Melbourne City’s City in the Community team hosted an Iftar Dinner at the City Football Academy (CFA) in Bundoora on Tuesday evening.
A number of guests from the local community, including local police officers, joined Imam Alaa EL Zokm from the Heidelberg Mosque, Melbourne City FC CEO Brad Rowse and several CITC Young Leaders for the dinner.
The evening included a Quranic recitation and short speech from Imam Alaa EL Zokm, an evening prayer, followed by a meal.
The CITC team spoke about the programs that they are currently running in the community, including I Speak Football and Homework Club, which are underway at Olympic Village Primary School on Mondays and at the CFA on Tuesdays.
These programs are run to further engage the local community, uniting individuals from diverse backgrounds. Furthermore, Homework Club gives children from the community an opportunity to finish their school work before participating in 30 minutes of physical exercise.
Every January, CITC runs a Young Leaders program which trains participants to lead and run football programs both for Melbourne City and their local communities. On Tuesday evening it was announced that CITC Young Leader Abdi Abdirizak will attend the Global Young Leaders Summit in Manchester in June.
Melbourne City FC Head of Community, Sue Crow: “Our first Iftar dinner was an outstanding success and enabled us to engage with so many local community members in a really meaningful way over a meal. The club is based in an area with a high proportion of Somalis so it is important that we understand and acknowledge the traditions and beliefs of all the communities we work with. This was a perfect example of demonstrating our core commitment to social inclusion.”
