MSA National News Releases
10/22/07 - 240 Campuses Participate in MSA ‘Fast-a-Thon’
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 22, 2007
Contact: Asma Rehman, manager@msanational.org , 703-820-7900
240 Campuses Participate in MSA ‘Fast-a-Thon'
The Muslim Students Association (MSA) National is proud to announce that over 240 campuses across North America held Fast-a-thon events this year celebrating positive communal transformation and interfaith understanding surrounding the holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan is the month of fasting during which Muslims around the world fast from sunrise to sunset in order to purify their hearts and give thanks to their many blessings. The ‘Fast-a-Thon' is a community-based initiative highlighting this important month by asking individuals of other faiths to fast alongside their fellow Muslims in the name of charity.
Originally conceived at the University of Tennessee Knoxville in 2001 to help feed the hungry and offer an opportunity for interfaith dialogue, the ‘Fast-a-Thon' has found a new home at hundreds of local campus Muslim Students Associations (MSAs) across North America.
MSA students garner support for the Fast-a-Thon by recruiting the help of businesses and private donors to sponsor students and faculty on campus to fast for one day. To date, the Fast-a-Thon has collected over $50,000 in charitable funds going to local and national charity organizations such as homeless shelters, CARE International, Doctors Without Borders, and local area food banks. Over ten thousand fasters have supported these various charities, all the while promoting interfaith understanding, by pledging to fast from food and water and negative thoughts and speech for one day.
"On behalf of Muslim students across North America, we hope that ‘Fast-a-Thon's help bring awareness to poverty and social justice issues everywhere," said Ms. Asma Mirza, MSA National President. "We commend the dedication of these student leaders and fasters on their respective campuses for becoming agents of positive social change."
The Muslim Students Association (MSA) National is an organization dedicated to serving Muslim students during their college and university careers by facilitating their efforts in developing local MSA chapters. Established first in 1963, MSA National continues to be a uniting forum for Muslim students from diverse backgrounds throughout four decades of service. To contact MSA National for interviews email manager@msanational.org or media@msanational.org.
