’t get out the house. We are just trying to help people who can’t get out the house.”
A cornershop in Scotland has gone viral for giving away free face-masks, antibacterial hand gel, and cleaning wipes to those over the age of 65 to help slow down the spread of the ongoing coronavirus.
Asiyah and Jawad Javed, who own the Day Today Express in Stenhousemuir, Scotland, are providing small bags of these essentials that people can pick up for free at their shop. If unable to travel, the couple are even delivering these essentials for free for the elderly.
With each bag costing them about £2, the couple have so far delivered around 500 of these essentials for free. Explaining why they became inspired to act so generously, Asiyah said it was simply a matter of doing good with empathy:
On Saturday I was out, and I met an old woman, she was crying because she had been to the supermarket and there was no hand wash…I feel it is not fair on elderly people, some can’t get out the house. We are just trying to help people who can’t get out the house.”
Planning ahead by stocking up on hand soap and other antibacterial hand gels and wipes, the couple predicted that these essentials would run low in Scotland as the panic around coronavirus grew in intensity. But instead of keeping these supplies for themselves, the couple have decided to donate for free these important essentials to those most vulnerable – the elderly who are above 65 years old.
Asiyah explains that they were even ridiculed for giving out such sought-after essentials for free, after spending around £2000 in total gathering all these supplies:
Other shoppers are calling us stupid, and saying ‘Why are you giving them away for free?’ But money is not everything, there will be the opportunity to make money in future.”
With the ongoing panic around the spread of coronavirus, now labelled a pandemic by the World Health Organization, the UK amongst other countries have seen a huge rise in panic buying, where entire shelves and shops have been cleared by people stock-piling and buying out hoards of goods and foods.
Amongst this hoarding however, has been the worrying fact that the elderly and those with mobility issues are suffering the most – without the ability to fight the crowds, many are left without essential foods or sanitation products.
Coronavirus, now called COVID-19, is a virus that particularly affects the lungs and airways of a person, often with severe pneumonia-like symptoms. To learn more about COVID-19 and how to stay safe, visit the NHS website here.
To see The Muslim Council of Britain’s official response to COVID-19 and what mosques and community centers should do, click here.
