Iqbal Alimohd, a taxi driver in the city of Calgary, Canada, buys and delivers food to dozens of seniors every week, free of charge for his services. This action began 15 years ago, when the professional realized that his elderly customers had difficulty getting around on their own to do their shopping at the supermarket.
Iqbal, who will be 70 in 2021, has been driving a taxi for more than four decades. Recently, he told CBC that his volunteering initiative started when he saw that some of his frequent grocery customers were having trouble carrying heavy bags and most of them didn’t have it. help from family or friends.
Touched by the situation, he decided to offer to do the shopping and deliver it directly to retirement homes. Support started with just two or three customers and grew as their passengers started recommending the service to other friends in the same situation.
Today, with his wife and two children, the family serves 20 to 25 people every weekend.
From Monday to Friday, his partner, Mumtaz, picks up the list of products by phone and organizes the operation. On Saturdays, they go to the biggest supermarkets in town to find the prices.
Iqbal is also demanding on the quality of its products. “He can’t just buy an apple; he has to pick the perfect apple for his senior customers. He thinks they deserve the best,” his wife told the local Road Warrior News.
To get an idea of the scale of the service, they use up to eight shopping carts at a time. One of the establishments they frequent even has a cash register specially reserved for the family.
After two to three hours in this process, it’s time for childbirth, when Iqbal takes the opportunity to talk to the elderly and watch them. The service of finding prices, purchases and deliveries is completely free. Seniors pay only for the value of the products. “Neither the service nor the fuel, I do not charge anything at all,” reveals Iqbal.
from parents to children
Iqbal came to Canada from Pakistan in 1973. Soon after, he met Mumtaz, his future wife. At his side, he decides to start a family and, when they get married, they have two children: Faisal Alimohd and Yasin Alimohamed.
With the start of the pandemic, the children decided to take charge of childbirth activities themselves to prevent their parents from spending so much time exposed to the virus. According to the two, both are used to this task, which is already a fatherly tradition and is now also part of their family’s routine.
Faisal told CBC that this is such an important commitment for parents that both are already used to not traveling or going out on Saturdays to help them with this task. In August, after the gradual decline in covid transmission, the father returned to participate in the purchases.
The children say that Iqbal is surprised at the scale of the story and is happy to lead by example to inspire others, as the physical limitation of the elderly is a problem present in virtually every place in the world. planet.
Yasin explains that his father always preferred anonymity. “He’s not looking for gratitude or a pat on the back from anyone.” For his father, the very act of charity gives him a purpose in life.
“Delivery” of conversations and emotional support
Iqbal says that over the years he has spent a lot of time just visiting the elderly:
It often happens when I make deliveries that seniors ask me to come back in the evening for an hour, just to talk and visit. I’ve always loved doing that, hearing your stories. They often feel lonely, even when they have children, they are so busy with their own families that they just don’t have time. Young families are very busy right now.
When asked what advice he would give young people on how to be happy, Iqbal responds without hesitation: “Love your parents and take care of them! In this, Mumtaz, his service and life partner, agrees. According to her, having bonded with so many older people over the years, growing old and dying are two conditions that always bring great sadness to both of them.
“We lost a lot of old people during the pandemic, it was difficult. Recently, the oldest client of Iqbal passed away, she was 106 years old! Today, many young people are not lucky enough to benefit from the experience of these people. They want to help. Young people can learn a lot from them, “says Mumtaz.
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