Ladies of London, a grassroots organisation of women from the London Dawoodi Bohra community with a special focus on community outreach and philanthropy, recently held their 5th annual Macmillan Afternoon Chai fundraiser.
Every year, Macmillan Cancer Support, one of Britain’s largest charities, encourages organisations such as schools, police stations and workplaces to host a Macmillan ‘Coffee Morning’ to sell baked goods and raise money for the charity. Profits from these coffee mornings go to support Macmillan’s effort in providing physical, emotional and financial assistance to cancer patients and their families.
For the fifth year running, Ladies of London held a Macmillan ‘Chai Afternoon’. Community members came together to sell donated savoury delicacies such as cheese scones and dahi vada– a lentil snack popular in South Asia – to scrumptious sweet treats like chocolate cake and warm blueberry and lemon cake loaves. The Dawoodi Bohras generally enjoy a cup of steaming hot chai in the afternoon and so that was made available for purchase. Over the course of the afternoon, and with the help of donations on the ‘JustGiving’ page, Ladies of London were able to collect 91% of their targeted goal.
Many Dawoodi Bohras in the UK have benefitted from the services provided by Macmillan Cancer Support and were very generous and willing to contribute to an organisation that helped them beat their disease and go on to live a long and healthy life ahead.
As part of their global Project Rise initiative, Dawoodi Bohras all over the world regularly support causes that strive to raise the living standards of underserved members of society.