A Lanarkshire group has supported the hungry and people with mental health issues as parts of its aim to "try and build better and stronger communities".
Friends of Airdrie and Coatbridge Islamic Centre (FACIC) work closely with local residents to ensure everyone "knows that help is here".
Due to the pandemic, the group has been unable to hold its popular annual community open day at the Islamic Centre - but the members haven't let that stop them from offering aid.
The team has gathered basic mobile phones to give to people to keep in touch with their mental health team and delivered more than 300 food parcels to the elderly and people who are struggling financially.
Dr Irfan Jehangir, FACIC chairperson, told Lanarkshire Live : "We used to arrange a community open day every year to bring people from all walks of life together and share their culture and ideas with each other with a view to building better and stronger community relations.
"Our open days were marked by fundraising for a local charity and in the past we managed to collect funds for great local causes like St Andrew's Hospice, the Beatson Cancer Charity, Maggie's and Mavisbank School.
"Over the past two years we haven't been able to get such events organised due to the pandemic and its restrictions.
"However, lately we have instead managed to work together with a community mental health team and foodbanks to raise funds and food items.
"As part of this we were able to deliver about 300 food parcels to the elderly, single mothers and families struggling with financial issues.
"We also raised £600 to help people get basic mobile phones so they can keep in touch with the mental health team, and we were surprised by how many people with mental health problems didn't have access to, or funds for, a phone.
"We were very pleased to contribute to this noble cause and the feedback from the mental health team and the patients was so heart-warming; it made all of the team's efforts really worthwhile.
"Similarly, the food delivery, especially to isolating elderly men and women, was hailed by everyone - the smiles on their faces was very satisfying and immensely rewarding."
And the FACIC team show no signs in slowing down as they continue to come up with new ideas to give their backing to the Monklands community.
Dr Jehangir said: "We intend to continue working with the community and if there are any individuals that need help with food or basic phones to keep in touch with medical appointments, we will be more than happy to help.
"The virtual events that we managed to organise for our groups, like mothers' and toddlers' groups, cross-culture and elderly people gatherings, proved to be extremely beneficial for maintaining contact and helping alleviate isolation as it provided the opportunity for people to contact us, and help with delivering items.
"We would like to thank the community for being so generous and helpful, even in the most trying of times, and we are sure that we have come out stronger and better as a community."
For more details on the FACIC group and their work, visit their Facebook page
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