An Edmonton mosque is opening its doors to those in need as the cold snap lingers.
People will be able to sleep and get a warm meal at Al Rashid Mosque for as long as temperatures remain dangerously low. The mosque, located at 113th Street and 132nd Avenue, will open to the public Wednesday at 6 p.m.
“In such harsh conditions, we have to rise to the occasion,” said Noor Al-Henedy, communications director for Al Rashid. “That’s our duty as Edmontonians and as good citizens, to help our fellow citizens who are going through unfortunate circumstances.”
The mosque is working with the Alberta Muslim Public Affairs Council to gather volunteers to work overnight.
“It’s fantastic … for the Al Rashid Mosque to open up their doors and provide another mechanism [of] support for those who are in need to help so many other fantastic organizations who are doing such a great job to fight this battle of this frigid cold,” said AMPAC President Faisal Khan.
Volunteers will provide food and warm clothing to people in need, Al-Henedy said.
“That’s what we owe anybody that lives in our society,” she said. “We owe them our help, we owe them our compassion, we owe them our assistance.”
There isn’t a significant homeless population in the neighbourhood, Al-Henedy said, but community members have noticed a few people sleeping outside in the area. She isn’t sure how many people will sleep at the mosque Tuesday night.
“It could be as small as one, it could be as big as 50 or 100,” she said.